Lead the Team (Top 2% of Podcasts)

Ben Fanning
  • 4.8 (67)
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  • Updated Weekly

Real CEOs. Real Stories. Hosted by Ben Fanning—2025 Gold Stevie Award winner for Best Business Podcast and ranked in the Top 2% globally—Lead the Team draws on over 600 CEO interviews to take you inside the minds of leaders from brands like Honeywell, HP, IBM, Dunkin’, and L’Oréal. In each episode, you’ll hear raw, unfiltered stories of leading through rapid growth, high-stakes decisions, and make-or-break moments—plus the CEO-tested tools and strategies they use to build high-performing teams. From turning around billion-dollar brands to sparking innovation at scale, these leaders share lessons you can put into action right now to lead your own team better. Subscribe now. ------------- https://www.benfanning.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/benfanning/

  1. Box COO: If Nothing Feels Broken, You're Moving Too Slowly | Olivia Nottebohm

    8h ago

    Box COO: If Nothing Feels Broken, You're Moving Too Slowly | Olivia Nottebohm

    AI is changing leadership faster than most executives can lead their team. In this episode of Lead the Team, Ben Fanning sits down with Olivia Nottebohm, COO of Box, to discuss why the companies that win technology shifts aren't the ones with the perfect strategy—they're the ones willing to move before they have all the answers. After helping scale Google Cloud, Dropbox, Notion, and now Box, Olivia shares the leadership frameworks she's used to navigate some of the biggest technology shifts of the last two decades. You'll learn:How to make faster decisions without having all the information.How to turn AI anxiety into optimism across your organization.What separates the companies that win technology shifts from the ones that get left behind.Why speed beats certainty during periods of massive change.How elite leaders build teams that thrive under pressure. Whether you're a CEO, executive, founder, or ambitious professional navigating leadership in the AI era, this episode will challenge the way you think about decision-making, organizational transformation, and leading through uncertainty. Chapters00:00 – If Nothing Feels Broken, You're Moving Too Slowly 02:02 – The Biggest AI Mistake Leaders Are Making 03:59 – Why Speed Beats Certainty 07:54 – Reinventing Organizations for the AI Era 09:16 – Turning AI Anxiety into Optimism 14:16 – Why Data Strategy Determines AI Success 17:40 – Leading Teams Through High-Pressure Sprints 22:22 – The Culture Behind Elite Technology Companies 25:07 – Why Great Leaders Embrace Failure 30:11 – Turning Vision into Execution 33:36 – The Transition from Consultant to Operator 36:49 – Why Empathy Makes Leaders More Effective 42:51 – Olivia's Final Leadership Advice Ben Fanning interviews world-class executives, founders, and leadership experts to uncover the real-world lessons shaping modern organizations. Topics include AI leadership, executive psychology, high-performance teams, decision-making, organizational transformation, communication, and leadership under pressure. Follow Lead the Team for weekly conversations designed to help you become the leader others want to follow.

    44 min
  2. How Great Leaders Eliminate Team Silos | TeamViewer CRO, Mark Banfield

    Jun 28

    How Great Leaders Eliminate Team Silos | TeamViewer CRO, Mark Banfield

    When growth pressure hits an organization, it triggers a hidden survival instinct: teams become political, siloed, and reactive. Most executives try to solve this by pushing harder—but driving pace without dignity is exactly how you destroy organizational trust. In this episode of Lead The Team, Ben Fanning sits down with Mark Banfield, Chief Revenue Officer at TeamViewer (and former CEO of 1e), to break down what it actually takes to scale a high-growth SaaS business across private equity and public markets without causing massive team burnout. Mark shares the exact framework required to create "constructive interference"—a powerful force multiplier that aligns every single employee, from the front lines to the C-suite, toward a singular North Star. This conversation covers: • The early warning signs that your company is becoming political instead of mission-driven • Pace vs. Dignity: How to demand high execution without breaking your team's culture • The transition from CRO to CEO: What leading revenue can never prepare you for • Trust vs. Surveillance: The reality of implementing autonomous tech and AI in the workspace Whether you’re a CEO, executive, founder, or ambitious professional navigating modern leadership under extreme market pressure, this episode will fundamentally change how you balance performance with human relationships. Chapters 00:00 – The growth pressure mistake most executives make 02:18 – The CASE framework for authentic leadership trust 05:15 – Early warning signs of toxic organizational silos 07:45 – Pace vs. Dignity: Balancing pressure and human relationships 09:35 – CRO to CEO: The brutal reality of total accountability 14:10 – Lessons from competitive swimming: Mindset, monotony, and discipline 22:14 – Trust vs. Surveillance: The future of autonomous AI workforce tech 37:04 – Constructive Interference: How to build a true force multiplier Ben Fanning interviews top executives, CEOs, founders, and business leaders to uncover the real-world leadership lessons shaping modern organizations. Topics include executive psychology, high-performance teams, SaaS scaling strategy, crisis leadership, private equity growth, organizational transformation, and building trust in the AI era. Subscribe for weekly conversations on leadership under pressure, executive performance, team alignment, and building resilient organizations. Boost your productivity and decision-making—get vital insights from each episode delivered directly to your inbox at: http://benfanning.com/insight #leadership #ExecutiveLeadership #TeamAlignment #HighPerformanceTeams #SaaSLeadership #BusinessPodcast #LeadTheTeam ----- Connect with the Host, #1 bestselling author Ben Fanning Speaking and Training inquires Subscribe to my Youtube channel LinkedIn Instagram Twitter

    41 min
  3. How Resource-Starved Teams Use AI to Beat Massive Budgets | CEO Bonterra, Scott Brighton

    Jun 24

    How Resource-Starved Teams Use AI to Beat Massive Budgets | CEO Bonterra, Scott Brighton

    What if the organizations doing some of the most critical work in the world are being held back the most by traditional technology? In this episode of Lead The Team, Ben Fanning sits down with Scott Brighton, CEO of Bonterra, to break down a massive paradigm shift: how resource-starved, underfunded teams are leveraging agentic AI to completely transform operations and defeat massive budgets. Scott reveals the exact operational playbooks behind "capacity amplification"—explaining how agentic AI can function like hiring five or six additional staff members to reactivate lost revenue streams at scale without increasing your headcount. But with rapid tech adoption comes severe executive pressure. We dive into the hard governance lines leaders must draw regarding data privacy, automation boundaries, and human accountability. You'll discover: Capacity Amplification: How agentic AI steps in to handle data and execution workflows for lean teams.The Long Tail Strategy: Using automation to deliver high-touch, personalized donor experiences to smaller accounts at scale.The Accountability Line: Why critical decisions regarding human service delivery must always remain human.The Subscription Death: Why the traditional SaaS seat-based pricing model is dying and shifting toward outcome-based value.Harnessing Passion: Managing the high kinetic energy and internal friction of mission-driven organizations. Whether you’re a CEO, executive, founder, or ambitious professional navigating leadership under pressure in the AI era, this episode will challenge you to think differently about scaling your team and your impact. Want to boost your productivity and decision making? Get vital insights from each episode delivered directly to your inbox at BenFanning.com/Insight. ----- Connect with the Host, #1 bestselling author Ben Fanning Speaking and Training inquires Subscribe to my Youtube channel LinkedIn Instagram Twitter

    42 min
  4. BNI COO: The Networking Mistake Costing Leaders Millions (Dave Collins)

    Jun 22

    BNI COO: The Networking Mistake Costing Leaders Millions (Dave Collins)

    Most business leaders approach networking completely wrong—and it is costing them real revenue. They show up to events, hand out business cards, and try to sell directly to the room, wondering why nothing ever converts into sustainable growth. In this episode of Lead The Team, host Ben Fanning sits down with Dave Collins, the Chief Operating Officer of BNI. Dave oversees a staggering global network of 355,000 members across 76 countries that generated over $27 Billion in self-reported closed business over the last 12 months alone. Dave shares the exact structural behaviors and core mindset shifts required to transform casual interactions into a relentless, highly profitable referral machine. If you are relying purely on automated digital outreach or cold algorithms to scale your pipeline, this conversation will completely reframe your approach to modern leadership and business development. The "Selling Through" Mindset: Why you should never go to a room to sell to your network, but rather to teach them how to sell through them.The VCP Framework: A definitive breakdown of how deep Visibility leads to executive Credibility, which directly unlocks compounding Profitability.The Power of the Specific Ask: Why broad pitches fail and how targeting hyper-specific niche market seats transforms your sales pipeline.Human Networks vs. AI Disruption: Why face-to-face accountability is becoming a leader's ultimate defense against synthetic content, deep fakes, and automation fatigue.The 30-Day New City Playbook: Dave's exact operational strategy for leveraging an established network to seamlessly break into an entirely new market. [ABOUT THE GUEST]Dave Collins is the Chief Operating Officer of BNI, the world’s largest business networking and referral organization. With over 41 years of sustained global growth, BNI helps small businesses, solopreneurs, and elite executives build powerful, long-term relationship pipelines that drive massive revenue impact. [CONNECT WITH BEN]Get vital leadership insights delivered straight to your inbox: benfanning.com/insightDiscover our 5-step Profitable Podcast Framework for your organization: BenLeads.com/schedule ----- Connect with the Host, #1 bestselling author Ben Fanning Speaking and Training inquires Subscribe to my Youtube channel LinkedIn Instagram Twitter

    50 min
  5. Why Energy Became a CEO Problem | SmartestEnergy US, CEO Andy Cormie

    Jun 16

    Why Energy Became a CEO Problem | SmartestEnergy US, CEO Andy Cormie

    ENERGY GOT STRATEGIC Andy Cormie, CEO and Board Chaiir of SmartestEnergy US, shares how one hurricane, one geopolitical conflict, or one AI-driven demand spike can send a company’s energy costs from $2M a month… to $12M almost overnight. That’s not a utility problem anymore. That’s a REAL leadership problem. Most companies still think about energy as a line item on a bill. But according to Andy, energy is rapidly becoming: a margin issuea board issuea risk issueand potentially a competitive advantage. One line that hit me hard: “Boards shouldn’t be giving you a pass…” Especially as AI, data centers, aging infrastructure, and geopolitical instability continue reshaping global energy demand. The leaders who win over the next decade may not be the ones who react fastest after disruption. They may be the ones who planned before it arrived. What’s an operational risk most companies still underestimate right now? ----- Connect with the Host, #1 bestselling author Ben Fanning Speaking and Training inquires Subscribe to my Youtube channel LinkedIn Instagram Twitter

    37 min
  6. Why Great Leaders Don't Trust Polished Reports | John Case, CEO of Acumatica

    Jun 14

    Why Great Leaders Don't Trust Polished Reports | John Case, CEO of Acumatica

    The bigger your company gets, the more polished reports can distort vital truth. In this episode of Lead the Team, Ben Fanning sits down with John Case, CEO of Acumatica and former Microsoft executive who helped scale Office 365 into one of the most successful cloud businesses in the world. John shares why one of the most important responsibilities of leadership is creating direct access to truth before critical information gets filtered on its way up the organization. From customer conversations to strategic decision-making, he explains how great leaders stay connected to reality as their companies grow. Along the way, he shares lessons from helping drive Microsoft's transition to the cloud, scaling high-growth companies, building executive teams, and navigating the opportunities and risks of AI. You'll learn: • Why leaders must create unfiltered feedback loops with customers • How scale can separate executives from the truth they need most • Lessons from helping grow Office 365 into a global cloud powerhouse • The biggest mistakes leaders make during periods of rapid growth • Why "the job will outgrow everyone" • How to identify when a problem is really a leadership problem • Where AI should accelerate decisions—and where humans must remain in control • Why trust may become the most valuable competitive advantage in the AI era TIMESTAMPS 00:00 – What Happens When Truth Gets Filtered 01:44 – How John Case Built Unfiltered Customer Feedback Loops 08:40 – Lessons From Scaling Office 365 at Microsoft 13:36 – The Biggest Mistake Leaders Make During Rapid Growth 16:22 – "The Job Will Outgrow Everyone" 18:04 – How to Tell When a Problem Is Really a Leadership Problem 20:05 – Where AI Should (and Shouldn't) Make Decisions 22:45 – The Biggest AI Risk Most Leaders Overlook 24:16 – Why Trust Is the Ultimate Competitive Advantage 25:15 – The Career Setback That Changed Everything 27:50 – Leaving Microsoft After 16 Years 30:17 – Why AI May Be the Biggest Technology Shift in 20 Years 34:35 – Leadership, Trust, and the Future of AI 35:00 – John's Advice for Leaders Navigating What's Next Whether you're a CEO, executive, founder, or ambitious professional navigating leadership in the AI era, this conversation will help you think differently about customer insight, executive decision-making, organizational trust, and leading through rapid technological change. Subscribe to Lead the Team for weekly conversations with top executives, founders, and business leaders on leadership, AI, organizational transformation, and high-performance teams. ----- Connect with the Host, #1 bestselling author Ben Fanning Speaking and Training inquires Subscribe to my Youtube channel LinkedIn Instagram Twitter

    36 min
  7. The AI Mistake Costing Companies Millions (iMerit CEO Radha Basu)

    Jun 10

    The AI Mistake Costing Companies Millions (iMerit CEO Radha Basu)

    AI is changing leadership faster than most executives realize, pushing teams to move at a speed that introduces multi-million dollar operational blindspots. In this episode of Lead The Team, Ben Fanning sits down with Radha Basu, Founder & CEO of iMerit, to break down why "right beats fast" when scaling technology. Discover how to navigate high-stakes AI disruption, structure true organizational ownership, and prevent executive burnout while leading a hyper-growth team. What You'll Learn in This Episode: How a missing piece of real-world context nearly triggered chaos in an autonomous vehicle model.The exact moment Radha risked losing an industry-leading client by refusing to drop her quality standards for speed.The 4 mission-critical AI roles leaders need to scale machine judgment safely.The Radical Feedback Loop: Overcoming executive burnout by building an organizational culture that talks back.The Slack Rule: Why data trainers must have a direct line to the CTO. ----- Connect with the Host, #1 bestselling author Ben Fanning Speaking and Training inquires Subscribe to my Youtube channel LinkedIn Instagram Twitter

    37 min
  8. How to Build an AI-Native Company (KK, CEO of Ascendion)

    May 27

    How to Build an AI-Native Company (KK, CEO of Ascendion)

    AI IS REBUILDING LEADERS KK, CEO of Ascendion, believes most companies are still thinking about AI too small-scale. The leaders pulling ahead are rebuilding how they operate. And that’s a very different conversation! KK walked away from one of the world’s largest IT services companies because he could already see the old model starting to crack: More headcount. More layers. More complexity. Meanwhile, AI was changing how decisions get made, how work gets executed, and what great leadership actually looks like going forward. One of my favorite moments was when he said the first move every CEO should make is building an AI agent for themselves first. Not for the company but for themselves. Because your team can tell pretty quickly whether leadership is truly embracing change… or just asking everyone else to do it. I think that’s the real shift happening right now. AI isn’t just changing technology. It’s rebuilding leaders. What’s one part of your workflow you’d trust an AI agent to help you with today? ----- Follow KK here on LinkedIn Learn more about Ascendion ----- Connect with the Host, #1 bestselling author Ben Fanning Speaking and Training inquires Subscribe to my Youtube channel LinkedIn Instagram Twitter

    14 min
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4.8
out of 5
67 Ratings

About

Real CEOs. Real Stories. Hosted by Ben Fanning—2025 Gold Stevie Award winner for Best Business Podcast and ranked in the Top 2% globally—Lead the Team draws on over 600 CEO interviews to take you inside the minds of leaders from brands like Honeywell, HP, IBM, Dunkin’, and L’Oréal. In each episode, you’ll hear raw, unfiltered stories of leading through rapid growth, high-stakes decisions, and make-or-break moments—plus the CEO-tested tools and strategies they use to build high-performing teams. From turning around billion-dollar brands to sparking innovation at scale, these leaders share lessons you can put into action right now to lead your own team better. Subscribe now. ------------- https://www.benfanning.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/benfanning/

Information

  • Creator
    Ben Fanning
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    463
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026 Ben Fanning

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