Lead the Team (Top 2% of Podcasts)

The Scaling MistakeHightouch CRO, Josh Kanagy, showed me how companies scaling fastest right now are creating their biggest future leadership problem.Companies are obsessed with scaling:• systems• process• AI• automationYes, those things matter.BUT there’s a real danger when leaders start believing scaling the system automatically scales the company.Josh learned that the hard way in a humbling quarterly business review early in his career.Because systems don’t build judgment, create confidence, or develop leaders ready for the next level.People do.The best scaling companies aren’t just building better systems.They’re building people who can rise with the company.THE BEST SCALE PEOPLE.In this conversation Josh also shares:• The humbling QBR that changed how he leads.• Why great sales leaders think like community builders.• The AI battle most executives don’t realize they’re fighting.And once you hear where Josh learned that philosophy… it changes how you think about leadership.Are we scaling our systems faster than we’re scaling our people?-----Connect with the Host, #1 bestselling author Ben FanningSpeaking and Training inquiresSubscribe to my Youtube channelLinkedInInstagramTwitter

THE TRANSFORMATION WALLRandall Troutman, Winpak's, Chief Operational Excellence Officer leads a massive $1.1 billion transformation, tasked with turning 13 independent "kingdoms" into one efficient operating system.But there’s a moment in every change effort where leaders mistake resistance for failure, and that’s when teams stop following.Randall discovered that project success is never about the initial launch; it’s about what you do when the "physics of people" takes over.We went deep into the "Valley of Despair" in this interview... ...that predictable, dangerous phase where the initial hype dies and the true energy requirement sets in.EVERY BIG project I've ever been part of hits make-or-break moment! It’s the exact point where most leaders flame out, pack up, and say, "I knew it wouldn't work".In this episode, you'll discover:- How to recognize the "Valley" phase in real-time before it stalls your progress.- Why most change efforts quietly die exactly when they should be accelerating.- The framework for keeping thousands moving when fatigue and doubt peak.- The "Visual Roadmap" Randall used to make a global crisis actionable.If your initiative feels stalled, you aren't failing....you're just hitting THE WALL.It takes a courageous leader to admit they've lost momentum, but it takes a PRO to expect it and share the map to get out.Question: Ever had a big project lose momentum? What helped?-----Connect with the Host, #1 bestselling author Ben FanningSpeaking and Training inquiresSubscribe to my Youtube channelLinkedInInstagramTwitter

That first all-hands.Patrick Dennis, CEO of Avaya, walked in expecting nerves and optimism.Instead, one question he was asked changed the room.It wasn’t dramatic or confrontational.But it was revealing.It showed to him that the organization wasn’t aligned on reality.And misalignment at that level doesn’t stay neutral. It compounds.I’ve seen this pattern more times than I can count.Leaders hear a question and assume pushback.But sometimes the question asked IS THE DATA.Sometimes the raised hand is the WARNING LIGHT.What inspired me most in our conversation was how Patrick responded.No corporate speak or protecting people from the numbers.You'll hear in our conversation how he chose to communicate with clarity, knowing it would cost comfort.That decision shifted everything and ultimately made HUGE results possible.It shifted the organization's trajectory.So, when your team asks the uncomfortable question,how often do you treat it as resistance or as information?-----Connect with the Host, #1 bestselling author Ben FanningSpeaking and Training inquiresSubscribe to my Youtube channelLinkedInInstagramTwitter

Is obsession with "The Win" actually preventing it?John Leach CEO of FLS Transportation shared with me that fixating on the win is the fastest way to lose control.He breaks down what happens when he walked away from "personality-first" leadership to build a system where success isn’t a roll of the dice.It made me reflect on some of my own team's results where we delivered short term but they weren't always sustainable. Wish I'd chatted with John years ago!We discuss:The End of the "Charismatic" Leader: Why being "outgoing" eventually fails and the specific system that must replace it.Volatility Proofing: How to lead through government-induced market shifts and economic chaos.Transactional vs. Transformational: The only shift that allows you to scale a resilient team.The CEO Secret: Why elite performers ignore the final numbers to focus on controllable actions.Stop chasing the outcome. Start mastering the activity.Question: Could your team repeat last year's wins without you looking over their shoulder?-----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

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