CEO Coaching International Podcast

Guest: Ryan Iwamoto, Co-Founder & President of 24 Hour Home Care, which has been on the Inc. 5,000 list of the fastest growing companies for eight consecutive years. Ryan is also an entrepreneur coaching client at CEO Coaching International. Episode in a Tweet: These four tips will help your business to stop merely surviving and start thriving again. Quick Background: Andy Grove, the former Chairman and CEO of Intel, famously said, "Bad companies are destroyed by crisis. Good companies survive them. Great companies are improved by them." Much like the 2008 recession, the pandemic is exposing structural inefficiencies and stagnant thinking that many businesses were blind to while the global economy was charging ahead. Companies that have merely survived Covid-19 so far need to turn a corner, start planning, and get back to growing before "holding steady" turns into flatlining. Today's guest, Ryan Iwamoto, has successfully navigated both the Great Recession and Covid-19. He co-founded 24 Hour Home Care in 2008--during the heart of the Great Recession--with a $160,000 investment. Thanks to his decisive leadership throughout 2020, the company is on track to do over $115 million in revenue this year, despite operating in an industry that's been hit hard by the pandemic.

Guest: Jamil Nizam is the CEO of Waldom Electronics and Chris Lauret is the COO. Jamil is also an entrepreneur coaching client at CEO Coaching International. Episode in a Tweet: A first-class onboarding process will make a BIG first impression on your new team member. Quick Background: Most companies have it backward. They celebrate when someone leaves the company instead of when they join. On today's show, Jamil Nizam explains how his first-class onboarding process eased new COO Chris Lauret into his responsibilities while also giving him a new perspective on just what kind of company he was working for. Chris and Jamil also discuss how they coordinate and execute key tasks remotely so that BIG keeps happening, even at a distance.

When he started out in the restaurant business, Chris Gannon's goal was to open one great restaurant at a time. His mix of incredible flavors, first-class hospitality, and high nutritional value was such a success that in only four years Bolay expanded to 15 locations. And then Covid-19 hit. With indoor dining suddenly off the menu, Chris and his team had to make a major pivot that would allow them to sustain the business through the pandemic while also laying the groundwork for a successful future. On today's show, Chris Gannon explains how transparent leadership, all-hands-on-deck teamwork, and a commitment to community building have kept Bolay on track to make BIG happen.

Guest: Fiona Kesby, the CEO of Go-VA, which is a company that provides outsourcing services to firms around the world. She’s also an entrepreneur coaching client at CEO Coaching International. Episode in a Tweet: Strong culture and a commitment to BIG values can keep your business growing through the pandemic. Quick Background: CEOs have discovered that the culture they created before Covid-19 is playing a BIG role in how well their companies are moving through the pandemic environment. Rearranging the nuts and bolts of what you do is a heck of a lot easier if you have a clear vision of why you’re doing it, as well as strong values supporting every person and process. On today’s show, Fiona Kesby discusses how her principles have guided her virtual assistant firm through not just a Covid-19 disruption, but a full military lockdown by the Philippine government that’s one of the longest quarantines in the whole world.

Guest: Kurt Wilkin, the Co-Founder and Chief Evangelist of HireBetter, a company that "harnesses the power of talent to solve business challenges." Kurt is also an active member and officer of YPO. Episode in a Tweet: Covid-19 disruption has created a richer than usual talent pool. Take advantage and upgrade your team where you need it the most. Quick Background: At the beginning of the year, CEOs were exploring every available option to find top talent during a very tight labor market. The workplace disruption that Covid-19 caused has changed that. If you need to fill an important leadership position in your company right now, the pool of available talent is deeper than it's been in quite some time. But don’t think that means making a key hire is going to be easier. On the contrary, CEOs have to be even more careful that they’re not letting sterling resumes and shiny smiles distract them from what’s most important: hiring someone who is going to buy into your vision, enhance your culture, and help your company make BIG happen. On today’s show, Kurt Wilkin discusses effective strategies for sourcing talent and the key considerations CEOs need to make when weighing short-term needs versus long-term goals.

Guest: CEO Coaching International’s Stephen Bebis. Stephen held a variety of senior merchandising roles at Home Depot before being named the VP General Merchandise Manager for the Mid-South Division. He also founded Aikenhead's Improvement Warehouse and built it to $1 billion in sales before selling it to Home Depot. After the acquisition, Stephen served as President and CEO of Home Depot Canada and chairman of the Aikenhead/Home Depot Partnership Board. Stephen also founded Golf Town, built it to 65 stores, and took the company public. Episode in a Tweet: There's always a crisis somewhere. The best leaders have a continuous planning process and the right people to execute it. Quick Background: When Stephen Bebis joined Home Depot in 1984 the company had just 14 stores. When he left in 1990, he was running a $20 billion division as a head merchant and was the VP of the southern part of the country. And while some might look back on the ’80s and early ‘90s as a booming time for business, think about everything that happened during the 6 years that Stephen helped Home Depot grow. Two presidential elections. Black Monday, 1987. Tumult in the Middle East, including Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan. Not to mention annual hurricane seasons and other unpredictable disasters. No, running a business isn’t easy during Covid-19. But as Stephen discusses on today’s show, CEOs always have to be prepared to adjust to unforeseen circumstances and refocus their efforts on how to satisfy and grow their customer base.

We all want our customers to be happy. But what happens when they’re not? No matter how delighted your customers are when your products and services deliver as advertised, at some point, a shipment will get buried in a blizzard, software will crash, a green employee will say the wrong thing at the worst time … or a global pandemic will disrupt your supply chain. According to customer service expert Matt Dixon, how your company addresses those bumps in the road is far more critical to generating customer loyalty than all those perfect, positive experiences the customer might be taking for granted. On today’s episode, Matt discusses some insights from his book “The Effortless Experience: Conquering the New Battleground for Customer Loyalty" that will help you refocus your customer service on what really creates lasting repeat business: quick problem solving and ease of use.

 If you really want to grow your business fast, you need to build a team that will disagree with you. Does that sound counter-intuitive? Well, it worked for Abraham Lincoln. Our greatest president famously assembled a “team of rivals” in his cabinet because he wanted to work with smart people who would challenge – and improve – his thinking. So what does your “cabinet” look like? Is your C-suite full of Yes Men and Yes Women? Have you created an atmosphere where your best people are afraid to challenge you with their best ideas? Either situation can be fatal to a company’s growth, especially in today’s uncertain and rapidly fluctuating economy. Right now, every business leader is being challenged to think outside the box and find innovative solutions to today’s unprecedented problems. In this podcast, Gerry Perkel describes how building a team that disagrees with you can help a CEO not only tackle the challenges that COVID-19 presents, but successfully grow their business to new heights.

If you want your company to stay successful, then maintaining a meaningful growth rate needs to be one of your BIG annual goals. But as we’ve seen recently at companies like WeWork and Uber, chasing growth for the sake of growth just pumps your business full of hot air. Once the hype bubble bursts you could find yourself overvalued, understaffed, and bleeding cash. On today’s show, CEO Coaching International’s Tracy Tolbert lays out a more practical managed growth strategy that will get your company BIG without sacrificing profitability.

Vision. Cash. People. Relationships. Learning. Only the CEO can tackle those key responsibilities. If those five things aren’t the focus of your day, then you’re wasting your time and hurting your company. Like cutting the ad budget when you have to reduce costs, CEOs often push learning to the back burner in favor of higher-profile things like casting a vision or visiting top clients. And while vision and meeting clients are critical, so too is taking the time to learn and stay on top of the latest changes sweeping the business world. Setting aside that time might feel indulgent when we know there are projects to monitor, books to balance, and teams to manage. On today’s show, CEO Coaching International’s David Sun explains why self-improvement isn't selfish – it’s essential to mastering your space, inspiring your team, and growing your business BIG.