When Keith Krach first heard of Docusign, he knew it could be huge. He was convinced it would capture one of the biggest markets ever seen. He also knew exactly the play he needed to run to get it there, based on his decades of experience in the C-suite. He shares the secrets he collected over the years so Docusign could, as he says, "go mach 3 with our hair on fire." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info....
Mar 29, 2023•47 min•Ep. 78
Why growth isn't always good, and how to infuse integrity into a toxic company culture. Zenefits was on its way to a multi-billion dollar valuation but, behind the scenes, it was all about to come crashing down. When Jay Fulcher was called in to save the company, his first job was laying off almost half its employees. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Mar 22, 2023•41 min•Ep. 77
When Bill George was a kid, he didn't dream of becoming a pro-athlete or an astronaut or a famous musician. Instead, he imagined the Fortune 500 companies he would lead as CEO. He achieved the dream when he took a medical technology company called Medtronic from a fledgling operation to a Fortune 500 company in 10 years. Yet, he was unsatisfied and felt lost. Then, his career took a turn toward academia and the study of leadership. His book, True North , has become a seminal book in leadership s...
Mar 15, 2023•44 min•Ep. 76
Jeff Jones is no stranger to crisis. From the 2013 Target data breach to a tumultuous period at Uber, he's helped navigate companies out of some tough situations. So, when Jeff became the President and CEO of H&R Block in 2017, he was prepared. How a young man from West Virginia went from being an ad guy to heading one of the biggest tax preparation companies in the US during a global economic downturn. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art1...
Mar 08, 2023•44 min•Ep. 75
Steve Mollenkopf started working as an engineer at Qualcomm right out of college. After ascending to the top of the Engineering division, Mollenkopf thought that he'd reached his peak promotion in the company — that is, until he became CEO and led the company through some of its highest and lowest moments. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Mar 01, 2023•41 min•Ep. 74
Dave Ramsey learned about debt the hard way: he'd made money, lost money, and declared bankruptcy, all before his 30th birthday. How he went from selling books out of his trunk to becoming a best-selling author and financial advisor to millions. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Feb 22, 2023•47 min•Ep. 73
When Ken Hicks became CEO of Foot Locker in 2009, the company didn't have a leg to stand on: the economy was in a recession, sales were down almost a billion dollars, and the brand was widely expected to collapse along with indoor shopping malls themselves. How Hicks used a commitment to better storytelling to help Foot Locker get back on the right foot. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info....
Feb 15, 2023•45 min•Ep. 72
Jason Fried, the CEO and co-founder of Basecamp, doesn't want you to come to meetings. He insists that you work no more than 40 hours a week; 36 in the summer. He doesn't really want you coming to the office either... and this approach has helped make Basecamp hugely successful. In this episode, Fried describes how he's built an institution by bucking a lot of conventional wisdom. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-se...
Feb 08, 2023•39 min•Ep. 71
There are a few dirty little secrets about the way modern ice cream is made, but Graeter's ice cream is different. They use a process that's well over one hundred years old, even though that means the company has to stay small. Richard Graeter is part of the fourth generation to run this family company, and he wouldn't have it any other way. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Feb 01, 2023•34 min•Ep. 70
Beth Comstock is comfortable with change. In college, she wanted to be a doctor, but organic chemistry wasn't her strong suit, so she shifted to journalism. When journalism didn't work out, she started working in publicity. So, when GE bought NBC in 1986 right as Beth was starting her career in advertising, she was ready to adapt again. She worked her way to becoming CMO of GE and then, the company's first female Vice Chair of Business Innovations. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy...
Jan 25, 2023•43 min•Ep. 69
Terry Lundgren, former CEO of Neiman Marcus and Macy's, has been instrumental in shaping the American retail landscape, but the road to bringing two notoriously competitive retail giants together wasn't easy. How he merged famous department rivals, double-downed on retail, and turned Macy's into the first nationwide department store in the United States. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info....
Jan 18, 2023•41 min•Ep. 68
Today, Marvel is one of the most substantial forces in American media, but when Peter Cuneo joined the company as CEO in 1999, it was a struggling publishing house teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. Ten years later, Disney bought Marvel for $4.5 billion. Cuneo tells his unlikely origin story and how he became the "turnaround superhero." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Jan 11, 2023•46 min•Ep. 67
Back in the 1980s, Stephen R. Covey anticipated a new kind of leadership with his book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People . It wasn't the table-pounding, charismatic kind of leadership, but an empathetic one, which prioritized listening and collaboration. Guy speaks with Covey's son, Stephen M.R. Covey, who has played a central role in spreading his father's teachings around the world, and has also written several influential leadership books of his own. See Privacy Policy at https://art19...
Jan 04, 2023•32 min•Ep. 66
When David Cote started working in manufacturing, he was a self-described "wrench turner, the lowest on the totem pole." He worked his way up through the ranks of GE, and was eventually offered the helm of mega conglomerate Honeywell. At the time, Honeywell was losing employees, struggling with mounting debt, and facing major environmental liability suits. Inspired by the ultra-efficient operational structure of Japanese companies like Toyota, Cote righted Honeywell in what has been called one o...
Dec 28, 2022•45 min•Ep. 65
Cliff Hudson's childhood was marked by instability. At a young age, he watched his family struggle to recover after his father's roofing business collapsed. So, after college, he was determined to find a safe and stable job. In 1984, Cliff was hired to be a lawyer at Sonic Drive-In. Then, in 1995, he became CEO. How a young man went from a law office to running one of America's most iconic fast-food chains. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://...
Dec 21, 2022•39 min•Ep. 64
In 1963, Bob Rosenberg became CEO of his father's company, Dunkin' Donuts, at age 25. About a decade later, after an overly-ambitious expansion put the company in jeopardy, the board almost threw him out. But Bob matured into his leadership role, developed Dunkin' Donuts into an international success, and accumulated experience from a career spanning 35 years. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info....
Dec 14, 2022•41 min•Ep. 63
When the COO of Chase Bank told Jacqueline Novogratz that she had the potential for a high level career at Chase, she knew she had to quit her job. She continued to use the skills she learned from investment banking to change the way the world sees capitalism and philanthropy. Today, Acumen has delivered more than 100 million dollars in loans, grants, and investments to projects and businesses that help low income people around the world. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and Calif...
Dec 07, 2022•37 min•Ep. 62
Mixing business and social justice isn't a strategy most companies are willing to adopt, which is why Dan Schulman's actions as CEO of PayPal have garnered so much attention. In 2016, he canceled a plan for an operations center in North Carolina after the state passed its infamous "bathroom bill." Schulman champions his "employee first" strategy and has raised wages and benefits for PayPal's workforce. His leadership has proved that activism doesn't have to come at the cost of PayPal's bottom li...
Nov 30, 2022•42 min•Ep. 61
Jim Perdue wasn't that interested in becoming a third-generation head of the family meat processing business. Still, he became CEO in 1991 and his leadership turned out to be pivotal for building Perdue Farms into a nationwide brand. How Perdue navigated changing consumer habits and corporate management styles to turn a regional poultry producer into a 7 billion dollar company. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-...
Nov 23, 2022•41 min•Ep. 60
For as long as Diane Hoskins can remember, she wanted to be an architect. It began with Legos as a child, and eventually led her all the way to architecture giant, Gensler— an unusual company with two CEOs. One CEO is based in Los Angeles, and the other CEO, Hoskins, is based in Washington, DC. Together, they've created a unique leadership model where hierarchies don't really matter and internal collaboration— not internal competition— is rewarded. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy...
Nov 16, 2022•35 min•Ep. 59
Gordon Bethune took an unlikely path to becoming a leader in the airline industry. A self-described "hoodlum," Bethune dropped out of high school, joined the Navy, and became an airplane mechanic. With that experience, he gave Continental Airlines a tune-up, pulling it out of bankruptcy and guiding it through the deep uncertainty that followed the September 11th attacks. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info...
Nov 09, 2022•42 min•Ep. 58
Josh Silverman built Evite and turned around eBay. Then, in 2017, Etsy came calling. The online marketplace for creative goods was in deep trouble. Growth had plateaued and the company was on the verge of being sold. Josh stepped in as CEO and got the team focused on one simple metric that made all the difference. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Nov 02, 2022•43 min•Ep. 57
Cisco was growing at breakneck speed when the tech bubble burst in 2001. As an industry veteran, CEO John Chambers knew firsthand that no company was immune to failure. Anticipating the need to transition, and using a '100 year flood' as an opportunity to rise to the top of the market. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Oct 26, 2022•44 min•Ep. 55
What does it take for a person to change? BJ Fogg, founder of Stanford's Behavior Design Lab, says the key to behavior change isn't what we've always been taught. In Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything , Fogg draws upon true experiments — from his lab and his life — to outline a system anyone can use to create good habits or unravel the bad. In this episode: on making change through design and celebration. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy N...
Oct 20, 2022•45 min•Ep. 56
Jeremy Zimmer was not supposed to be heading one of the "big four" talent agencies in Hollywood. As a child he struggled in school and eventually dropped out of college to become a parking lot hustler, making money running schemes as a valet and spending nights partying. But that all stopped suddenly one day when he was violently attacked on the job. When he got back on his feet he found new focus and began his improbable rise to the top of the talent agency world. See Privacy Policy at https://...
Oct 12, 2022•48 min•Ep. 54
When Sylvia Mathews Burwell was appointed Secretary of HHS in 2014, Health and Human Services — the agency responsible for administering Obamacare — was already under intense scrutiny. And the crises just kept coming: a government shutdown, unaccompanied minors at the border, Ebola and Zika. How she found compromise amidst crisis, and mastered preparing for the unexpected. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-in...
Oct 05, 2022•57 min•Ep. 53
Leadership strategist and business speaker Greg McKeown is the author of two New York Times -bestselling books: Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less and Effortless: Make It Easier To Do What Matters Most . The core of McKeown's philosophy of "Essentialism" is to identify what is absolutely essential — and then work to prioritize that, and eliminate everything else. McKeown encourages readers to recognize the trade-offs inherent in trying to "do it all so you can have it all." His framew...
Sep 28, 2022•45 min•Ep. 52
Running the world's wealthiest charitable foundation is all about tough choices. During her meteoric rise at Microsoft, Melinda Gates never guessed she'd spend decades trying to solve global problems. Learning to give by asking the right questions and accepting the limits of your own impact. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Sep 21, 2022•50 min•Ep. 51
Dr. Sarah Elizabeth Lewis is Associate Professor of History of Art and Architecture and of African and African American Studies at Harvard. Early in her career, she became fascinated with what she calls "back-turned paintings"--the paintings which artists keep turned around in their studios, thereby shielding them from view. She realized all of them were necessary steps in the artists' pursuit of mastery. Dr. Lewis talks about the "ever onward almost" on the path to mastering painting, writing, ...
Sep 14, 2022•42 min•Ep. 50
Why isn't Intuit dead? The key was transforming it into a "36 year old start up," says former CEO Brad Smith. Giving people the chance to make an impact, he says, is vital to energizing a workforce. How he lost $40 million and got promoted, and why vulnerability and failure are intrinsic to good leadership. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Sep 07, 2022•48 min•Ep. 49
