
Joy is The Strategy (with John Goss)
From The Business of Joy by Lisa W. Miller
April 28, 2026 · 50 min · Season 7 · Episode 7
About this episode
John Goss discusses the importance of joy as a deliberate strategy in leadership and corporate culture.
Most executives don’t put the word "joy" in their personal brand statement. John Goss does! As President of Sally Beauty, a global brand with over 2,400 stores in the US and Canada, John has built his career around the idea that joy and culture aren’t separate from results - it produces them. In this conversation, we talked about what it really means to lead with joy. Not as a feel-good concept, but as a deliberate strategy. Joy attracts the right people, builds real trust, and drives everything else. We also got into the stuff that doesn't always make it into leadership conversations: growing up as the new kid across eight schools graduating high school in Singapore and the early career moments that taught him exactly the kind of leader he never wanted to be
People in this episode
Host: Lisa W. Miller
Guest: John Goss
Topics covered
- leadership
- joy
- corporate culture
- personal branding
- trust
- career development
Keywords
- joy
- leadership
- Sally Beauty
- corporate culture
- trust
- personal brand
- career growth
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Sally Beauty
Places: Singapore
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- Why 3rd Grade Reading Levels Matter: America’s Literacy Crisis (with Carol Goglia) · March 3, 2026 · 39 min
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