Send us a text

Jim Bramlett never expected to find his calling helping other business leaders navigate their challenges. After four decades in transportation and logistics, followed by entrepreneurial ventures that taught him hard-earned lessons about leadership, Jim discovered that what leaders need most is meaningful connection with peers who understand their unique challenges.

"It is lonely at the top," Jim explains, drawing from personal experience founding a dot-com company in 1999. "I couldn't take all my issues to the board because then they're going to go—we don't have the right guy in the chair." That isolation led to mistakes he now helps others avoid through his work leading Vistage peer groups in Kansas City.

This conversation explores the fundamentals of creating business value through Jim's four customer buying criteria: convenience, transparent pricing, excellent user experience, and trustworthiness. "I believe time is our most precious commodity, not money," Jim shares. "We know how much money we have. We don't know how much time we have." This insight forms the foundation of his customer-centric approach to business innovation.

Jim's candid reflections on his leadership missteps reveal the importance of intentional culture-building and strategic planning—elements he initially overlooked as a new CEO. His journey from logistics executive to failed retiree (he lasted just three months before seeking purpose-driven work again) to leadership coach demonstrates how our greatest struggles often become our most valuable teaching tools.

Perhaps most compelling is Jim's perspective on leadership as coaching. Drawing parallels to NFL defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, Jim challenges leaders to stop forcing performance and start inspiring it. "You can't force anybody to improve. You can't force anybody to do their best. You can't force anybody to be motivated. You have to inspire them." Ready to become the kind of leader whose team would proudly wear a shirt saying "In You We Trust"? This conversation shows the way.

Connect with Jim:  

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimbramlett1/

https://www.jimbramlett.com/

Follow us on LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/rhondajhale/ and https://www.linkedin.com/in/katieervin/

www.jolyean.com

www.katieervin.com

Measure what matters. Lead with purpose. Take the LEADERs Catalyst Index: https://katieervin.com/catalyst-score/

Theme music by Emma Jo https://emmajo.rocks/