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Lead the Team (Top 2% of Podcasts): Daily Summaries Delivered
by Ben Fanning
Real CEOs. Real Stories. Hosted by Ben Fanning, 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.
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- 5 days ago35 min
How an Underdog Beat the Market Leader | Alessio Artufo, CEO of Docebo
How do you beat the industry leader when everyone says you don't belong?In this episode of Lead The Team, Ben Fanning sits down with Alessio Artufo, CEO of Docebo, who helped transform a small Italian startup into a global SaaS leader, scaling the business from roughly $1 million to more than $200 million in ARR.Alessio shares the pivotal moments that shaped both the company and his leadership—from being underestimated because of his accent, to winning an enterprise customer that was ten times larger than Docebo's annual revenue by competing against the industry's biggest player.He also explains why authenticity beats polish, how clarity becomes a competitive advantage as organizations grow, and why the best leaders inspire rather than control.In this episode, you'll learn:How underdogs can outperform industry leadersWhy proving people wrong became Alessio's greatest source of motivationThe leadership principles behind scaling from startup to global SaaS companyHow to build teams that thrive through trust, clarity, and accountabilityWhy AI is transforming workplace learning—and what leaders need to do differentlyWhether you're building a startup, leading a growing organization, or competing against companies much larger than your own, this conversation offers practical lessons on leadership, resilience, and scaling with purpose.Chapters:00:00 – How an underdog startup challenged the market leader02:18 – Why Alessio joined a 15-person company06:39 – The challenges of expanding into North America09:22 – The customer who criticized his accent13:35 – Winning an enterprise deal against the industry's biggest competitor20:19 – Scaling a culture built on clarity and trust24:28 – How AI is reshaping workplace learning33:10 – Why great leaders choose grace over force-----Connect with the Host, #1 bestselling author Ben FanningSpeaking and Training inquiresSubscribe to my Youtube channelLinkedInInstagramTwitter
- 1 weeks ago43 min
Advanced Auto Parts CEO is Rebuilding from the Front Line | Shane O'Kelly
What separates great CEOs from everyone else?According to Shane O'Kelly, President and CEO of Advance Auto Parts, it starts by getting out of the boardroom and onto the front line.After taking over an $11 billion company with nearly 5,000 locations and more than 60,000 team members, Shane's first move wasn't another strategy meeting—it was visiting stores, listening to employees, and uncovering the leadership blind spots holding the business back.In this episode of Lead the Team, Shane shares the leadership philosophy that has guided him from West Point and Army Ranger School to leading some of America's largest organizations.You'll learn:Why leaders should never become "tourists"The power of leading from the front lineHow one store visit exposed major operational challengesWhy Advance invested $100 million in its people before it could comfortably afford toThe importance of the "Say-Do Ratio" in building trustHow to identify high-potential leaders earlyBreaking down organizational silosWhy servant leadership creates lasting business resultsThe habits Shane uses to sustain high performance under pressureWhether you lead a global enterprise or a growing team, this conversation offers practical lessons on building trust, staying connected to your people, and leading meaningful transformation.Chapters00:00 Introduction01:43 The Ranger School failure that shaped Shane's leadership08:21 His first days leading an $11 billion company09:07 Why every CEO should start on the front line12:00 "Don't be a tourist" leadership14:25 The $100 million investment in frontline employees15:24 The store visit that changed everything19:05 Why frontline employees tell you the truth21:09 The "Say-Do Ratio" and building credibility25:24 Fixing the employee experience first30:23 How Shane identifies future leaders35:31 Breaking down silos inside large organizations39:21 Staying healthy while leading under pressure42:16 What's next for Advance Auto PartsConnect with Ben FanningFollow Lead the Team for weekly conversations with CEOs and executive leaders on leadership, organizational transformation, AI, high-performance teams, and the future of work.-----Connect with the Host, #1 bestselling author Ben FanningSpeaking and Training inquiresSubscribe to my Youtube channelLinkedInInstagramTwitter
- 3 weeks ago31 min
Why Change Initiatives Fail | MSX Deputy CEO, Andrea Sorrenti
Most leaders think they know why people resist change—but they are usually wrong.In this episode of Lead the Team, Ben Fanning sits down with Andrea Sorrenti, Deputy CEO of MSX International, to expose the hidden truth about corporate transformation: it’s not resistance holding your team back, it’s fear.After nearly three decades leading global teams through major automotive industry shifts, Andrea shares the raw leadership lessons that only come from painful, real-world mistakes.In this episode, you’ll discover:The Discipline of Staying: Why spending 30 years at one company taught him what job-hopping never could.The "Fear" Factor: How to communicate "what's in it for them" to help your team embrace massive technological disruptions like AI.The Supplier of the Year Trap: Why winning is the exact moment you need to double down, not sit on your laurels."Pick Up the Damn Phone": Why human connection and face-to-face interaction are becoming an executive's ultimate competitive edge in an AI-driven world.Whether you’re a CEO, executive, founder, or an ambitious professional navigating leadership under pressure, this conversation will challenge you to build a culture that welcomes big ambitions.Timestamps:00:00 – The real reason teams resist change (It’s fear, not resistance)02:03 – What 30 years at one company teaches you about execution discipline04:02 – How to break out of being "pigeonholed" in your career05:11 – The crucial skill of articulating your ambition to leadership08:36 – How to reinvent yourself without losing your core identity09:38 – Getting thrown into the deep end: Andrea’s hardest career shift12:31 – Overcoming executive fear in the age of AI disruption15:11 – How MSX scales capabilities with AI while protecting human connection17:42 – "Pick Up the Damn Phone": The battle against corporate email culture19:44 – The costly mistake made after becoming Supplier of the Year22:27 – Reading your audience: A universal principle for leading across cultures24:40 – Roger Federer’s 54% rule: Processing executive failure28:04 – How radical transparency with a customer saved a failing market🔗 Connect & Grow:Get Vital Insights: Don't miss the core takeaways. Get key leadership insights delivered directly to your inbox at http://benfanning.com/insightBuild Your Corporate Podcast: Discover our 5-step profitable podcast framework to scale your brand authority. Schedule a 20-minute strategy call at http://BenLeads.com/scheduleSupport the Mission: Take 10 seconds to rate, follow, and leave a review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help more bold leaders discover the show!-----Connect with the Host, #1 bestselling author Ben FanningSpeaking and Training inquiresSubscribe to my Youtube channelLinkedInInstagramTwitter
- 3 weeks ago43 min
Box COO: If Nothing Feels Broken, You're Moving Too Slowly | Olivia Nottebohm
AI is changing leadership faster than most executives can lead their team.In this episode of Lead the Team, Ben Fanning sits down with Olivia Nottebohm, COO of Box, to discuss why the companies that win technology shifts aren't the ones with the perfect strategy—they're the ones willing to move before they have all the answers.After helping scale Google Cloud, Dropbox, Notion, and now Box, Olivia shares the leadership frameworks she's used to navigate some of the biggest technology shifts of the last two decades.You'll learn:How to make faster decisions without having all the information.How to turn AI anxiety into optimism across your organization.What separates the companies that win technology shifts from the ones that get left behind.Why speed beats certainty during periods of massive change.How elite leaders build teams that thrive under pressure.Whether you're a CEO, executive, founder, or ambitious professional navigating leadership in the AI era, this episode will challenge the way you think about decision-making, organizational transformation, and leading through uncertainty.Chapters00:00 – If Nothing Feels Broken, You're Moving Too Slowly02:02 – The Biggest AI Mistake Leaders Are Making03:59 – Why Speed Beats Certainty07:54 – Reinventing Organizations for the AI Era09:16 – Turning AI Anxiety into Optimism14:16 – Why Data Strategy Determines AI Success17:40 – Leading Teams Through High-Pressure Sprints22:22 – The Culture Behind Elite Technology Companies25:07 – Why Great Leaders Embrace Failure30:11 – Turning Vision into Execution33:36 – The Transition from Consultant to Operator36:49 – Why Empathy Makes Leaders More Effective42:51 – Olivia's Final Leadership AdviceBen Fanning interviews world-class executives, founders, and leadership experts to uncover the real-world lessons shaping modern organizations. Topics include AI leadership, executive psychology, high-performance teams, decision-making, organizational transformation, communication, and leadership under pressure.Follow Lead the Team for weekly conversations designed to help you become the leader others want to follow.
- Jun 28, 202640 min
How Great Leaders Eliminate Team Silos | TeamViewer CRO, Mark Banfield
When growth pressure hits an organization, it triggers a hidden survival instinct: teams become political, siloed, and reactive.Most executives try to solve this by pushing harder—but driving pace without dignity is exactly how you destroy organizational trust.In this episode of Lead The Team, Ben Fanning sits down with Mark Banfield, Chief Revenue Officer at TeamViewer (and former CEO of 1e), to break down what it actually takes to scale a high-growth SaaS business across private equity and public markets without causing massive team burnout.Mark shares the exact framework required to create "constructive interference"—a powerful force multiplier that aligns every single employee, from the front lines to the C-suite, toward a singular North Star.This conversation covers:• The early warning signs that your company is becoming political instead of mission-driven• Pace vs. Dignity: How to demand high execution without breaking your team's culture• The transition from CRO to CEO: What leading revenue can never prepare you for• Trust vs. Surveillance: The reality of implementing autonomous tech and AI in the workspaceWhether you’re a CEO, executive, founder, or ambitious professional navigating modern leadership under extreme market pressure, this episode will fundamentally change how you balance performance with human relationships.Chapters00:00 – The growth pressure mistake most executives make02:18 – The CASE framework for authentic leadership trust05:15 – Early warning signs of toxic organizational silos07:45 – Pace vs. Dignity: Balancing pressure and human relationships09:35 – CRO to CEO: The brutal reality of total accountability14:10 – Lessons from competitive swimming: Mindset, monotony, and discipline22:14 – Trust vs. Surveillance: The future of autonomous AI workforce tech37:04 – Constructive Interference: How to build a true force multiplier Ben Fanning interviews top executives, CEOs, founders, and business leaders to uncover the real-world leadership lessons shaping modern organizations.Topics include executive psychology, high-performance teams, SaaS scaling strategy, crisis leadership, private equity growth, organizational transformation, and building trust in the AI era. Subscribe for weekly conversations on leadership under pressure, executive performance, team alignment, and building resilient organizations.Boost your productivity and decision-making—get vital insights from each episode delivered directly to your inbox at:http://benfanning.com/insight#leadership #ExecutiveLeadership #TeamAlignment #HighPerformanceTeams #SaaSLeadership #BusinessPodcast #LeadTheTeam-----Connect with the Host, #1 bestselling author Ben FanningSpeaking and Training inquiresSubscribe to my Youtube channelLinkedInInstagramTwitter
- Jun 24, 202641 min
How Resource-Starved Teams Use AI to Beat Massive Budgets (CEO Bonterra, Scott Brighton)
What if the organizations doing some of the most critical work in the world are being held back the most by traditional technology?In this episode of Lead The Team, Ben Fanning sits down with Scott Brighton, CEO of Bonterra, to break down a massive paradigm shift: how resource-starved, underfunded teams are leveraging agentic AI to completely transform operations and defeat massive budgets.Scott reveals the exact operational playbooks behind "capacity amplification"—explaining how agentic AI can function like hiring five or six additional staff members to reactivate lost revenue streams at scale without increasing your headcount.But with rapid tech adoption comes severe executive pressure. We dive into the hard governance lines leaders must draw regarding data privacy, automation boundaries, and human accountability.You'll discover:Capacity Amplification: How agentic AI steps in to handle data and execution workflows for lean teams.The Long Tail Strategy: Using automation to deliver high-touch, personalized donor experiences to smaller accounts at scale.The Accountability Line: Why critical decisions regarding human service delivery must always remain human.The Subscription Death: Why the traditional SaaS seat-based pricing model is dying and shifting toward outcome-based value.Harnessing Passion: Managing the high kinetic energy and internal friction of mission-driven organizations.Whether you’re a CEO, executive, founder, or ambitious professional navigating leadership under pressure in the AI era, this episode will challenge you to think differently about scaling your team and your impact.Want to boost your productivity and decision making? Get vital insights from each episode delivered directly to your inbox at BenFanning.com/Insight.-----Connect with the Host, #1 bestselling author Ben FanningSpeaking and Training inquiresSubscribe to my Youtube channelLinkedInInstagramTwitter
- Jun 22, 202650 min
BNI COO: The Networking Mistake Costing Leaders Millions (Dave Collins)
Most business leaders approach networking completely wrong—and it is costing them real revenue. They show up to events, hand out business cards, and try to sell directly to the room, wondering why nothing ever converts into sustainable growth.In this episode of Lead The Team, host Ben Fanning sits down with Dave Collins, the Chief Operating Officer of BNI.Dave oversees a staggering global network of 355,000 members across 76 countries that generated over $27 Billion in self-reported closed business over the last 12 months alone.Dave shares the exact structural behaviors and core mindset shifts required to transform casual interactions into a relentless, highly profitable referral machine. If you are relying purely on automated digital outreach or cold algorithms to scale your pipeline, this conversation will completely reframe your approach to modern leadership and business development.The "Selling Through" Mindset: Why you should never go to a room to sell to your network, but rather to teach them how to sell through them.The VCP Framework: A definitive breakdown of how deep Visibility leads to executive Credibility, which directly unlocks compounding Profitability.The Power of the Specific Ask: Why broad pitches fail and how targeting hyper-specific niche market seats transforms your sales pipeline.Human Networks vs. AI Disruption: Why face-to-face accountability is becoming a leader's ultimate defense against synthetic content, deep fakes, and automation fatigue.The 30-Day New City Playbook: Dave's exact operational strategy for leveraging an established network to seamlessly break into an entirely new market.[ABOUT THE GUEST]Dave Collins is the Chief Operating Officer of BNI, the world’s largest business networking and referral organization. With over 41 years of sustained global growth, BNI helps small businesses, solopreneurs, and elite executives build powerful, long-term relationship pipelines that drive massive revenue impact.[CONNECT WITH BEN]Get vital leadership insights delivered straight to your inbox: benfanning.com/insightDiscover our 5-step Profitable Podcast Framework for your organization: BenLeads.com/schedule-----Connect with the Host, #1 bestselling author Ben FanningSpeaking and Training inquiresSubscribe to my Youtube channelLinkedInInstagramTwitter
- Jun 16, 202637 min
Why Energy Became a CEO Problem | SmartestEnergy US, CEO Andy Cormie
ENERGY GOT STRATEGICAndy Cormie, CEO and Board Chaiir of SmartestEnergy US, shares how one hurricane, one geopolitical conflict, or one AI-driven demand spike can send a company’s energy costs from $2M a month… to $12M almost overnight.That’s not a utility problem anymore.That’s a REAL leadership problem.Most companies still think about energy as a line item on a bill.But according to Andy, energy is rapidly becoming:a margin issuea board issuea risk issueand potentially a competitive advantage.One line that hit me hard:“Boards shouldn’t be giving you a pass…”Especially as AI, data centers, aging infrastructure, and geopolitical instability continue reshaping global energy demand.The leaders who win over the next decade may not be the ones who react fastest after disruption.They may be the ones who planned before it arrived.What’s an operational risk most companies still underestimate right now?-----Connect with the Host, #1 bestselling author Ben FanningSpeaking and Training inquiresSubscribe to my Youtube channelLinkedInInstagramTwitter
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About Lead the Team (Top 2% of Podcasts)
Real CEOs. Real Stories. Hosted by Ben Fanning, 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.
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