The Strategy Skills Podcast: Strategy | Leadership | Critical Thinking | Problem-Solving 598: From Gas Station Cashier to Billion-Dollar CEO with Shirin Behzadi
Nov 3, 2025
Shirin Behzadi, a former gas station cashier turned billion-dollar CEO and author, shares her incredible journey from adversity to corporate success. She reveals how a strong vision and resilience shaped her leadership style. Shirin discusses the importance of asking for opportunities, finding the secret sauce to scale businesses, and leveraging personal growth through challenges. Additionally, she explores the future of leadership in an AI-driven world, emphasizing the need for aligning technology with human strengths.
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Vision Manifested With A Business Card
- Shirin printed a CEO business card while working as a gas-station cashier to make her vision tangible.
- She declared to a customer she would run a big company and treated that as an expectation, not a dream.
Ask Even When Others Doubt You
- Ask for opportunities even if others say you won't get them; test assumptions.
- Shirin asked for an internship at a Big Eight firm and won one despite discouragement.
Leaving Safety To Become CFO At 28
- Shirin left EY despite strong reviews to avoid being confined to auditing and to be an engaged mother.
- She asked a client CEO for the CFO role and became CFO of a large mortgage bank at 28.
