The Executive Appeal with Alex D. Tremble

Alex D. Tremble
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The Executive Appeal is the show for CEOs of early eight‑figure, operations‑heavy companies who feel like the business only really moves when they push. If you’re running a $10M–$25M company and every big decision still rolls up to you… your leaders are smart but misaligned… and you’re tired of being the hero that keeps everything moving… this is your room. Host Alex D. Tremble – Industrial‑Organizational Psychologist, bestselling author, and CEO of GPS Leadership Solutions – sits down with CEOs and senior leaders (especially from multi‑location and logistics / industrial services businesses) to talk about what it actually takes to: Stop being the bottleneck in every major decision Build leaders who own problems and bring solutions Install a simple leadership operating system so the company runs fast without you in every fire You’ll hear unfiltered stories about wins, misses, and the behavior changes that made the biggest difference – not canned talking points. Alongside CEO interviews, Alex releases occasional short solo episodes breaking down specific leadership behaviors, operating rhythms, and 90‑day plays you can apply directly in your company. New episodes available on all major podcast platforms and YouTube. If you want a company that can run without you carrying it on your back, hit play.

  1. EP 228: Why Multi-Location CEOs Can't Let Silence Become the Story

    hace 2 días

    EP 228: Why Multi-Location CEOs Can't Let Silence Become the Story

    You can't be in every branch, every day. So when something goes unresolved, your people fill that silence themselves, and it isn't always with the truth. Matt Schroeder is President of Truck Equipment, Inc., a heavy-duty parts, repair, and equipment upfitting company with five locations across Wisconsin and Michigan, recently named 2025 Distributor of the Year at Heavy Truck Aftermarket Week. In this episode, Matt gets candid about a challenge nearly every multi-location CEO faces: getting leaders across branches to actually own communication and development, instead of treating it as a distraction from "real work." Matt and host Alex D. Tremble dig into what happens when a CEO can't be everywhere: how silence between locations gets filled with assumptions, how unresolved issues turn into stories nobody asked for, and why getting ahead of a conversation matters more than getting it perfect. You'll learn: - How to frame leadership development so resistant managers buy in instead of push back - Why "assess before you fix" prevents CEOs from solving the wrong problem - How silence between locations quietly becomes someone else's version of the truth - A simple mental model for separating your expectations from actual facts - How to build cross-branch collaboration so problems get solved locally, not escalated This is for you if you're still the one making time to visit branches just to keep the real story straight, or if you suspect your leadership bench is filling in gaps you haven't addressed yet. Listen now, and take the free Scorecard Diagnostic to find your specific leadership bottleneck: https://gpsleadership.org/scorecard/

    37 min
  2. EP 227: Why Multi-Location CEOs Are One Departure Away From a Serious Execution Problem

    17 jun

    EP 227: Why Multi-Location CEOs Are One Departure Away From a Serious Execution Problem

    If you're running a multi-location, operations-heavy business in the eight-figure range and you still can't name three people who could step into a critical leadership role tomorrow, this episode is for you. Alex D. Tremble sits down with Jamila Cowan, NA Public Sector Programs & Partnerships Strategy Lead at Dell Technologies, where she has spent nearly two decades in senior leadership roles spanning global service delivery, sustainability, ESG partnerships, and cross-sector strategy. Jamila has represented Dell at the United Nations, the World Bank, and the White House Leadership Development Program, leading high-stakes, multi-stakeholder initiatives across government, education, and industry. In this conversation, Jamila and Alex dig into one of the most overlooked proactivity problems in growing companies: the failure to intentionally develop the next tier of leadership before the seat is empty. You'll learn: - Why reactive talent development leaves CEOs as the permanent decision bottleneck across locations - How exposure, not just training, builds leaders who can represent you in the rooms you can't be in - What happens to execution speed and trust when leaders are never brought into critical decisions before they need to make them - Why the loudest person in the room is rarely the best choice for your next key role and what to look for instead - How failing to communicate through change causes your team to fill in the gaps with their own conclusions, and why that kills execution This episode is for you if: you've delayed succession planning because it never feels urgent until someone walks out the door, and you realize nobody is ready to step up. Listen now, and take the free Scorecard Diagnostic to find your specific leadership bottleneck: 👉 https://gpsleadership.org/scorecard/

    37 min
  3. EP 226: From Intern to President | How to Build an Operations Team That Leads Without You

    10 jun

    EP 226: From Intern to President | How to Build an Operations Team That Leads Without You

    If your team is talented on paper but problems still roll up to you before they get handled, this episode is for you. Andrea Piering is the co-owner and president of Sun State Builders, one of Arizona's longest-running design-build general contractors. She started as a college intern, spent 25+ years working nearly every role in the company, and took the helm as president in 2024. She knows what it actually takes to build a team that executes without the CEO embedded in every decision. In this conversation, Andrea and host Alex dig into the leadership behaviors that determine whether your team owns problems proactively or waits for you to find them. You'll learn: - Why relationship investment with your leadership bench isn't soft, it's the foundation that makes honest feedback and hard conversations possible - How Andrea's field teams catch and fix quality issues before she ever sees them, and the cultural standard that makes that repeatable - What it actually looks like to model accountability as a president, including covering a midnight concrete pour when the team needed it - How to start stepping out of day-to-day operations without losing touch with the business fundamentals that matter - Why proactivity is a leadership standard you set, not a personality trait you hire for If you're still the person who finds the problems first, still the one who has to push for ownership, or still watching decisions stall until they hit your desk, this episode gives you a clear picture of what a proactive, execution-focused culture actually looks like from the inside. Listen now, and take the free Scorecard Diagnostic to find your specific leadership bottleneck: https://gpsleadership.org/scorecard/

    44 min
  4. EP 225: How CEOs Get Their Teams Focused on What Actually Moves the Business

    3 jun

    EP 225: How CEOs Get Their Teams Focused on What Actually Moves the Business

    If your leadership team is always busy but never quite focused on the right things and you're still the one who has to sort out which initiatives actually matter, this episode is for you. Teresa Duran, Chief Information Officer at Tree Top Inc., is an award-winning technology executive with over two decades of experience leading large-scale transformations across multiple industries, including biotech, pharma, and nonprofit. She was recognized with the 2023 SeattleCIO ORBIE Award for leading the largest transformation in Make-A-Wish America's 43-year history. In this conversation, Teresa unpacks why organizations, even well-resourced ones, keep chasing the wrong priorities, and how the CEOs and CIOs who actually move fast build simple, repeatable filters so their leaders can make better calls without waiting for direction from the top. You'll learn: - Why "too many initiatives" is a leadership structure problem, not a workload problem and the top-five filter that cuts the noise fast - How to tell the difference between what's important and what actually has impact at the company level - What effective decision-making looked like when Teresa's team delivered a three-year technology roadmap in one year, during COVID - Why bringing your technology leader into M&A and divestiture planning early reduces risk and increases your company's attractiveness to buyers - How to prepare your leadership bench to stay ahead of AI disruption without chasing every tool that hits the market If your regional managers or functional leaders are still running to you every time something feels uncertain, or your company is spending money on tools and projects that aren't moving the needle, this episode gives you a practical framework to change that. Listen now. Then share this with another CEO or operator who's tired of sorting through the noise so their team doesn't have to. 📊 Take the free Executive Leadership Diagnostic and find out exactly where your leadership bottlenecks are hiding: https://gpsleadership.org/diagnostic/

    43 min
  5. EP 224: The Real Reason Operators Can't Step Away And How One CEO Fixed It

    27 may

    EP 224: The Real Reason Operators Can't Step Away And How One CEO Fixed It

    If you're running a multi-location, operations-heavy company and you're still the person every major decision runs through, this episode is a direct conversation about why that's happening and what it actually takes to change it. Anthony Apa, President of Mark-It Express LLC and a third-generation operator in transportation and logistics, built a portfolio spanning asset-based trucking, freight brokerage, warehousing, and supply chain services. He's done the hard thing: scaled past the point where the business runs on his daily presence alone. In this episode, he breaks down exactly how and how long it took. You'll learn: - Why most CEOs at this level hit a trust ceiling around the 80% mark, and why waiting for 100% certainty is what keeps you stuck - How Tony vets outside advisors and coaches (the non-negotiable credential that disqualifies most of them immediately) - Why venting down the org chart quietly destroys your team's confidence, and what to do instead - How tolerating the wrong high performer costs you your best people and your culture - What finally signaled to Tony, in a single moment after a dinner with his wife, that he had built the right leadership bench If every high-stakes decision still lands on your desk first, if you haven't taken real time away without your phone running hot, or if you're not fully confident your regional and senior leaders will own the right calls without you, this episode gives you a framework, not a pep talk. Listen now, and take the free Scorecard Diagnostic to find your specific leadership bottleneck: 👉 https://gpsleadership.org/scorecard/ Share this episode with another operator who needs to hear it.

    52 min
  6. EP 223: How CEOs Can Stop Every Decision Rolling Back Up

    20 may

    EP 223: How CEOs Can Stop Every Decision Rolling Back Up

    What happens when the CEO becomes the operational bottleneck, even with a strong team in place? In this episode of The Executive Appeal, Scott Lovell shares how he transitioned from HR manager to President/CEO of SmithCo Side Dump Trailers and learned one of the hardest lessons for growing operations-heavy companies: if every major decision still depends on the CEO, growth eventually slows down. With more than 25 years helping scale SmithCo, Scott breaks down how he moved from working in the business to building a leadership team capable of owning decisions, driving execution, and leading without constant oversight. In this conversation, CEOs and operators will learn: - How to reduce “everything comes back to me” leadership patterns - Why high-performing leaders need space to lead instead of constant approval - How trust and visibility impact ownership across the organization - The operational risks of micromanaging multi-location teams - How servant leadership increases accountability, buy-in, and execution speed Scott also shares practical lessons on introducing automation without destroying trust, building leadership infrastructure before scaling, and creating succession readiness inside operations-heavy organizations. This episode is for you if: - Your managers still escalate too many problems to you - Your company has strong people but inconsistent ownership - You struggle to find time to work on the business instead of constantly firefighting inside it - You want faster execution without personally carrying every major decision Listen now and share this episode with another CEO or operator working to build a stronger, more proactive leadership team. Take the CEO Scorecard here: gpsleadership.org/scorecard

    44 min
  7. EP 222: How Leaders Build Ownership and Adapt Through Constant Change

    13 may

    EP 222: How Leaders Build Ownership and Adapt Through Constant Change

    In this episode of The Executive Appeal, Siri and Alex D. Tremble unpack what leadership really looks like when teams are moving fast, change is constant, and the pressure to adapt never stops. Sirisha “Siri” Swahari is Vice President and PMSO Sector Leader for US Global Technology Operations at CGI, where she leads global infrastructure operations, oversees multi-million-dollar portfolios, and helps drive responsible AI innovation at scale. They explore why leaders struggle with letting go, how proactive leadership creates ownership, and why resistance to change remains one of the biggest barriers to growth, even in high-performing organizations. You’ll learn: - How to shift teams from reactive execution to proactive ownership - Why adaptability is becoming one of the most important leadership skills - How leaders can make difficult “right vs. right” decisions with clarity - What causes burnout in high-performing leaders and how to prevent it - How AI is forcing organizations to rethink processes, governance, and leadership This episode is for you if: - You feel stuck solving the same problems repeatedly - Your team works hard, but ownership still falls back on you - You’re leading through rapid change and uncertainty - You want to build a healthier, more sustainable leadership approach Listen now and learn how stronger leadership habits create stronger teams, better decisions, and more resilient organizations. Take the scorecard here: gpsleadership.org/scorecard

    41 min
  8. EP 221: How Leaders of Operations Businesses Build Ownership That Reduces Daily Firefighting

    6 may

    EP 221: How Leaders of Operations Businesses Build Ownership That Reduces Daily Firefighting

    Michael Wright, Vice President of Strategic Growth at JANUS Research Group, has spent 25+ years helping organizations evolve from activity-driven execution to outcome-based performance in high-stakes environments. In this episode, he and Alex D. Tremble break down a challenge most leaders of a multi-location, operations-heavy business doing roughly eight figures in revenue face: your team is busy—but you’re still the one driving results. They explore how leaders get stuck in constant firefighting, why ownership breaks down, and how emerging tools like AI are forcing leaders to rethink how work—and leadership—actually happens. You’ll learn: How to shift your team from activity to outcome-driven executionWhat it really takes to build ownership across your leadership benchWhy leaders struggle to “let go” and how to fix it without losing controlHow to balance daily operations with long-term strategic thinkingWhere AI helps—and where it quietly increases leadership risk This is for you if: You’re still the default problem-solver for your teamYour leaders stay busy, but progress feels slowYou struggle to step out of the day-to-day without things slipping Listen now and start building a team that owns results—not just tasks. If this hits home, share it with another operator who’s feeling the same pressure.

    42 min
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The Executive Appeal is the show for CEOs of early eight‑figure, operations‑heavy companies who feel like the business only really moves when they push. If you’re running a $10M–$25M company and every big decision still rolls up to you… your leaders are smart but misaligned… and you’re tired of being the hero that keeps everything moving… this is your room. Host Alex D. Tremble – Industrial‑Organizational Psychologist, bestselling author, and CEO of GPS Leadership Solutions – sits down with CEOs and senior leaders (especially from multi‑location and logistics / industrial services businesses) to talk about what it actually takes to: Stop being the bottleneck in every major decision Build leaders who own problems and bring solutions Install a simple leadership operating system so the company runs fast without you in every fire You’ll hear unfiltered stories about wins, misses, and the behavior changes that made the biggest difference – not canned talking points. Alongside CEO interviews, Alex releases occasional short solo episodes breaking down specific leadership behaviors, operating rhythms, and 90‑day plays you can apply directly in your company. New episodes available on all major podcast platforms and YouTube. If you want a company that can run without you carrying it on your back, hit play.

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