Welcome to The Voice of Retail podcast. My name is Michael LeBlanc, and I am your host. This podcast is produced in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada. 

Meet Chief Strategy Officer and now author Chelsey Paulson as she takes us through her experience accelerating business cultures for long-term success, articulated in her fabulous new book The Culture Climb: How To Build A Work Culture That Maximizes Your Impact.

Links mentioned in the interview:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/chelsey-paulson/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/keystonegroupintl/

www.thecultureclimb.com

www.keystonegroupintl.com

https://www.instagram.com/keystonegroupintl/

About

Chelsey Paulson is a Culture Strategist & Business Growth Guide at Keystone Group International. Prior to joining Keystone, Chelsey lead the People + Culture initiatives at NCBP, a retail point of sale and managed service organization with 15 locations and an active M&A strategy. Chelsey has over 15 years of VAR experience and built her career around being a strategic partner within the executive team, molding and growing the culture and focusing on strategic people initiatives that aligned with the organizations business initiatives such as internal communications, career and leadership development, succession planning, and aligning the right people in the right seats within the optimal organizational structure. 

In addition, Chelsey has been involved on multiple boards and has been the Chair for two Board of Directors where she had the opportunity to coach and mentor the Executive Director and President/CEO of the organizations.

Chelsey’s area of expertise is in implementing a Strategic Foundation and Growth Strategy, Culture Revolution, Leadership Academy’s, and Executive Coaching. Chelsey is passionate about creating a lasting impact on businesses, especially when it comes to growth within the business, culture, and leadership team. She does this by using her Superpowers of positive energy and being a constant learner of new information, strategies, and skills to challenge and push clients + leaders to break through the ceiling to the next level.

About Michael

Michael is the Founder & President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc. and a Senior Advisor to Retail Council of Canada and the Bank of Canada as part of his advisory and consulting practice. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, Today's Shopping Choice and Pandora Jewellery.   

Michael has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. He has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions with C-level executives and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels. ReThink Retail has added Michael to their prestigious Top Global Retail Influencers list for 2023 for the third year in a row. 

Michael is also the president of Maven Media, producing a network of leading trade podcasts, including Canada's top retail industry podcast, The Voice of Retail. He produces and co-hosts Remarkable Retail with best-selling author Steve Dennis, now ranked one of the top retail podcasts in the world. 

Based in San Francisco, Global eCommerce Leaders podcast explores global cross-border issues and opportunities for eCommerce brands and retailers. 

Last but not least, Michael is the producer and host of the "Last Request Barbeque" channel on YouTube, where he cooks meals to die for - and collaborates with top brands as a food and product influencer across North America.

Michael LeBlanc is the president and founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and now, media entrepreneur.  He has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. 

Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels, most recently on the main stage in Toronto at Retail Council of Canada’s Retail Marketing conference with leaders from Walmart & Google.  He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, CanWest Media, Pandora Jewellery, The Shopping Channel and Retail Council of Canada to his advisory, speaking and media practice.

Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including the award-winning No.1 independent retail industry podcast in America, Remarkable Retail with his partner, Dallas-based best-selling author Steve Dennis; Canada's top retail industry podcast The Voice of Retail and Canada's top food industry and one of the top Canadian-produced management independent podcasts in the country, The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois from Dalhousie University in Halifax.

Rethink Retail has recognized Michael as one of the top global retail experts for the fourth year in a row, Thinkers 360 has named him on of the Top 50 global thought leaders in retail, RTIH has named him a top 100 global though leader in retail technology and Coresight Research has named Michael a Retail AI Influencer.  If you are a BBQ fan, you can tune into Michael’s cooking show, Last Request BBQ, on YouTube, Instagram, X and yes, TikTok.

Michael is available for keynote presentations helping retailers, brands and retail industry insiders explaining the current state and future of the retail industry in North America and around the world.