Claim OwnershipLead the Team (Top 2% of Podcasts)
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© Copyright 2026 Ben Fanning
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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 teams.
From turning around billion-dollar brands to sparking innovation at scale, these leaders share lessons you can put into action right now to lead your own team better.
Subscribe now.
-------------
https://www.benfanning.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/benfanning/
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 teams.
From turning around billion-dollar brands to sparking innovation at scale, these leaders share lessons you can put into action right now to lead your own team better.
Subscribe now.
-------------
https://www.benfanning.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/benfanning/
430 Episodes
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Missed Opportunity.Greg Smith, Founder of Thinkific, shared with me how most leaders are sitting on their most undervalued asset: their own expertise.And I’ve been guilty of this too.For years, I thought growth meant building something new (a new product, new offering, new initiative).BUT some of the biggest growth I’ve seen (in my own business and with companies I work with) came from teaching what they already knew.Not as marketing.Not as training.As a product.When leaders and their organizations share their thinking clearly and consistently, something powerful happens:Trust grows faster.A new sales channel opens.Revenue flows.Education and training used to be a COST CENTER. Now it’s becoming the new GROWTH CHANNEL.And truly, it makes sense because customers don’t just want vendors anymore.They want guides.Why are leaders still hesitant to monetize what they already know?-----Connect with the Host, #1 bestselling author Ben FanningSpeaking and Training inquiresSubscribe to my Youtube channelLinkedInInstagramTwitter
High performance deceives.Alain Dias, CEO of Nortal Americas, knows a thing or two about building at scale..after all his team helped build the world’s very first "digital nation."When a leader with his kind of track record speaks about growth, I'm in!His interview is a gut-check for most organizations:If your expansion depends on a "Hero," you aren't ready to scale.In many cultures, we celebrate the "firefighter" who pulls the all-nighter to save the project. We give them the shout-outs and the awards.But as Alain points out, constant heroics are actually a warning sign.When you rely on individual brilliance to save the day, you aren't building a resilient business...you’re building a dependency.Beware "The Heroic Trap":- The Bottleneck: Critical knowledge stays trapped in one person’s head.- The Single Point of Failure: Your best people become your biggest risk for burnout.- The Chaos: As growth accelerates, clarity vanishes, and your "Hero" simply can't keep up.What I admire about Alain’s approach is the focus on maturity.World-class leadership is designing systems that make heroics unnecessary.Your vision can’t outrun your systems.Have you seen the limits of heroics?-----Connect with the Host, #1 bestselling author Ben FanningSpeaking and Training inquiresSubscribe to my Youtube channelLinkedInInstagramTwitter
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 own organizations.But that’s not a technology failure; it’s a leadership one.In our conversation, you’ll discover:- The Hidden Effort Tipping Point- The Great Leadership Management Flip- The Habit That Sabotages Scale- Why Hustle Is A Warning- The Dangerous Illusion Of ControlIf you spend all your time working in the business, you’ll may miss the off-radar decisions forming around you...until they surface as a crisis.A leadership question to consider:Is the leader who knows every detail actually a pro… or just a bottleneck in disguise?
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 results.We talked about that moment on Lead the Team, along with some unexpected influences that shaped how he leads today........including lessons from a surprising classic book most executives never read and a truly unforgettable early-career experience working for the iconic conductor Benjamin Zander.You don’t have to wait until life forces a reset.You can learn from a CEO who already has.Do you have a daily reset that helps you?-----Connect with the Host, #1 bestselling author Ben FanningSpeaking and Training inquiresSubscribe to my Youtube channelLinkedInInstagramTwitter
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 for a leader to have during a crisis? Subscribe to the show so you don't miss an episode on Lead the Team.-----Connect with the Host, #1 bestselling author Ben FanningSpeaking and Training inquiresSubscribe to my Youtube channelLinkedInInstagramTwitter
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 on the path you’re meant to be on.Answering it meant walking away from the very finish line everyone expected him to cross.That moment of clarity unlocked a version of himself he hadn't met yet......one capable of:- Finishing full-distance Ironmans.- Leading a global engine for 100,000+ businesses.Most leaders are too afraid the deeper question because they’re terrified of the answer.Pete leaned in and shows us this conversation how we all can too.When has asking the right question helped you?-----Connect with the Host, #1 bestselling author Ben FanningSpeaking and Training inquiresSubscribe to my Youtube channelLinkedInInstagramTwitter
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 scale in:• How people show up at work• How they interact• What actions and behaviors are encouraged or avoided• And how energy moves through the dayLeaders rarely talk about this...even though they’re already accountable for the office space and the very outcomes it shapes.Do you ever think about how your office space can impact your results?-----Connect with the Host, #1 bestselling author Ben FanningSpeaking and Training inquiresSubscribe to my Youtube channelLinkedInInstagramTwitter
This mistake taught leadership.Marcus Perez, President of Altera Digital Health, shares a moment that unfolded in a helicopter at low altitude (where mistakes don’t get a second chance) and still shapes how he leads today.A rule had been broken the day before.The next day, his commander took the controls.He didn't get lectured.He got something far more...Intense.Deliberate.Unforgettable.Some lessons just don’t need words.After Marcus shared this story with me on the show, it became clear why that personal experience carried more weight than any traditional feedback session ever could.Our conversation raises questions around:✅ When the most dangerous leadership decision is when you choose not to step in.✅ What really happens when you delay accountability under real risk.✅ How you know when stepping in helps… and when it backfires.👉 What mistake taught you the most?-----Connect with the Host, #1 bestselling author Ben FanningSpeaking and Training inquiresSubscribe to my Youtube channelLinkedInInstagramTwitter
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 eliminate.He talks about how leaders carry it, manage it, and still move forward anyway.You hear it in how he leads teams across 30+ countries.You see it in why he choose to put himself out front as the face of a 100-year-old brand.And you feel it in the moments where control would’ve been easier, but courage mattered more.This conversation stuck with me.When has leadership tested you the most?-----Connect with the Host, #1 bestselling author Ben FanningSpeaking and Training inquiresSubscribe to my Youtube channelLinkedInInstagramTwitter
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 creating more effort...or the results he expected.It was one uncomfortable shift (that felt slower at first)......that ended up making everything faster.We unpack the full story in this week’s episode.So:👉 When things slow down, how effective has pressure been for you?-----Connect with the Host, #1 bestselling author Ben FanningSpeaking and Training inquiresSubscribe to my Youtube channelLinkedInInstagramTwitter
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, LPL, and now Pluralsight... and she’s seen the same silent pattern across industries:Leaders blame the tech.Teams blame the workload.But the real problem is almost always hidden deeper.Readiness....and getting their quickly....is everything.In our conversation, she breaks down:👉 The blind spot most CEOs overlook.👉 Why 50% of AI projects fail.👉 What separates teams that finish from those that stall.👉 The first move every CEO should take when they realize their team can’t keep up.👉 And how her transformation background gives her a unique advantage in the AI era.This conversation changed the way I think about leading through AI.What’s the biggest AI readiness challenge you’re seeing in your teams right now?-----Connect with the Host, #1 bestselling author Ben FanningSpeaking and Training inquiresSubscribe to my Youtube channelLinkedInInstagramTwitter
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 & Paralympic history.But not long after the gold, the pressure shifted….
Public controversy.
Intense scrutiny.
And—death threats no leader should ever face.Leaders talk about “high stakes.”BUT this is what high stakes actually looks like.Phil shares:• The day-one move that stabilized a fractured team
• The bold Olympic decision that changed everything
• The backlash that hit not long after the gold
• How he led through threats, scrutiny, and congressional attention
• The leadership tools he relied on when everything was on the lineThis is a powerful story of crisis leadership, culture repair, and resilience.If you’ve ever led under pressure, you’ll never forget this lesson.What’s one leadership lesson pressure taught you?-----Connect with the Host, #1 bestselling author Ben FanningSpeaking and Training inquiresSubscribe to my Youtube channelLinkedInInstagramTwitter
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 more grateful for it than almost anything else.And when he stepped into leading a 2,300-person organization, the stakes around feedback got even higher. Any past success wasn’t going to carry him anymore. Clear, direct communication had to.That’s when he embraced the mantra that now guides his leadership:“Coaching is caring.”He even had a 3.5-hour feedback conversation with a leader on his team — not because something was broken, but because growth mattered that much.Here’s the truth:Feedback is rarely comfortable.But avoiding it costs far more.Great leaders choose the kind of discomfort that makes them better.Agreed?-----Connect with the Host, #1 bestselling author Ben FanningSpeaking and Training inquiresSubscribe to my Youtube channelLinkedInInstagramTwitter
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 communities raise more, keep more, and invest directly into the programs that shape students’ futures. Dennis shared the line that defines his entire model:“We align ourselves with our schools… when they’re successful, we’re successful.”This isn’t marketing.It’s business architecture.And it’s one of the most compelling leadership strategies I’ve seen.This episode is a masterclass in:-Engineering customer alignment into your business model-Leading with purpose without sacrificing performance-Turning shared success into a competitive advantageThe companies that endure aren’t built on extraction...They’re built on shared victories.What would it be like if you aligned more closely to your customers' success?👇 I’d love to hear your perspective..-----Follow Dennis on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dennis-levene/-----Connect with the Host, #1 bestselling author Ben FanningSpeaking and Training inquiresSubscribe to my Youtube channelLinkedInInstagramTwitter
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 + extreme ownership — changed everything.Teams started moving faster. Accountability returned. People cared again.It’s an incredible heartfelt turnaround story.If you’ve ever felt like your company lost its spark, this episode will remind you how to get it back — from the inside out.-----Follow Hugues https://www.linkedin.com/in/huguesmeyrath/-----Connect with the Host, #1 bestselling author Ben FanningSpeaking and Training inquiresSubscribe to my Youtube channelLinkedInInstagramTwitter
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 how he leads under pressure today.When we talked on Lead the Team, I was struck by how deeply that one experience reshaped his leadership philosophy.Rob shares how turning failure into fuel helped him rise to one of the top roles in a company that just completed a multi-billion-dollar IPO — and how you can do the same.If you’ve ever carried the weight of a bad call or a decision that didn’t go as planned, this conversation will help you see it differently — and lead stronger because of it.-----Follow Rob on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-hahn-12136736/-----Connect with the Host, #1 bestselling author Ben FanningSpeaking and Training inquiresSubscribe to my Youtube channelLinkedInInstagramTwitter
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 not theory — it’s execution, culture, and results working in sync.If you’re leading a team, scaling a company, or just trying to build something that lasts…This episode shows how to align purpose with performance — and win the right way.-----Follow Jed on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jedalexanderberger/-----Connect with the Host, #1 bestselling author Ben FanningSpeaking and Training inquiresSubscribe to my Youtube channelLinkedInInstagramTwitter
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 servicing ICEE machines. That humble start shaped everything about how he leads today.His guiding principle...Care for people first.That simple mindset turned a frozen drink into a billion-dollar leadership strategy—built on empathy, communication, and trust.You're going to love this interview beause it will remind you that real leadership isn’t about hierarchy or authority—it’s about humility, gratitude, and care.If you lead a team, run a company, or aspire to do both, Dan’s story will shift how you think about leadership.🎧 The ICEE CEO’s Secret that Became a Billion-Dollar Leadership Strategy-----Connect with the Host, #1 bestselling author Ben FanningSpeaking and Training inquiresSubscribe to my Youtube channelLinkedInInstagramTwitter
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 lower.That’s "Bezos' Law":The tighter the constraint, the bigger the breakthrough.I was honestly in awe hearing how that single challenge reshaped Amazon’s design culture — and even more amazed at how Chai is now weaving that same mindset into ActiveCampaign’s AI to help small and midsize businesses scale faster, smarter, and simpler.It’s inspiring stuff — and it’ll change how you think about innovation, leadership, and speed.🎧 Hear the full story on the interview — it’s one of those “I’ll never build the same way again” moments.Your Turn: Have you ever had one short, sharp lesson from a leader that completely changed how you think or work?-----Follow Chai on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/atreya/-----Connect with the Host, #1 bestselling author Ben FanningSpeaking and Training inquiresSubscribe to my Youtube channelLinkedInInstagramTwitter
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 could handle.That rejection didn’t end his path — it defined it.He stopped asking for chances and started creating them.“You’re the steward of your own career,” he told me.“If you’re not driving it, you’re going to get the default.”Sometimes the most powerful motivation isn’t belief from others —it’s the doubt they hand you.Ever been told you weren’t ready?What did you do next?-----Follow Dan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielfaulkner/-----Connect with the Host, #1 bestselling author Ben FanningSpeaking and Training inquiresSubscribe to my Youtube channelLinkedInInstagramTwitter
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