The Elephant in the Boardroom

Terri Long and Jeremy Eden
  • 5.0 (13)
  • BUSINESS
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

Are you struggling to improve organizational effectiveness, make better business decisions, and drive profit growth? Join us for "The Elephant in the Boardroom," the Business Insights Podcast. Discover proven leadership strategies that have helped Fortune 1000 executives increase profits through fact-based decision-making, financial discipline, and human intelligence. Learn why corporate boards fail, how to build genuine employee buy-in, and implement effective expense management. It's time to confront the inefficiencies in your organization by addressing the elephants in your boardroom.

  1. 12/30/2025

    5 New Year Resolutions Every CEO Should Make in 2026

    Heading into a new year, most leadership resolutions never make it past the kickoff memo. In this episode, co‑CEOs Jeremy Eden and Terri Long share 5 specific resolutions for CEOs and senior leaders who want measurable change. You’ll hear a real‑world “pothole” from a customer journey gone wrong, why big companies struggle to act as one company, how to get employees saying “they listened to us and acted on our ideas,” and why it’s time to replace people who drive you nuts but don’t drive you forward. Highlights Fixing customer journey “potholes” that erode trustMaking “one company” behavior a strategic and budgeting priorityGetting employees’ ideas first—before bringing in consultantsReplacing opinion‑driven decisions with fact‑driven decisionsWhy keeping the wrong people drives out your best performers

    7 min
  2. Why Employees Stay Silent: 14 Barriers Killing Innovation at Work

    12/02/2025

    Why Employees Stay Silent: 14 Barriers Killing Innovation at Work

    If you think your people "don’t have ideas," you’re wrong. They have thousands—you’re just not hearing them. Jeremy Eden and Terri Long walk through 14 reasons employees stay silent, from fear of looking foolish to decision-makers playing corporate whack-a-mole. You’ll learn how to create incentives, safety, and processes that help great ideas surface before consultants have to dig them out. Highlights Why leaders misjudge their employees’ creativity and commitmentThe real risks employees see when they suggest changesHow lack of access, analysis help, and collaboration blocks ideasWhy habit and normalization hide obvious problemsThe impact of "that’s not my job" and limited big-picture understandingHow to move beyond a small "go-to" group and involve more peopleConnect Learn more: HarvestEarnings.comEmail: info@HarvestEarnings.com(00:00) Employees have ideas—so why hire consultants? (02:30) No upside, real risk: why people stay quiet (04:15) Fear of looking foolish or exposing the boss (05:10) No access to decision-makers (06:00) Ideas need analysis and collaboration (07:30) Disengagement and “not my problem” (08:40) Getting used to bad processes (09:55) No training or priority for ideas (10:30) Corporate “whack-a-mole” decision-making (11:20) “Nobody listens anyway” (12:10) “That’s not my job” and staying in your lane (13:10) Missing the big picture and process view (14:30) Only a few people own “continuous improvement” (16:10) How to design a process that unlocks ideas #Leadership #Innovation #EmployeeEngagement #ContinuousImprovement #CompanyCulture #Management

    19 min
  3. Too Busy Is Not A Strategy: 7 Reasons Leaders Say It And What To Do Instead

    11/18/2025

    Too Busy Is Not A Strategy: 7 Reasons Leaders Say It And What To Do Instead

    Leaders say “we’re too busy” when the real issues are prioritization, fear, or conflict avoidance. Jeremy Eden and Terri Long share practical ways to kill zombie projects, apply the Eisenhower Matrix, set boundaries, and turn vague pushback into honest trade‑offs with dates. Stop glorifying busyness. Start shipping what matters. Highlights Prioritize with importance over false urgencyReplace “we’re too busy” with specific trade‑offsName the fear and make it safe to ask questionsModel healthy work‑life signals from the topConnect Learn more: https://HarvestEarnings.com (00:00) Why “too busy” shows up (03:00) Prioritization failures and zombie projects (05:05) Eisenhower Matrix, urgency vs. importance (07:50) Conflict avoidance and disagreeing with the boss (10:35) Fear of the new and not understanding acronyms (TLAs) (12:20) The badge‑of‑busy culture (13:30) Polite “too busy” vs. honest no (16:55) Make real trade‑offs and commit to dates (18:50) If everything is a priority, nothing is a priority

    21 min
  4. Why Business “Guru Advice” Fails: 6 Practical Management Moves That Work

    11/04/2025

    Why Business “Guru Advice” Fails: 6 Practical Management Moves That Work

    Vague advice won’t fix your meetings or decisions. Terri Long and Jeremy Eden break down six practical moves leaders can implement right away: time‑boxed meetings with a visible countdown, asking “How do you know that?”, entrance interviews after 30–60 days, AARs after big projects, shorter meetings by default, and problem‑first brainstorming. Highlights Countdown clocks that keep meetings on trackEvidence‑seeking questions that unblock decisionsOnboarding as a source of competitive insightAfter‑Action Reports for learning and process change10–15 minute meetings when 30 isn’t neededBrainstorming for problems to spark better solutionsConnect Learn more: HarvestEarnings.comEmail: info@HarvestEarnings.com

    21 min
  5. 12 Proven Ways to Retain Talent and Reduce Employee Turnover

    10/21/2025

    12 Proven Ways to Retain Talent and Reduce Employee Turnover

    Exit interviews rarely reveal the truth. Jeremy Eden and Terri Long share practical, proven ways to reduce employee turnover and retain great talent, starting with manager training, smart pay strategy, and safer feedback loops. You’ll get concrete tactics you can implement now, from scheduling fixes to recognition habits and building non-manager career paths for top individual contributors. Highlights Exit interviews vs. continuous, acted-upon feedbackPay slightly above market the right wayManagers as the retention leverWork-life boundaries that don’t punish high performersDon’t tolerate poor performance—protect your best peopleInternal mobility, equity, and career paths without promotionsInvolve employees in process change and act on inputConnect Learn more: HarvestEarnings.comEmail: info@HarvestEarnings.com

    21 min

  6. 10/07/2025

    One Company Strategy: Break Silos and Move Faster

    Run your organization as one company, not many. This episode shares a practical one-company strategy to break silos and move faster with real examples from Goldman Sachs, Heinz, Fidelity, Nordstrom, Walmart, Apple, Sony, Applebee’s, and TGI Fridays. You’ll learn how shorter, scannable artifacts unlock selling time at Goldman Sachs, how factory matchmaking at Heinz turns excess capacity into savings, why over‑servicing overnight support in retail destroys ROI, and how procurement and marketing misalignment leads to waste that companies like Walmart avoid with smarter vendor partnerships. We also discuss what Apple’s unified approach got right, why Sony’s division‑driven model struggled by comparison, and how brand collaborations like Applebee’s and TGI Fridays' product licensing demonstrate cross‑team wins that compound. What you’ll learn The cost of silos and a repeatable one-company operating modelArtifact upgrades that speed decisions and reduce busyworkA 60‑minute “speed collaborating” format any team can runIncentives and recognition that make collaboration the defaultHow to align procurement, R&D, marketing, and operations around shared outcomes Chapters: (00:00) Intro (00:32) Why companies don’t act as one company (01:26) Glassdoor example at Fidelity (02:30) Why silos happen and how they hurt execution (03:09) Goldman Sachs binder problem and the “Chinese wall” myth (04:25) Fix: shorter report formats approved by audit/legal (05:31) Heinz Europe: 30 factories, siloed awareness (07:07) Heinz US: cross-division collaboration and licensing idea (08:07) Applebee’s/TGI Fridays licensing to retail (Walmart pitch) (09:21) Heinz “dices in tomato sauce”: smaller dices reduce downtime, boost sales (12:06) Retail call center: overnight support analysis and right‑sizing (14:47) Service design notes and the Nordstrom piano anecdote (15:29) SKU chaos: frozen pizza pepperoni consolidation to cut costs (17:29) Procurement vs. product assumptions and vendor poster waste (18:52) Poster fix: custom counts beat blanket seven‑poster orders (19:23) Force multiplier: talk across divisions to find simple wins (20:25) Cross‑pollinate managers to break silo thinking (21:07) Apple vs. Sony: unified org vs. divisions (Walter Isaacson insight) (22:02) Speed collaborating: 10–20 minute cross‑team rotations (22:58) Budget challenge: make cost‑imposers justify requirements (23:33) Steering committee: shared visibility to spark collaboration (24:38) Incentives: align bonuses to shared goals, not divisions (26:03) Recognize cross‑team wins to reinforce behavior (26:38) Boots‑on‑the‑ground rule for new projects This episode is great for leaders and operators who want faster execution, fewer handoffs, and better customer experiences, especially at enterprise scale, where silos form easily #breaksilos #collaboration #incentives #operating #customerexperience , #costsavings #governance #steeringcommittee #speedcollaborating #goldmansachs #heinz #Fidelity #Nordstrom #Walmart #Apple #Sony #applebees #tgifridays Learn more at harvestearnings.com Subscribe for practical leadership episodes and templates. Share this with a teammate who owns reporting, service ops, or procurement; they’ll thank you later.

    28 min
  7. How to Train Your Boss: Become a Trusted Advisor

    09/23/2025

    How to Train Your Boss: Become a Trusted Advisor

    How to train your boss the right way so you become a trusted advisor at work. Learn how to pair positive feedback with fact‑based truth, teach your role, take initiative, offer half‑loaf solutions, and clarify communication so leaders decide faster. Takeaways Positive feedback that keeps truth flowingThe “cold cup of coffee” (non‑judgmental hard truths)Teach your boss your role; avoid TLAsTake initiative and propose half‑loaf solutionsClarify ambiguous directions in meetingsShow you care under pressure Chapters (00:00) Introduction (02:06) Why “train your boss” helps everyone (03:35) Positive feedback that keeps truth flowing (05:30) The “cold cup of coffee”: fact‑based tough news (08:00) Teach your boss your role; avoid TLAs (10:25) Praise yourself and your coworkers (12:10) Take initiative with real examples (15:25) Offer half‑loaf solutions that move forward (17:50) Help leaders clarify ambiguous directions (21:50) Understand priorities; show that you care (25:24) Recap and takeaways Subscribe, share, and leave a review. Work with us: harvestearnings.com

    24 min
  8. Budget Process Killing Your ROI? 4 Hidden Problems Costing Millions (+ Solution)

    09/09/2025

    Budget Process Killing Your ROI? 4 Hidden Problems Costing Millions (+ Solution)

    Traditional budgeting DESTROYS shareholder value! This episode reveals how budget gaming leads companies to ship unfinished products, waste millions on "wooden nickels," and create toxic accountability problems. Discover how idea-based budgeting transforms 3-month budget battles into 3-week solutions with real accountability. Based on 25+ years helping Fortune 500 companies eliminate budget theater. Key Budgeting Topics: The budget crime scene: Why traditional processes failMassive time waste and adversarial meetingsGaming that destroys company cultureMeaningless allocation battles over "wooden nickels"No accountability or early warning systemsIdea-based budgeting that works in real-time👉 Learn more: HarvestEarnings.com 📧 Questions? info@HarvestEarnings.com #BudgetProcess #CorporateFinance #BusinessStrategy #OperationalExcellence

    24 min
See All (44)

5
out of 5
13 Ratings

About

Are you struggling to improve organizational effectiveness, make better business decisions, and drive profit growth? Join us for "The Elephant in the Boardroom," the Business Insights Podcast. Discover proven leadership strategies that have helped Fortune 1000 executives increase profits through fact-based decision-making, financial discipline, and human intelligence. Learn why corporate boards fail, how to build genuine employee buy-in, and implement effective expense management. It's time to confront the inefficiencies in your organization by addressing the elephants in your boardroom.

Information

  • Creator
    Terri Long and Jeremy Eden
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2025
  • Episodes
    44
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Terri Long and Jeremy Eden
  • Show Website
    The Elephant in the Boardroom