Guest: Dan Smytka, a coach at CEO Coaching International. Dan has global expertise in growing and leading multibillion-dollar businesses with marquee brands such as General Electric, Carrier, and Goodyear Tire and Rubber. Dan has also led businesses in Asia and Europe where he cultivated a reputation for generating profitable growth, building high-performance collaborative executive teams, and executing strategies to expand profit margins and deliver sustainable results. Quick Background: CEOs s...
Jul 01, 2025•42 min
Guest: Mo Said, the Founder & CEO of Mojo Supermarket, a powerhouse advertising agency that's been named Small Agency of the Year, Strategy Team of the Year, and one of the Best Places to Work. Overview: Growing and managing a BIG business is an art. For many CEOs, high-level leadership is also a journey of self-discovery. Find that perfect harmony between all your skills and passions and Making BIG Happen will be that much more fulfilling. On today's show, Mo Said discusses how he resolved ...
Jun 10, 2025•49 min
Guest: Byron Carlock, a coach at CEO Coaching International. Byron is a distinguished real estate executive with 38 years of experience that spans the full real estate lifecycle from strategy to execution. Quick Background: COVID, WFH, NIMBYs, and YIMBYs were already accelerating changes to how and where we work and live. Now leaders in the real estate sector are also contending with major political hurdles, higher interest rates, and inflated costs across the board. But there are also BIG oppor...
Jun 03, 2025•39 min
Guest: Kyle Karnes, a coach at CEO Coaching International. Quick Background: If you're skipping over Gen Z workers because you "don't want to deal with them," you're letting stereotypes and social media memes cloud your judgment. Gen Z is mission-driven and tech-savvy, and they crave strong leadership that can teach them how to channel their passions into Making BIG Happen. On today's show, Kyle Karnes explains why Gen Z may be the most misunderstood and undervalued generation in the workforce a...
May 27, 2025•49 min
Guest: Brett Jackson, a coach at CEO Coaching International. Brett is a seven-time CEO, and two-time COO with 35 years of experience leading software and SaaS companies through scale-ups, pivots, and turnarounds. Before he became a CEO, Brett built deep go-to-market expertise as a VP in product sales and marketing. Quick Background: You can't always blame sales and marketing when your sales are trending in the wrong direction. And sales and marketing can't always blame each other. Great leaders ...
May 20, 2025•29 min
Guest: Matt Dunie, a coach at CEO Coaching International. Matt has founded or co-founded four companies and served as CEO or President five times across the information services and SaaS sectors. He's led businesses ranging from startups to enterprises approaching $400 million in revenue, and he's executed more than 20 acquisitions and exits. Quick Background: Successful startups and small businesses eventually reach a place where complexity starts to stall growth. It's at this early turning poi...
May 13, 2025•39 min
Guest: Joanne Starkman, the co-founder of Innersense Organic Beauty, a clean hair care brand that she launched with her husband Greg. Overview: All successful CEOs pour their hearts into their businesses. But a company that truly lives and breathes your mission can be as BIG as it is rewarding and impactful. On today's show, Joanne Starkman discusses how her deeply personal mission to create non-toxic, high-performing hair care products has grown into a category-defining brand that's beloved by ...
Apr 29, 2025•37 min
Guest: Rick Stern, the CEO and founder of Stern Recruiting. Rick is also the former founder and CEO of Nitel, which is a telecom company that he bootstrapped from zero to $180 million in revenue over two decades before he exited through a private equity transaction. Overview: Now what? That's the question high-performing CEOs ask themselves after they've reached any major milestone. But after selling your business or retiring, you can't just walk back into the c-suite and raise the bar a little ...
Apr 15, 2025•38 min
Guest: Dr. Joel Myers, the Founder and Executive Chairman of AccuWeather. Dr. Myers is considered the father of modern commercial meteorology. Overview: CEOs often feel like they're making "life and death" business decisions. But, as we saw during the pandemic, when the safety of your customers and employees is at stake, CEOs need reliable data that will help them adapt to the facts on the ground quickly and lead decisively. On today's show, Dr. Joel Myers explains how technology, including AI a...
Apr 01, 2025•38 min
Guest: Don Yaeger, a Hall of Fame keynote speaker, a business leadership coach, and a 12-time New York Times best-selling author. Don is the host of the highly rated Corporate Competitor Podcast and National Geographic's Storyteller in Residence. He's also a longtime associate editor for Sports Illustrated and one of America's premier thought leaders on storytelling, leadership, and greatness. Overview: Your company's tech stack needs AI integration. But stories are like software for the brain. ...
Mar 18, 2025•43 min
Guest: Chris Braun a coach at CEO Coaching International. Chris is a YPO member who has served as a CEO for 24 years across a diverse range of industries, including franchising, medical devices, power generation, SAS, and specialty plastics. He's also led multiple companies through successful exits and private equity transactions. Quick Background: Consistent, transparent communication is a hallmark of great leadership. But a CEO is never communicating to just one audience. Employees, customers,...
Mar 04, 2025•43 min
Guest: Smith Holland, a coach at CEO Coaching International. Smith served as President & CEO of three businesses, including Crayola, Hallmark Global, and Hallmark Canada, with revenues ranging from $125 million to $2 billion. Quick Background: No "good" company makes the leap to "great" without exceptional leadership. Where good CEOs just keep the gears turning, great CEOs actually create value by managing a culture that inspires peak performance and drives consistent growth. On today's show...
Feb 25, 2025•43 min
Guest: Brian Mergelas, a coach at CEO Coaching International. Brian is an accomplished leader with over 25 years of experience in driving growth, innovation, and operational excellence for global technology companies and startups. Quick Background: As AI usage becomes more and more mainstream, companies that didn't have the foresight to include an AI road map in their last few annual planning sessions are scrambling onto the bandwagon. But if your company is in catch-up mode, you'll never gain g...
Feb 18, 2025•30 min
Guest: Jeff Tennyson, a Coach and Partner at CEO Coaching International and the former CEO of Lima One Capital, one of the country’s leading lenders to real estate investors. Jeff is also a former coaching client of CEO Coaching International. Quick Background: Every entrepreneur dreams of a BIG exit. But having a dream isn't the same as having a plan. To attract an ideal buyer, owners and CEOs need to scale smart, assemble the right team, and adopt a strategic mindset that will turn their dream...
Feb 11, 2025•38 min
Are you ready to achieve the unimaginable this year? Then register now for the 2025 Make BIG Happen Summit, April 24-27 at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach Hotel. This year, in addition to our usual lineup of world-class speakers and social events, we’re excited to unveil our exclusive “MBH” program—a full MBA experience distilled into one intensive day. You’ll gain strategies and insights directly from renowned experts like Good To Great author Jim Collins, and Harvard Business School professors D...
Jan 21, 2025•1 hr 6 min
Guest: Chris Stakich, Chief Community Officer at CEO Coaching International. Chris oversees our business forums, in-person events, and communication hubs. Prior to joining the team, Chris was the Chief Experience Officer at YPO where he oversaw 500+ global events, 6,500+ forums, all strategic partnerships, and the member learning strategy. Quick Background: Learning and leadership growth should always be at the top of a CEO's list of New Year's goals. One of the most impactful ways to accelerate...
Jan 07, 2025•31 min
Guest: Dina Coker, the founder and CEO of Akcel Partners, a groundbreaking company that specializes in providing outsourced sales talent that is tailored to meet the specific challenges of its clients. Overview: Making BIG Happen requires a sales strategy that's innovative, adaptable, and capable of sustaining scale. But sales isn't a core competency at all firms -- especially start-ups and companies that are laser-focused on product development. Outsourcing can give CEOs quick access to a world...
Dec 03, 2024•34 min
Guest: Erin Cigich, CEO of Perform[cb], a leading outcome-based marketing firm that helps brands acquire customers on a performance-based model where companies pay only for real results. Overview: Every BIG starts small. In order to achieve their vision and sustain growth, the CEO has to establish precise, actionable steps that build towards measurable results. Keep the right numbers trending in the right direction every day, month, quarter, and year, and you'll keep Making BIG Happen. On today'...
Nov 12, 2024•38 min
Guest: Matt Plitt, President & Chief Executive Officer of Valent U.S.A. LLC, which is part of Sumitomo Chemicals Global Agricultural Operations. Matt is responsible for driving growth across Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. Overview: Every BIG is even BIGGER at a truly global business. Subsidiaries and their holding companies need to synchronize culture and processes to achieve a wide array of goals that impact a huge number of stakeholders. But leaders also have to be able to identify the speci...
Oct 29, 2024•35 min
Guest: Spencer Shaffer, a coach at CEO Coaching International. Spencer is a four-time CEO and entrepreneur with a wealth of experience across engineering services, energy, technology, and software as a service business models. He's also been a YPO member since 2006. Over the past 26 years, Spencer has led numerous business transformations through M&A, scaling operations, leadership development, and change management. He is passionate about building people, teams, and cultures. Quick Backgrou...
Oct 15, 2024•35 min
Guest: Greg Martin, an entrepreneur, CEO, private equity investor, and a coach at CEO Coaching International. Greg led four separate companies onto the Inc. 5000 list while achieving growth rates of over 6,000%. Combined, his businesses have generated more than $3 billion in revenue, created over 2,500 jobs, and resulted in two high-eight-figure exits. Quick Background: A great company is always BIGGER than the sum of its parts. The very highest performers align everything they do around key ele...
Oct 08, 2024•42 min
Guest: Anthony Venus , a coach at CEO Coaching International. Anthony is an experienced entrepreneur and CEO who led his latest venture-backed SaaS firm YayPay from its inception to a successful exit. Quick Background: Why are some founders and CEOs able to repeat BIG success? Because they understand that winning a market, consistent growth, and nine-figure exits aren’t a matter of luck . Once you’ve learned how to install specific, measurable, and actionable systems, you can repeat those proces...
Oct 06, 2024•29 min
Guest: Mary Naylor, a coach at CEO Coaching International. Mary is a repeat founder, CEO, and board member working in diverse sectors including customer loyalty, consumer services, concierge and lifestyle services, hospitality, travel, financial services, call center customer service, and technology platforms. She has 30 years of expertise in enterprise business development, go-to-market strategies, sales optimization, channel partnerships, team building, and fundraising. Quick Background: What'...
Oct 01, 2024•39 min
Guest: Lisa Tanzer, a coach at CEO Coaching International. Lisa is an accomplished executive with over 30 years of experience, including 10 years in CEO and president’s roles and 10 years leading marketing teams as the CMO. She’s worked with Fortune 1000 companies like Gillette, Staples, and Hasbro, as well as privately held and venture-backed companies across a range of industries. Quick Background: Nothing can move the needle on your company’s ceiling quicker than talent. That’s why great comp...
Sep 24, 2024•33 min
Guest: Chris Justice, a coach at CEO Coaching International. Chris is a former CEO with a proven track record of managing business units from $25 million to $700 million across diverse industries, including retail, lodging, automotive, e-commerce, and casino gaming. Quick Background: Running a business has always been hard. And considering that today's CEOs need to manage complex generational divides, global competition, rapid technological advances, and a constantly evolving economic landscape,...
Sep 18, 2024•29 min
Guest: Sarah Dusek, the founder of Under Canvas, the leading upscale outdoor hospitality brand that she grew to a value of over $100 million. Today, Sarah is a venture capitalist, a cofounder of a new hospitality company, and the author of the new book, Thinking Bigger: A Pitch-Deck Formula for Women Who Want to Change the World. Overview: In 2012, Sarah Dusek's "glamping" company was starting its first season at Yellowstone National Park. One fateful afternoon, a huge thunderstorm rolled in and...
Sep 03, 2024•52 min
Guest: Sally Hurley, CEO of VIPdesk, a global leader in remote customer service. Sally is also a client of CEO Coaching International. Overview: Much of the focus on the AI revolution has been on how businesses can streamline operations and execute certain key tasks around the clock. But any AI implementation that isn't improving the efficiency and quality of your customer experience is going to be a downgrade, no matter how fancy your tech stack is. On today's show, Sally Hurley explains how to...
Aug 27, 2024•33 min
Guest: Jen L'Estrange, Founder & CEO of Red Clover, which offers large-scale, strategic and operational Human Resources support that’s accessible to small businesses. Overview: When it comes to comp, money is rarely enough -- especially for top talent. The best workers need to feel like their efforts are not just rewarded but recognized as integral contributions towards Making BIG Happen. Your compensation package has to tie all of these motivations together in a way that's clear, equitable,...
Aug 13, 2024•46 min
Guest: Dr. Madan Kandula, a surgeon, entrepreneur, and the founder/CEO of ADVENT, a leading healthcare company providing solutions for people who have had life-long breathing and sleeping challenges. Dr. Kandula is also a client of CEO Coaching International. Overview: Whether you're running a Silicon Valley tech firm or a nonprofit in your hometown, getting BIG is never just a matter of driving up profits. Money is the fuel that powers the greater mission, which lifts up employees and sharehold...
Jul 30, 2024•48 min
Guest: Randy Dewey, the President and COO of CEO Coaching International. Randy has over 30 years of experience delivering rapid growth and expansion across various industries and countries. Quick Background: In order to Make BIG Happen, private equity firms need the companies they invest in to get BIG too. And, in most cases, the sooner the better. On today's show, Randy discusses how the team at CEO Coaching International works with private equity firms and their portco (portfolio company) CEOs...
Jul 16, 2024•31 min
