The Executive Appeal with Alex D. Tremble

Alex D. Tremble
  • 5.0 (7)
  • Management
  • Updated Biweekly

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. Jul 22

    EP 231: Multi-Location CEO Leadership: Building a Bench You Can Trust to Lead

    Most CEOs don't run out of good ideas as they grow, they run out of leaders ready to carry them. The real ceiling on your expansion isn't demand or capital, it's how many people you trust to make the call without you. Brian Bruckner is President of Bruckner Truck and Equipment, a multi-location Mack and Volvo dealer with more than 45 locations across 10 states and over a thousand employees. He's spent his entire career in the family business, working his way up from the shop floor to leading one of the largest truck dealership groups in the country. In this conversation, Brian breaks down what it actually took to move from a three-location shop to a 45-location operation without becoming the bottleneck on every decision. The core problem: as your company grows, you can't keep being the one person who has to sign off on everything. The fix isn't motivation, it's a deliberate system for building leaders before you need them. You'll learn: How to spot "informal leaders" on your team before they hold a formal titleA practical framework for developing an intern and emerging-leader pipeline, even at a smaller companyWhy letting go of decisions gets harder as you grow, and how to do it anywayHow a culture of trust and integrity makes real delegation possibleWhat changes on your calendar once your leaders start owning decisions instead of escalating them This is for you if you're still the one every regional manager calls first, if you're not sure your team could run a location the way you would, or if you know your growth is capped by how much you personally can oversee. Listen now, and take the free Scorecard Diagnostic to find your specific leadership bottleneck: https://gpsleadership.org/scorecard/

    EP 231: Multi-Location CEO Leadership: Building a Bench You Can Trust to Lead

  2. Jul 15

    EP 230: For Multi-Location Leaders Whose People Stay Silent Until It's Too Late

    If you're not hearing the truth from your leadership bench until something's already broken, this episode is for you. Alex D. Tremble sits down with Mark Phillips, Vice President of Operations at Sharkey Transportation, Inc., a multi-entity trucking company running multiple shops, drop lots, and equipment lines. Mark walks through how he rebuilt trust with a newly assembled leadership team fast enough to get 90-day buy-in on a vision he originally expected to take six months, and why lasting trust starts with the CEO's own posture, not a new policy. In this conversation, you'll learn: - Why coaching people "with" them instead of "at" them gets you the truth sooner, not just agreement - How treating team members as individuals with their own story, not interchangeable labor, builds ownership across locations - Why redefining "toughness" from silence to honesty stops small problems from turning into resignations - How leading with visible vulnerability, not authority, earns faster buy-in from a leadership bench you didn't hire yourself - What changes across your locations once people stop filtering bad news on the way up to you This is for you if your team looks solid on paper but you suspect problems get smoothed over before they reach your desk, or if you've inherited a leadership team and need real buy-in faster than the usual six-month runway. Listen now, and take the free Scorecard Diagnostic to find your specific leadership bottleneck: https://gpsleadership.org/scorecard/

    EP 230: For Multi-Location Leaders Whose People Stay Silent Until It's Too Late

  3. Jul 8

    EP 229: How Multi-Location CEOs Escape Being the Only Decision-Maker in the Room

    Two years and a significant investment into a technology decision, Simon Kaye recognized it was the wrong call and walked away, even as his own vendor questioned how he could abandon that much sunk cost. That willingness to admit a mistake and act on it is central to how Jaguar Freight has operated for over 33 years without every decision escalating back to Simon's desk. Simon Kaye is the founder and CEO of Jaguar Freight, a global logistics company he built from a single office in 1993 into a fully distributed operation trusted by leading global brands, powered by his proprietary Cybertrax platform. In this episode of The Executive Appeal, Simon discusses: Building a culture where employees are expected to challenge leadership decisionsWhy admitting a mistake early is a leadership strength, not a weaknessHow cutting a failing initiative early protects margin more effectively than defending itThe hidden risk created by client concentrationWhere AI fits as a complement to people, not a replacement for judgment This conversation is for CEOs and executives who are still the final approval on every major decision, or whose leadership teams tend to tell them what they want to hear rather than what they need to know. Listen to the full episode and take the free Scorecard Diagnostic to identify your organization's leadership bottleneck: https://gpsleadership.org/scorecard/

    EP 229: How Multi-Location CEOs Escape Being the Only Decision-Maker in the Room

  4. Jul 1

    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/

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

  5. Jun 17

    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/

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

  6. Jun 10

    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/

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

  7. Jun 3

    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/

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

  8. May 27

    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.

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

About

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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