Ben Freakley, Lieutenant General (Ret), is the first military leader I’ve had the opportunity to interview for this bold leader series, and boy did I get lucky. Now Special Advisor to the President of ASU for Leadership Initiatives, a Senior Advisor to The McCain Institute for International Leadership and former Eagle Scout, one of the…
Phil Soran is a bold leader who knows himself very well. Not in a braggadocios way but in a confident, warm, and engaging way. Before committing to the actual interview, Phil wanted a conversation and asked me more questions than anyone I’ve interviewed to date. I thought that was great! And interesting. Through our two…
I’ve found that bold leaders are drawn to organizations under some kind of negative or positive stress. Jodi Prohofsky was drawn to a company grappling with both, simultaneously. Jodi’s team, responsible for billions in provider and supplier contracts, is part of a massive effort at WalMart to make healthcare more accessible and affordable. Imagine: the…
The latter part of the title is the beginning of a quote from my conversation with Sam Yagan, CEO of Match.com. The whole quote is: “Fail because you are trying, not because you are not trying.” It is probably a good example of why Time Magazine in 2013 named him one of “the 100 most influential people in…
Chris Malecek, an Aveus Advisory Board member, suggested I interview bold leader Sara Gavin, President of Weber Shandwick North America. I’ve known Chris and relied on his always clear, on point advice for decades. All that time, Chris has worked with and for Sara. So when he suggested her for this series, I was thrilled….
I recently had the opportunity to interview Marcee Chmait, President of Spendwell Health. Spendwell Health provides consumer transparency by allowing consumers (currently participants in high deductible health plans through large self-insured employers) to shop for healthcare providers and medical services online, see an actual retail price they will pay in advance of the visit, and…
There are whole sections in business libraries and bookstores dedicated to the topic of leadership. What it is. What it requires. Masters write about it and rewrite about it over and over again. Some new and long established names you may have read: Peter Drucker, John Kotter, Seth Godin, Warren Bennis, Daniel Pink, Gary Hamel, Steven…
I’ve known Mary Jeffries since she was the CFO of a startup PR firm in Minneapolis more years ago than either of us will admit. Many from those days would credit Mary with doing “whatever it takes” to push through challenges, taking the organization to the next level. One example is when Mary was seen…
I recently conducted a bold leader interview with Charlotte Otto and shared what she learned from being at the center of communications at P&G over 33 years. (Click here to read part 1.) During our conversation, Charlotte shared a story about THE leader at P&G who defined “bold” in the phrase bold leader. This is her…
Charlotte Otto was the person, P&G leadership turned to for communication counsel in times of positive and negative stress. For 20 of her 33 years at the company, she was at the center of communications, working with 5 CEOs and many bold leaders.
