The Reboot Chronicles with Dean DeBiase: Recent Episodes
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Join Dean DeBiase Host of The Reboot Chronicles, a popular no-holds-barred podcast on iHeart Radio, iTunes, Spotify and YouTube that has been bringing together CEOs, entrepreneurs, authors and global leaders, for over a decade, to discuss how organizations are rebooting their leadership-competitiveness of everything from growth, innovation and technology to talent, culture and governance.
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Most all companies are going through some form of tech. reboot. From the 20-person start-up to organizations with 100,000 people—some who have been around for over 100 years. Though there is much to learn from big and small reboots, the business in question has roots back to the 1800’s when it was a small NYC accounting office.
Today KPMG is one of the world's top professional services firms, serving 80% of the Fortune Global 500 with a broad spectrum of Audit, Tax, Advisory and Innovation services. With more than 270,000 people operating in 143 countries who delivered $36B in revenue last year.
On this episode of The Reboot Chronicles, KPMG’s CEO (US) Paul Knopp unpacks changes he made as a newbie CEO in the disorienting COVID times, and how AI will help his clients—some the world’s largest public companies in the world—reboot themselves.
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Legendary entrepreneur Joel Hyatt has built extremely disruptive ventures that have democratized services across legal, technology, and media sectors.
He did it with legal services for ‘the rest of us’ when he co-founded Hyatt Legal in the 70’s —busting the ban on lawyer ads—and also shook up the industry by adding legal as an employee benefit, which is now part of MetLife.
After winning an antitrust case which broke up a big media stronghold, he and Al Gore started Current TV pioneering user-generated content. Current TV was hot, and received multiple Emmys, Peabodys, and Livingston Awards, investments from Comcast and Direct TV and is now a part of Aljazera Media Network.
Joel's latest venture, Globality, is all about streamlining and enhancing the procurement process for businesses. Leveraging both machine learning and generative AI, the company offers something totally unique it calls “autonomous self-serve sourcing.”
And what’s interesting is that this is no 2024 VC-backed start-up leaping on the AI bandwagon. Joel has been developing this solution for years, and so has both learned what works and what doesn’t.
On this episode Joel shares decades of wisdom from his various endeavors that democratized oligopolies; unpacks untold stories about how Globality is transforming the boring side of business—and tells some fun and humorous startup stories with his friend Al Gore.
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The personal care and beauty market is projected to be a $750B by 2032—and women and celebrities want a piece of it. Celebrities and the beauty industry have been ubiquitously tied together through generations. In recent years however, celebrities aren’t only endorsing or becoming the face of the brand—they’re now working on their own beauty brands.
Christie Brinkley, the international superstar and seemingly ageless beauty, served as a brand ambassador after being introduced to SBLA Beauty by a friend during the pandemic. The science-backed, non-invasive skincare brand, founded by Beauty Pioneer Randi Shinder, is a new platform of tools that sculpt, lift and firm the face, neck, chin and jawline.
Prior to the rise of the Girl Boss in the 2010’s, that has trickled into the 2020s, Randi revolutionized the fragrance space with CLEAN Beauty in 2002, which became one of the most successful independent fragrance brands of all-time. She followed that with Dessert Beauty with Jessica Simpson, the first brand to exceed $10 million at Sephora, and Fusion Beauty, the first to exceed $50 million at Sephora, before selling both Clean and Fusion in 2009.
Seeking to slow down (yeah right) after launching the I Smell Great brand with Sophia Bush, Randi noticed a white space in the industry, and decided to get back into the lab and invent SBLA. On this episode of The Reboot Chronicles Show, Randi unpacks her secrets to scaling brands and exits, why Sephora shifted away from their Indi-strategy—and why she should be the CEO of Pinterest.
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When trying to grow a food chain it can easily lose its character and freshness as everything becomes about speed and profits. And, when you are a chain that was built on the back of amazingly fresh food and unique in-store customer experiences, how do you grow and expand to 2000 locations?
From humble beginnings in 1977, and being named to “America’s Fastest Growing Private Companies” in 2005, to now having over 400 locations and headed to 2000, Potbelly Sandwiches has been growing with quality in mind. During covid they took steps to reinvent themselves through tech, investing heavily into their team—and creating an app and rewards program that kept them breathing as many companies drifted.
On this episode of The Reboot Chronicles, Potbelly CEO Bob Wright unpacks how to grow a brand without losing its identity. Listen in to the inside story on how he is rebooting this loveable brand once again—aggressively expanding their global footprint, investing in digital loyalty platforms, and competitively positioning them to provide the next level of authentic consumer experiences.
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Ever wonder how some companies seize serendipitous moments—with the likes of Adam Sandler and Walker Hayes—while others pass on the opportunistic gifts that could have moved their brand needle?
On the heels of a deal to be the official bar and grill of the NFL, an Undercover Boss series coming soon, and 200 new concepts in their test kitchens—Dine Brands is on a role. The $8 Billion restaurant group, that owns Applebee’s, IHOP and Fuzzy’s, has 3500 restaurants and 125,000 people who are rebooting these iconic brands at scale.
Listen to Dean and hospitality guru and CEO of Dine Brands, John Peyton for this episode of The Reboot Chronicles to unpack funny untold behind the scenes stories, explore the art and science of innovating—and what happens when you combine the Applebee’s and IHOP menus.
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The gig economy is hotter than ever with 36% of U.S. workers in it, and nearly half of the global workforce—1.6 BILLION PEOPLE—are independent gigsters.With growing inflation and a decrease in the desire to go to college, there are a lot of people looking for other lines of work. Either something to fill in the hours of a shorter work week to make ends meet or for a full-time position in a local blue-collar field. LinkedIn and Indeed can help—but if you are looking for a hub of local, entry-level, hourly or blue-collar jobs, Gigs is the place to be.Gigs focuses on honesty, clarity, and helping blue-collar and entry-level workers find jobs that match their needs. All postings tell you the estimated hourly rate, things to expect, commute distance, and benefits/perks—without all the corporate jargon you see on major job boards.To unpack all of this, we invited Gigs CEO Allen Narcisse to this episode of the Reboot Chronicles Show. A Lyft and Uber alumni., Allen is attacking a space that societies and organizations of all sizes are struggling with. Listen in to see how he is simplifying the sector by connecting 86 million workers with thousands of employers in local communities across the US.
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The way a customer interacts with a business can make or break a brand. There are immediate break points, like how hard it is to interact, and more long subtle break points, like how well can a business curate a customer's experience to keep them coming back. Even with all the technology at our fingertips, these long form conversations continue to be challenging, because they require both sides to communicate effectively—and know what they want from each other.One company facilitating conversations and interactions is Klaviyo, who developed technology to unite data, analytics, and marketing to create better personalized communications that have helped some of the world’s most popular brands earn $100B in revenue so far.To discuss how Klaviyo is rebooting the sector, we invited CEO Andrew Bialecki to this episode of The Reboot Chronicles. Andrew started Klaviyo alongside co-founder Ed Hallen because they saw that companies had tons of consumer data but couldn’t answer basic questions. Listen in for lessons learned from their first 12 years, how the next 12 may go—and what’s going on with corporate AI FOMO.
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With AI being aggressively adopted in most every industry sector, you may be wondering what becomes of the billions of call center interactions that take place around the world? With all the technology imbedded in our lives, most are frustrated because they are not served well through self-service platforms—and many say they want to connect with real humans behind the brands they deal with.Operating on six continents with 64,000 employees conducting billions of these last mile conversations in 50 languages is TTEC. The $2.4B services provider takes innovation seriously and is working on rebooting tech. platforms and other AI-enabled customer journey solutions across all interaction channels at the world's largest corporations.We invited TTEC’s President and CEO of TTEC Engage for an episode of The Reboot Chronicles to discuss “the innovative mess required to be better than you were the day before” and unpack how she is taking this market leader to the next level of market-making growth.
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The food industry has been struggling to adapt to the world around them. With pickup and delivery services impacting grocery store sales, and the rise of services like DoorDash and Uber Eats rebooting consumer habits, competition and change are the new norm.
A key player quietly rebooting the grocery and supply chain sectors is Spartan Nash. Founded in 1885 as a tiny candy and tobacco store in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota, Spartan Nash is a $9.7 Billion Fortune 400 company with 17,000 Associates that delivers to 2,300 independent grocers and hundreds of their own stores. They also “deliver a little taste of home” to all who serve the U.S. military no matter where they are stationed around the globe.
We invited Spartan Nash CEO Tony Sarsam to this episode of The Reboot Chronicles for a behind the scenes tour of his reboot story. A thoughtful agile leader and industry veteran from Frito-Lay, Borden, and Nestle, Tony has been transforming the company—and keeping his teams on a mission to “Make Yesterday Jealous For How Great Today Is.”
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Most American consumers have credit card debt in some form, with the total across those consumers at an alarming $1.03T. A new subset of the debt market that has been growing over the years is the buy now pay later model, that is projected to grow to $167B market by 2032. Though it may seem familiar to those that remember retail layaway programs, the model offers another way for consumers and merchants to transact, without the common credit card interest rates charged across monthly statement balances.
One of the biggest of these rapidly growing platform companies is Affirm, Inc. Similar to Afterpay and Klarna, Affirm has over 50 million consumers on its platform that have generated $60 Billion in merchandise value through nearly 300,000 partners from the largest retailers and travel companies to the smallest online stores on the Internet.
We invited Libor Michalek, Affirms President and board member to this episode of The Reboot Chronicles to give us a behind the scenes look at this sector, with insights into what helped Affirm take-off, and what’s coming next.
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When you hear about a public company going through six CEOs, you may think “they are doomed!” Not so when you bring in an outsider who was the President of Uber, and focused in on rebooting the culture first—rather than deploying the typical rinse and repeat “transformation” consulting playbook.
H&R Block has been on a rocky rollercoaster ride over the decades—occasionally coming close to the brink of obscurity, irrelevance, and decline. More than a cultural shift, this $3.5B behemoth, with 60,000 tax pros in 10,000 locations who have prepared close to 100 million returns, required industrial strength turnaround leadership.
Their CEO Jeff Jones, a grounded, humble and agile leader, brought that strength to the company. He joined us for this episode of The Reboot Chronicles to unpack dozens of Reboot Lessons, with remarkable stories about how he shifted H&R Block from a command and control to a connected culture, why 5 million people switched over to their rebooted platform—and why he resigned as Uber’s President during its darkest days.
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Not many leaders can say they’ve been at the same company for 30 years and been an active Rebooter of the organization along the way—taking it from a small town supplier to a global market leader. Dan Florness can.
As President and CEO of Fastenal, a Fortune 500 leader in sectors from industrial supplies, logistics and consulting services to manufacturing, construction, and state and local government sectors, Dan and his teams have grown the company to 3,400 locations in 25 countries with 23,000 "can do - entrepreneurial" employees who delivered over $7B in revenue last year.
Dan shares his simple insights and stories on how to Reboot a small nuts and bolts supplier into a Fortune 500 leader, on this episode of The Reboot Chronicles Show.
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Donating to charities is something that mostAmericans probably would like to do but are not sure when or where to start—or who to donate to. And outside of a fundraising call, a Sarah McLachlan commercial, or unfortunate event of a natural disaster, people may never think to donate. Well luckily for the average household, some organizations are making this process easier and easier, and even trying to make giving a habit.
One company bringing generosity into the 21stcentury and to the next generation is Daffy, a non-profit creating community hubsfor finding charities and donating to them by making Donor Advise Funds availableto the rest of us.
To talk more about how he is making givinginto a habit, we invited Adam Nash to this episode of The Reboot Chronicles Show. Adam is a Silicon Valley veteran, helping people access over1.5 million charities and rebooting an old model industry along the way.
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Cancer is not an easy topic to discuss. It is a devastating disease that takes over 10 million lives a year—600 thousand of those in the U.S. alone. To anyone who has gone through it or has loved ones who have fought cancer, it helps to know that you are not alone in that fight. Hundreds of organizations around the globe are focused on researching cancer from different angle—in the hopes of helping people through all stages of the process. One of those organizations working on discovering easier and less intensive ways to detect cancer is Guardant Health. They are a precision oncology company focused on reducing those numbers across all stages—from screening to find cancer and monitoring for recurrences in early-stages to helping doctors select treatments for patients with more advanced-stages. The half a billion-dollar public company has been making strides in cancer screening accuracy and accessibility through blood tests versus biopsies.We invited the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Guardant Health, AmirAli Talasaz, for an episode of The Reboot Chronicles, to unpack how their simple blood tests could be the best and easiest way to fight the war on cancer.
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The U.S. banking industry began in 1780, when the Bank of Pennsylvania was started to fund the American Revolutionary War. Banking is not what it used to be, when just a few decades ago you probably had a personal relationship with a banker who knew your business—and could even provide advice fundamental to running your business. Some say banking hasn't changed much, and the main thing business banks provide is (hopefully) security, which is important—but today companies need more.
There are no shortages of companies trying to reboot this sector into the 21st Century. Part of the neobanking sector of fintech, companies like Nubank, SoFi, Chime, Revoult, and Highbeam provide integrated banking, capital and cash planning platforms, to help small businesses (SMB’s) operate with more agility and insights so they can make smarter decisions.
To discuss how he is rebooting old school banking, we invited Highbeam’s CEO, Samir Shergill, to The Reboot Chronicles Show. An ex-Microsoft engineer turned banking CEO, Samir is creating a bank that manages your money and assists your business endeavors.
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How do you find companies driving market-making moves with AI? Look for strong focused leaders that are on an impact mission—but aren't afraid to pivot.For years I have been speaking on, writing about, advising, and running AI-related ventures. But with Generative AI (GAI) at the peak of the Gartner Hype Cycle, we still find ourselves in the too much talk and not enough impact phase. This “all hat, no cattle” dilemma reminds me of the famed Wendy’s “Where’s The Beef” ad campaign.
Sure, there are some wins on the board since the AI sector got a turbo boost with the introduction of ChatGPT at the end of 2022. This innovation continues to drive endless hype, competition, and investment into the AI sector, specifically for Large Language Models (LLMs) and GAI. But beyond the novelty cocktail party chatter, that will come and go like most hyped cycles, I’ve been looking for phase two AI organizations that can transform companies, industries, countries and even societies. One way to spot those, or find the beef, is to follow the smart money.
At the forefront of this wave, helping others develop and integrate generative AI for their needs, is Kore.ai. With over 200 partners and working with 400 Fortune 2000 companies across the globe, Kore.ai helps all of them decide what AI strategy would best benefit their needs. Kore has even made building AI easy through their no-code system, where even I can build, train, and test your AI in a drag-and-drop builder called XO.
One of the fastest growing companies in the sector, Kore has chatbots and co-pilots deployed by 100s of partners and thousands of large corporations, who are automating conversations and streamlining customer and employee experiences. They just closed a $150M investment from FTV Capital and NVIDIA (NVDA). It’s not the largest round we’ve seen, and Kore may not be a familiar name for some of you. But the round is significant for the sector and provides leaders lessons/insights about how to get to this level and what’s next.
To talk us through the reboot of the generative AI industry, we invited Kore’s Founder and CEO, Raj Koneru, to The Reboot Chronicles. A serial CEO and strong/focused leader, who has been at the helm of Kore for the last decade, Raj unpacks how generative AI can revolutionize customer and employee experiences—and more.
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In an era dominated by venture capital-fueled growth, the story of Zoho stands out as a model of the future. Led by visionary CEO Sridhar Vembu, Zoho has carved out a niche in the enterprise software sector, with a platform suite that provides almost everything SMB’s need to run their business. But what sets Zoho apart isn't just its expansive product portfolio; it's the company's journey of scaling to be on track toward a multi-billion-dollar brand without reliance on external funding. This milestone deserves a deeper look into the strategies that have positioned Zoho in a market crowded with messy, complex platforms.
At the recent Zoho Analyst Day in McAllen, TX, Reboot Media’s Chairman Dean DeBiase had a one-on-one with Vembu, who leads a team of 15,000 employees who delivered $1B in revenue last year, serving 700K customers and 100 million users in 150 countries. Their remarkable journey provides a teachable moment for leaders, from revealing the mechanics of smart scaling to executive relationships that promote a modest and innovative growth culture.
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Video streaming is valued at $500 Billion and will explode into a $2.0 Trillion market by 2030. With billions of hours streamed per month, 99% of American households subscribe to a streaming service, like Netflix, Apple, Amazon, Disney, Fubo, Hulu, Max, Paramount, Peacock, Roku, Sling, and YouTube. Americans spend approximately 13 hours per day consuming digital media, ugh, with 3 of those hours spent streaming video.At the center of this massive traffic, making it all happen behind the scenes, are companies like Brightcove. Partnering with thousands of companies in 70 countries, to stream and monetize content inside and outside of their organizations, Brightcove helps build connections between companies and their audiences.To explore how to reboot the streaming industry, we invited Brightcove’s CEO, Marc DeBevoise, to The Reboot Chronicles Show. A two-time Technology and Engineering Emmy® Award winner, Marc unpacks how he and his team are pushing the boundaries of what video can do for our companies and our lives.
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When you think of propane what comes to mind? Is it a famous cartoon character who sells propane? Or even the propane appliances or grill on your patio or deck? Or is it perhaps the unique propane trucks you may have seen driving around—leaving you to wondering what the heck are those and where are they going?One companies with thousands of those trucks is Suburban Propane. The company was founded by necessity in 1928 when founder Mark Anton and his wife Adele moved to a suburb that had no gas lines. So Mark ordered the equipment for production and installation of propane, making his wife the first customer. Almost a century later, Suburban Propane is a $1.4 billion company, with 3,300 employees, and 700 locations serving millions of customers around the country. We invited Suburban’s CEO Michael Stivala, to this episode of The Reboot Chronicles to unpack what’s working and what’s next in the sector—including renewable energy startups.
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With a 90% startup failure rate and many Fortune 1000 companies unknowingly being onthe brink of irrelevance, obscurity, and decline, “Rebooters” are needed now more than ever. In short—leaders need to think about Ubering themselves before they get Kodaked!
I have interviewed to hundreds of CEO’s over the years, many sharing their stories on how they rebooted themselves and their organization to adapt to and thrive in the future. Strategically, Rebooting your organization focuses in on three key area of transformation: People, Platform, and Passion. Operationally it requires infusing organizations—especially large ones—with the speed, thrill and attitude of a hectic entrepreneurial startup, combined with the urgency, focus and results of a disciplined turnaround.
As an operation partner, board member and serial CEO, I have led my share of reboots (and turnarounds), and often look to organizations like the TMA (Turnaround Management Association) for support. With 10,000 members and 58 chapters globally, the TMA is a helpful resource for struggling companies when they need it most—from industry titans to scaleups.
When CEO’s ask me, about the difference between a Reboot and a Turnaround, I advise them that: you reboot an organization before you need it, before it’s too late, before the ‘turnaround guy’ shows up. To unpack this and more, we invited CEO Scott Stuart for this episode of The Reboot Chronicles. With 30 years of restructuring experience, Scott has some pointed stories and tips, from his front row seat watching companies fall and helping them climb back out of the muck.
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Sports are a massive part of global entertainment and global fashion, from the top of your Cheese Head hat to the bottom of your cleats, sports and fashion are a pair. One brand we all know is a giant in one of those fields and is now going under a reboot to become a titan in the other. That company is the USPA - U.S. Polo Association, and if you are an athleisure enjoyer you have some of their apparel. But the logo is more than just an iconic merchandise brand that consumers call Polo. Behind the scenes is a massive organization with a dynamic plan that will soon pass the $3B in annual revenue mark.At the helm of this organizational and brand reboot, on this episode of the Reboot Chronicles, is J. Michael Prince - President & CEO USPA Global, to talk about the fascinating world of Polo on and off the field, his remarkable story, and his plan for the decade ahead.
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The global landscape of architecture and design is going through a generational transformation, imagining and creating new spaces that are redefining how we live, work, shop, play, stay and travel. A driving force leading these trends is Gensler, the world’s largest architecture, and planning design firm. Founded in 1965, it has expanded into a global powerhouse with 53 locations and 33 practice areas which serve thousands of clients in 100 countries, with 6,000 employees that delivered over $1.8 billion in annual revenue last year.The company has a unique way of running their business—with the power of two. In key positions they often have “co” appointments for the same job, up to and including the CEO’s office. We invited the newly appointed Gensler Co-CEOs, Julia Simet and Jordan Goldstein, for this inspiring episode of the Reboot Chronicles, to talk about how they are redesigning and rebooting the future of work through physical and digital environments, how spaces should inspire, connect, and adapt to our needs—and how it can transform societies around the world.
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In a previous episode, we talked with Jeffrey Scott Miller about how a mentor can be a huge help for entrepreneurs and businesses alike, with a focus on how to make the most out of a mentor/mentee relationship. Taking Scott’s book to the next level—how would you like to have an entire ecosystem chalk full of supportive mentors and coaches to help you on any topic or business challenge. Well that’s what you will find in Chicago—especially at 1871.
As the top private incubator in the world, 1871 helped drive a tech renaissance in Chicago over the last decade. As a cofounding board member, I delivered a Ted talk about it at the UN, providing a blueprint for cities to reboot themselves. Now, with thousands of startups and 17 unicorns that raised over $3.5 billion in capital, 1871 is on a roll once again.
Under the remarkable leadership of CEO Betsy Ziegler, 1871 and its partner networks, have continued to pivot toward creating the future of growth and innovation—building the next generations of ventures in the region. We invited Betsty on for an episode of The Reboot Chronicles, to unpack what’s working, what needs rebooting and what’s next for global entrepreneurial ecosystems.
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When was the last time you felt yourself grow as an individual? I mean, a time when you truly felt a eureka moment of having gained a new insight or finally understood another perspective that helped you thrive. We found something to help you do just that.On the heels of his popular “Master Mentor” book series, best-selling author and top global thought leader, Scott Jeffrey Miller, has created your next go to book, “The Ultimate Guide to Great Mentorship”, a very practical guide that provides the top do’s and don’ts to consider when mentoring. This book covers everything you need to know on both sides of the table—like setting boundaries with your mentee, goal setting, and the various roles a mentor plays depending on the situation—and much more. Intrigued by the need for better mentoring and how it can help people grow, Dean DeBiase invited Scott to join him for another action packed episode of The Reboot Chronicles to talk about his life journey, and unpack how to capture eureka moments, through the lens of mentoring.
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Founded in the 1990’s Step Aerobics era, Planet Fitness (PLNT) has seen its share of reboots. They went public in 2015 and today the $1B company is one of the largest and fastest-growing fitness brands, with 18 million members who “work out” in over 2,400 locations around the world.
Under their CEO, Chris Rondeau’s, leadership, Planet Fitness was rebooted and grown into a market leader that many of you have experienced firsthand. What we like most about them is 90% of the locations are owned and operated by entrepreneurs—independent businessmen and women like many of you. Recently,
Chris was fired and the board installed former Gov. Craig Benson, a longtime company board member, as interim CEO. Prior to being let go, Chris joined Dean DeBiase for an episode of The Reboot Chronicles to discuss his journey, from the front desk to the CEO’s office, and what’s next in the health and fitness club space—a market which is projected to soon reach $136B.
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Ever wondered how a company can maintain a strong culture of loyalty and employee-first policies amidst in today’s global business climate? India based multi-national Zoho Corporation is doing just that, along with a mission to make “technology more affordable”. And, at $1 billion in annual revenue—they are doing it at scale.
Deep rooted in its culture, values and convictions, the leadership team takes pride in being able to serve Small & Medium Businesses’ (SMB) technology needs in what they believe is “an era of humility for technologists”.
Another refreshing strategy, for a tech. brand, is that they have stayed away from the typical IPO track, and instead focus on being a profitable privately held company—with a rapid growth trajectory.
With 15,000 employees and 100 million users in 150 countries—Zoho has built (not acquired) a diversified product portfolio that offers customers simple solutions, in a market crowded with complex platforms.
At their annual Zoholics conference in Austin TX, Dean DeBiase caught up with Vijay Sundaram, one of Zoho’s top leaders and Chief Strategy Officer. A serial tech. founder, Sundaram spearheads strategy, runs their global partner programs—and is pushing the envelope from SMB into the large-enterprise sector.
Tune in as we unpack what’s next for them—from scaling their unique culture and long-term sustainability strategy, to secrets behind their employee-first and customer wins mantra.
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Almost 75% of cities in America lost some form of air services, with over 100 cities having lost more than 25%.
Responding to this huge decline in regional flights, with many markets underserved or left behind by United, American or Delta, Breeze Airways Founder and CEO David Neeleman saw an opportunity to reboot the travel industry—for the 5th time.
An airline pioneer, David started multiple commercial airlines including Azul—Brazil’s largest Airline—which transformed the country’s travel and logistics network, WestJet in Canada, Morris Air—which he sold to Southwest, and JetBlue—which broke records as the fastest growing airline.
Breeze now operates more than 150 routes in dozens of cities—and in just two years has already been ranked as one of the country’s best domestic airlines by Travel + Leisure magazine.
I invited David to join me for an episode of The Reboot Chronicles podcast to unpack how he is once again rebooting the airline industry—and bringing travel back to underserved communities and beyond.
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When looking for answers on moving forward, a look back on how top leaders led can be pivotal to your organization and career. Few leaders provide life lessons about their successes and failures that can help us personally and professionally. One CEO, who can see around corners about what’s next, with more muscle memory lessons from building The Internet under his belt than most, is silicon Valley’s John Chambers, who has timely advice for leaders of organization, from Fortune 500’s to startups—about where to focus, how to scale and countries to engage with, like India and France, or avoid, like China.
A friend and industry colleague, John led Cisco at a record pace, exceeding expectations for 40 straight quarters, growing from $1.9B to $49.2 billion in annual revenue, while expanding from 400 to 75,000 people—10,000 of which became millionaires from Cisco stock. Listen in to this action packed episode of The Reboot Chronicles and hear about where we are going in the digital future ahead, and how John is helping 21 global startups—9 that are unicorns—create the next-generation of organizations and leaders at JC2 Ventures.
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AI (Artificial Intelligence) is all the rage in business and social circles—but its meaning and capabilities are often misunderstood. Some people think about the movie I, Robot, and how AI Robots will turn against humanity, while others think of Chat GPT and how it can help them through their school assignments. One company, Turing, is rebooting the meaning of AI as a tool to transform your business—one engineer at a time.
I invited Turing's CEO, Jonathan Siddharth, to join me for an episode of The Reboot Chronicles to unpack how technology services companies, like Accenture, must reboot themselves—in the AI era of automated software developer platforms.
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Travel is often described as painful. You’ve been there—from overcrowded terminals to late, overbooked and canceled flights—travel experiences can often make or break your day. Luckily, there are hacks that can help you get through the grinding terminal experience—from reimagined restaurants and bars to spa services and even TV’s. One company, ReachTV, is rebooting travel media, with captivating entertainment for business and consumer audiences in airports around the world.
On my latest trip, while waiting on a very delayed flight, I checked out ReachTV, and was encouraged by the fresh targeted programming. So intrigued, we called the CEO, Lynnwood A. Bibbens, to join me for an episode of the Reboot Chronicles to unpack how the company survived the anti-travel COVID era and how he is upgrading travel experiences—one TV at a time.
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Ever wondered how a company can pivot from a mere analyst tool to a global enterprise-grade platform? Harnessing the power of AI doesn't hurt—and that’s precisely what Alteryx, Inc. (NYSE: AYX) did.
The company has rebooted itself into a low-code/no-code cloud, with hundreds of thousands of community members tapping into an analytics platform that quickly turns massive data into breakthrough insights.
From harnessing the power of AI to democratizing data for the rest of us, CEO Mark Anderson and I unpacked it all in a recent episode of the Reboot Chronicles.
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In a new age of cybercrime, online theft is far surpassing home thefts, and protecting yourself, your family, and your friends is harder than ever—and it is about to get worse—especially for kids.
I invited Hari Ravichandran to The Rebook Chronicles, the founder and CEO of Aura, an intelligent, proactive platform that protects online identities, accounts and devices to remain safe, private and protected. We also unpacked his new book, Intelligent Safety: How to Protect Your Connected Family from Big Cybercrime, to learn what you can do now.
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UKG is a global provider of HR, payroll, and workforce management solutions and one of the largest private software companies in the world. Famous for its workplace culture, this award-winning company is consistently ranked as one of the best places to work by its 15,000 employees, who serve over 75,000 organizations with 120 currencies in 160 countries.
Following a massive merger of two equals, UKG’s new CEO, Chris Todd, has rebooted the company into a $3B (headed to $4B) global leader, developing the next generation of HCM (Human Capital Management) cloud solutions. Chris joined me for an episode of The Reboot Chronicles, to give us some powerful insights and lessons, from a first time CEO, on how he brought two companies together to drive this multinational company and industry forward.
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AI personalization platforms—like Revieve—are transforming consumer Healthy, Beauty and Wellness journeys, by partnering with brands and retailers to help consumers reboot their discovery, purchasing and relationship complexities at scale.
On the heals of a very popular episode with Ron Gee, President and CEO of Shiseido Americas, who has been leading a dynamic reboot of both that company and himself, we take a look at where the industry is going next.
To best do that, I invited industry veteran and BeautyMatter CEO, Kelly Kovack to join me for an episode of The Reboot Chronicles to unpack the latest industry developments, mishaps and trends. Whether you are a global brand, retailer, startup, entrepreneur, or consumer—listen in for a remarkable discussion with diverse perspectives about what’s hot now and what’s next—from global industry players, creators and influencers to Web3, AI and the consumer.
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Shiseido was Japan’s first Western style pharmacy, founded 150 years ago in 1872, that has transformed itself into a global beauty giant operating in 120 countries and regions, with 39,000 employees that generated $8 billion in revenue last year.
At the helm of Shiseido Americas is Ron Gee. As President and CEO of Shiseido Americas he has been leading a dynamic reboot of both the company and himself. With a Chemical Engineer degree from Columbia and MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business, Ron is a uniquely qualified hybrid leader. A veteran of the beauty industry, having served in various leadership positions at L’Oréal and Coty, he clearly gets the potential of this massive global sector.
With a vision to become the personal beauty and wellness company, and the world’s No.1 skin beauty company by 2030, Ron joined me for an episode of The Reboot Chronicles to unpack how he and his team are playing to win.
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The auto industry has had its share of problems over the last decade and needs yet another reboot. During that time, carparts.com Inc., (NASDAQ:PRTS) has become a force to reckon with, when it comes to parts and accessories. They’ve grown to become one of the leading e-commerce providers of auto industry after-market parts—and a one-stop shop for vehicle repair and maintenance needs. With 1500 employees and revenue over $660 million last year, up 14% year over year (YOY), the company saw a strong Q1 23—reporting net sales increase of 6% YOY to $175.5 million vs year ago, and an increase of 20% on a two year stack. David Meniane, the company’s fifth CEO, is on a mission to reboot the company, using data driven decisions to enhance customer experiences. He joined me for an episode of the Reboot Chronicles to explain why he’s placing so much emphasis on data for growth and innovation—and how they’ve channeled their efforts toward seamless factory-to-consumer online shopping experiences for everyday drivers—like you.
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Raoul Pal, “looks at the real world picture and sees how it’s playing out and tries to place bets accordingly.” Co-founder of RealVision, Exponential Age Asset Management, Global Macro Investor, and Science Magic Studios, he has a different take on the state of the financial industry and how you can play in it to win.
Raoul joined me for an episode of The Reboot Chronicles, to explore investor optionality in the roaring 20’s—from crypto and Bitcoin to NFT’s, alternative assets, and more.
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Like many of you, I was an early reader of Entrepreneur Magazine. First published in 1976, it has been a go-to source for small businesses and aspiring entrepreneurs for decades—and is now read by millions of people around the world. The groups thoughtful and talented Editor in Chief, Jason Feifer, has been rebooting Entrepreneur into a broader platform, while hosting two podcasts—Problem Solvers and Help Wanted—and writing a new book, Build For Tomorrow.Jason joined me for an episode of the Reboot Chronicles to talk about his journey and the future of thinking and entrepreneurship.
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As tax season hits its peak, and Intuit’s (NASDAQ:INTU) 100 million customers scramble to meet deadlines across the globe, the company is rebooting itself to leverage technologies that will make it easier.
After a Core Reboot was initiated four years ago, they began to focus on building the next-generation AI enabled capabilities—transitioning from customers doing most of the work to an AI generative platform that does work for customers. They seem to be hitting on the big three cylinders I look for in smart growth/innovation BBB Reboots: Building (R&D) their own new tech./capabilities, Buying (acquiring), Borrowing (partnering).
Leading that charge is Intuit’s CEO, Sasan Goodarzi. With all the hype about leveraging generative AI, like Open AI’s ChatGPT, many companies—even Google and Facebook—are frantically scrambling to deploy it before it disrupts them. Since Sassan and his team were already on a mission to build an AI expert driven platform, they were ready for the coming data revolution.
Sasan joined me for an episode of the Reboot Chronicles to take an inside look at how they have developed their growth and innovation roadmaps—and how it may position them strategically in a Crypto/Web3 world.
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On the heels of the pivotal collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), I recently talked with Henrique Dubugras, the Cofounder and Co-CEO of Brex, an integrated corporate card and spend management software company that has raised $1.5B in capital.
As companies frantically exited their SVB accounts at a record pace, in one of the world’s largest bank runs, Brex moved quickly to attract and support startups by fast tracking applications, maintaining card credit limits, and more than doubling FDIC insurance levels to $2.25M through their partner bank network.
Smart moves, as Brex has since received billions of dollars of deposits from thousands of SVB clients—and is now looking to potentially raise billions more to help companies with emergency operational and payroll bridge loans.
Henrique joined me for an episode of The Reboot Chronicles for a fascinating discussion about how they are rebooting the sector, what’s next in FinTech, and provide an exclusive look inside Brex.
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America’s largest Black-owned enterprise and one of the world's largest private companies, World Wide Technology(WWT) has grown from a small product reseller into a top global technology solutions provider.
Under the leadership of Co-founder and CEO Jim Kavanaugh, and Founder and Chairman, David Steward, this Missouri based company has experienced several reboots over the years. Today WWT has over 55 locations across the globe and 9,000 people that delivered $17B in revenue last year. With Silicon Valley heavyweight partners like Cisco, HPE, Dell, NetApp, F5, Intel, VMware, Microsoft, IBM, Juniper, and dozens more–WWT has grown into a trusted solutions provider to over 70 Fortune 100 companies.
Jim Kavanaugh joined me for a remarkable episode of The Reboot Chronicles to share his fascinating growth journey that is chalk full of stories and tips leaders need now.
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How would you like the pope to be your mentor? Imagine applying to be in the Swiss Guard and landing a gig as Pope John Paul II's Bodyguard. That’s what happened to Andreas Widmer when he was a teenager. Today, as the founder and director of the Art & Carlyse Ciocca Center for Principled Entrepreneurship, at The Catholic University of America’s Busch School of Business, he aims to promote a new kind of entrepreneur—one focusing on Principled Entrepreneurship.
Andreas is an entrepreneur, associate professor, business coach, speaker, multiple book author, including the acclaimed “The Pope & the CEO”, chock-full of leadership lessons he learned as a Swiss guard protecting the pope. Andreas has recently authored “The Art of Principled Entrepreneurship”, a book that teaches businesses to be both virtuous and profitable.
Andreas joined me for an extremely engaging and personal episode of The Reboot Chronicles to unpack his book and uncover what principled entrepreneurship means—and how you can tap into it.
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When Lieutenant Colonel Scott Mann retired as a U.S Army Green Beret, he did all the “right things”, until one day he took his 45 caliber pistol into his bedroom closet—with no intent of coming out alive.
Dark times for sure. In his nearly two decades of Special Forces experiences, Scott’s military journey took him to Colombia, Peru, Iraq, Ecuador, Panama and multiple tours to Afghanistan. Today Scott has completely rebooted himself into a top Storyteller, Actor, Playwright, Podcaster, Author, Speaker and Coach. Inspired by his tough journey, he founded Rooftop Leadership, to help leaders tackle the anomalies around low trust and how to build human connections in high stakes environments.
His brutal transformation is an inspirational story for all of us—from the battlefield, to the boardroom—and even theater with his new partner Gary Sinise. As a warrior storyteller, he shares his remarkable rapport-building skills from combat, to help leaders navigate “now-or-never” scenarios, with a focus on relationship building techniques. A replica of how he inspired local tribes in Iraq and Afghanistan, to make game-changing decisions with low resources—“Rooftop Leadership" is helping teams avoid conflicts by nurturing trust.
Scott joined me on an amazing episode of The Reboot Chronicles to reflect on how his decades of Special Forces deployments are changing civilians lives—they may even change yours.
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When you mention GoDaddy Inc. (NYSE:GDDY), most people instinctually say, ‘that’s where I got my website URL'. As a pioneer during the early stages of the Internet, GoDaddy quickly became the go-to domain provider as the world rushed to name and claim their stake on the web.
Today—with over 9000 people who deliver $4 billion in annual revenue—this broad-based web enablement company provides the world’s entrepreneurs and SMB’s a portfolio of products and services that have everything to do their growing their businesses. GoDaddy empowers people and organizations, providing practical guidance and tools to manage their work and succeed online—from offering services to build professional websites, to attracting viewers and selling products and services to their customers.
A key new leader on senior team is CLO (Chief Legal Officer) and Corporate Secretary Michele Lau, who is rebooting the company’s approach to legal, compliance, audit, sustainability, ESG, governance, and government and industry affairs. Michele brings a refreshing take on strategy, culture and growth that is engaging stakeholder groups across the company and industry. We had an insightful discussion on this episode of The Reboot Chronicles and unpacked how she is helping to take the iconic brand to next-level of growth and innovation.
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Almost 80% of Americans live within 5 miles of a Walgreens.
Founder Charles R. Walgreen Sr. established the brand in 1901 as a single location pharmacy in Chicago, which grew into an integrated healthcare, pharmacy and retailer—which filled approximately 820 million prescriptions and immunizations in the US last year alone.
Now part of Walgreens Boots Alliance, the largest retail, health, pharmacy and daily living destination across the U.S and Europe, the brands serve millions of walk in customers, patients and omni-channel shoppers’ every day. The combined entity was founded 170 years ago, is an index component of the Dow Jones sustainability indices (DJSI), with 13,000 locations and 325,000 people that delivered $130 billion in revenue last year.
Heading the multibillion-dollar Beauty, Personal care & Seasonal category at Walgreens is Group Vice President and General Merchandise leader Heather Hughes, a trained pharmacist—a rare profile for a retail executive. Her unique background is just what the doctor ordered, as Walgreens looks to reboot the category and take health, beauty, and wellness to the next level of growth and innovation. Heather joined me for an episode of The Reboot Chronicles, to give us a behind the scenes view of what’s new and what’s next.
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Over 1.5 billion people observe and celebrate Lunar New Year—symbolic of prosperous times, warding off evil spirits, and sharing meals with loved ones. Red lanterns for Chinese New Year, lighting of firecrackers, and spreading joy with culinary abundance, are all traditions that span thousands of years throughout Asia—from China and Vietnam to Korea and Thailand.
Newly rebooted P.F.Chang’s is honoring its roots in Asian tradition by celebrating the Year of the Rabbit, offering unique experiences to guests in their kitchens featuring dishes prepared using age old wok centric cooking style. The company has seen its fair share of reboots and restructuring over the years, transitioning from a private, to public, and back to a private equity owned enterprise again. Now, with 300 or more restaurants, in 24 countries and growing, the brand employs about 20,000 people that deliver over $1billion in annual revenue.
One of America’s favorite restaurant concepts, offering sit down Asian cuisine, and well known for their iconic warrior horse outside their locations, P.F.Chang’s is growing into a more dynamic brand under the leadership of CEO Damola Adamolekun. His reboot-in-progress is creating new experiences and consumer loyalty that is accelerating growth—and he is just getting started. We unpacked his global expansion strategy on the eve of Lunar New Year—of The Rabbit—who are also known to be witty, quick-minded, and ingenious.
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Social media has deteriorated—especially for women—and the media oligopolists love it. These media landlords—better known as Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, Twitter, Google and Apple—have taken control of most everything we do, say, share, post and buy online—and they are not very excited about the future of Web3. Why? Because the promise of Web3 flips the ownership model, the money and the power back to, well, we the people.
Enter media entrepreneur, Kellogg/Northwestern Alum, and one of the world’s most thoughtful rebooters, Tarun Katial. Tarun co-founded coto (come together), to create a next generation social community platform that empowers women to fight back.
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An entrepreneur and global CEO, Dee Robinson is civic leader and board member of non profit organizations and corporations, including Revieve.com. Moving from the corporate world, to restaurants, to retail, Dee unpacks her entrepreneurial journey on this episode of The Reboot Chronicles, with stories on following her dream, deploying the power of AND—as well as facing down fear and naysayers that were holding her back.
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Not many know CEC Entertainment, but they know Chuck E.Cheese. This globally recognized entertainment and dining brand has seen it’s fair share of reboots since its founding days in Silicon Valley back in the 1970’s. A company that hosts half a million birthday parties and two billion game plays every year, their slogan, “Where a kid can be a kid everyday ®” has been repeated (or sung) in most every American household with kiddos. Part of a system of family destinations under the bigger umbrella of CEC Entertainment, the brand boasts over 600 restaurants around the globe.
With a new CEO joining in January 2020, David McKillips jumped headfirst into a Chuck-E Ball Pit—just as the global pandemic forced all of their locations to close. His decades of experience in family entertainment at Six Flags, DC Comics, Sea World and Sesame Place, were just what the doctor (or the board) ordered for this hands-on transformation and financial restructuring.
A nightmare of a situation for a first-time, location-based entertainment CEO to encounter on day one, David led the company from an ineludible Chapter 11 filing to quickly launching Pasqually’s Pizza—all while (more importantly) rebooting the iconic brand into a global platform. Together with Chuck E.Cheese, Peter Piper Pizza (a growing regional fresh-made pizza restaurant), and Pasqually’s Pizza and Wings(one of the first virtual kitchen delivery-only brands) the group employs 13,000 people in a market that’s projected to be over $40 billion by 2027.
To uncover and unpack some of CEC’s reboot story, David and I had this fascinating chat on The Reboot Chronicles podcast.
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A professional career from Disney to America’s top leadership company, Scott Jeffrey Miller’s journey, in a nutshell, has been an impactful story—from the front lines to the C-suite. Along the way, learning the habits of people who made it to the top, Scott elevated himself from salesperson to Executive Vice President at Franklin Covey.
He is a multiple best-selling author, radio and podcast host, leadership coach, columnist and a killer keynote speaker. A huge proponent of “OWN YOUR MESS”—and the fact that we learn more from our messes than our successes—Scott leverages his unfiltered style to ignite creativity with his coaching. He is the host of the popular On Leadership podcast, iHeart Radio’s Great Life Great Career show, author of Management MESS to Leadership Success and Everyone Deserves a Great Manager, and writes a column for Inc.
Deriving essence from his profoundly thoughtful and impactful conversations on his podcast, Miller wrote “Master Mentors” and has now released “Master Mentors Vol. 2”, to help professionals strategize better and reach their pinnacle. A life-long learner like me, Scott presents practical and relatable experiences for others to implement in their lives. He’s currently globetrotting on his book/speaking tour; yet I got him to pause and join me again on The Reboot Chronicles, to reflect on personal stories and his latest work!
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A popular retail brand serving American customers in home, apparel, jewelry, and beauty merchandising categories, JCPenney has had many reboots over its 120 year history. Most recently, emerging out of bankruptcy and recruiting Marc Rosen to be CEO, the company has rightsized to 650 stores and 50,000 employees who generate about $9 billion in annual revenue.
With decades of retail and e-commerce experience at world renowned brands like Levi’s and Walmart, Marc is rebooting this iconic brand into the future, with a simple, hyper-focused strategy based on what customers want now. Hype-focused indeed—from targeted private label and popular national brands to enhancing omni-channel capabilities and in-store experiences. More simply put, how to meet customers ever-evolving needs—where they are, with what they want.
To get a first hand perspective on how his team’s transformational journey is shaping up, I invited Marc to the Reboot Chronicles podcast to take us through JCPenney’s “stabilizing in an unstable world” phase.
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In my recent Forbes article about living longer, I talk about how personalization is rebooting the global health, beauty and wellness market—empowering individuals and impacting their well-being journeys.
As a science driven company targeting consumers, athletes, health professionals and organizations, Thorne HealthTech (NASDAQ:THRN) is part of that impact, redefining what it means to live healthier for healthier longer lives. Their Artificial Intelligence (AI) approach helps deliver personalized, proactive and actionable solutions to people at most every age and stage in life. From the very early days when they were a natural supplement provider, to a direct to practitioner model, and subsequently a direct to consumer (DTC) provider, Thorne has positioned itself as an innovative leader in the personalized health and wellness space.
Their CEO and co-founder Paul Jacobson, joined me for an episode of The Reboot Chronicles podcast. A serial CEO, his own reboot journey includes serving as co-founder and CEO of Thorne Research Inc., Health Elements, LLC and WellnessFX. Listen in as we unpack some reboots his company has undergone over the years and how they are transforming an industry…or two.
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One of America’s first tech companies, HP - Hewlett Packard Inc. (NYSE: HPQ) was started in a Palo Alto garage by Bill Hewlett and David Packard in 1939—kicking off the lab coat era of Silicon Valley.
The company has been through many reboots, M&A events, and market headwinds filled with leadership challenges over the decades—and was even split into two companies in 2015. Today, fresh off its $3B+ acquisition of hybrid-work leader Poly, the company employs over fifty thousand people in 170 countries, who generated over $63B in revenue last year.
With recent investments by Warren Buffett, the acquisition of Poly and other emerging brands like Z, Omen, Hyper and Arize, the tech giant continues its rebooting journey, stepping up in the market and doubling down on gaming and peripherals, hybrid work solutions and more.
I invited Stephanie Dismore, HP’s head of North America to join me for an episode of The Reboot Chronicles to unpack their latest go-to market strategies across a portfolio of expanding products and services in the commercial, consumer and public sectors.
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A rebel wih a cause, CEO of SEAT, Wayne Griffiths is on a mission to reboot the EV auto market, by taking ‘boring’ out of the equation with cool CUPRA models that will reach over 500,000 units a year.
Part of 250B EUR Mothership Volkswagen, the Barcelona based EV brand was launched in 2018 to make sporty performance cars—but they are also committing billions of dollars electrifying the car market in Spain, other parts of Europe and beyond.
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Pioneering the biotech industry back in the 70’s, Silicon Valley based Genentech is one of the world’s most innovative pharmaceutical companies and a leader in breakthrough lifesaving drugs, treatments, and technologies. Now part of Roche the combined entities have tens of thousands of patents and employ over 100,000 people in 100 countries who delivered over $68 B in revenue last year.
Their transformational discoveries include the first targeted antibody for cancer, and the first medicine for primary progressive multiple sclerosis. Early 2022 saw Genentech get FDA approval in ophthalmology, with a bispecific antibody for two leading causes of vision loss; underscoring their commitment to people living with retinal conditions - age related macular degeneration (AMD), and diabetic macular edema (DME).
In a world consumed by the pandemic over the past few years and the long-term ramifications ahead, a conversation with Genentech’s CEO, Alexander Hardy, on the Reboot Chronicles show was imperative, to say the least.
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Over a decade ago, Gotham Greens CEO, Viraj Puri, had a bold vision that would reboot indoor agriculture with AI, data-driven hydroponic systems that would run on 100% renewable electric powered greenhouses using 90% less water and land. Started on a rooftop in Brooklyn, Viraj expanded his vision into a scalable Certified B Corporation, with a nationwide network of greenhouses that grow and distribute leafy greens, herbs, salad dressings and sauces. With a 26% year-over-year sales increase in leafy greens (vs. 3% category growth) Gotham is just getting started and is positioned well to expands its market reach and product mix.
Fresh off his $310 M Series E round, with BMO Impact Investment Fund, Ares Management, Commonfund, RockCreek, Kimco Realty Corporation, Manna Tree Partners and The Silverman Group—and the acquisition of FreshH2O—I invited Viraj to the Reboot Chronicles podcast to unpack his growth plans and learn how Gotham is rebooting the food industry.
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If you have traveled at all lately, you know that the industry needs a reboot and Jeff Katz is trying to do just that. Having rebooted the travel space as founding chairman and CEO of Orbitz, he is looking to do it again as the CEO of Journera, a travel technology company recognized as one of the most innovative travel companies, offering real-time, complete views of a traveler’s journey.
With a fresh round of capital from A16z, B Capital Group, BCG and PAR Capital, Journea is creating a new category in the connected tissue between travelers and travel companies.
Frequent travelers know that the sector could use more innovation like what AI powered companies Hopper and Journera are delivering, so I invited Jeff to join me for an episode of The Reboot Chronicles to see what’s next.
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As a CNBC disruptor fifty and one of the most innovative companies on Fast Company’s list, Counter Brands, LLC, parent company of Beautycounter, a clean high growth certified B Corp, is redefining the beauty industry. Recently partnering with The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG), the global investment firm acquired a majority stake in the company, valuing the business around $1 billion. Taking this big leap and now looking ahead into their hyper growth phase, Beautycounter Executive chair and Founder Gregg Renfrew sat down with me on The Reboot Chronicles podcast, to talk about this burgeoning stage for her company.Gregg Renfrew - Beauty Counter
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When it comes to building businesses, I’m a big platform approach guy. When I met Kim (Kimon) Angelides the Executive Chairman and CEO of FemTech Health—a data driven personalized health, beauty and wellness brand for women—I knew his organization would soon be making waves in the digital health market.
Kim bringsdecades of experience championing innovation in healthcare, in both public and private companies. Kim has founded many companies, including one of my favorites, Livongo in Chicago, acquired by TelaDoc just a year after its multi-billion dollar IPO. His recent acquisitions of Birchbox, Liquid Grids and Mira Beauty form the cornerstone to Kim’s strategy and ramping up his competitive advantage—and I think he is just getting started.
As Executive Chairman of Revieve, I love ventures that take personalization of health, beauty and wellness to the next level—especially for women. I invited Kim to join me for an episode of The Reboot Chronicles podcast, to talk about what led to yet another of his remarkable founding journeys … and why FemTech.
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Elaine Boltzstarted her job at Crocsas their Chief Operating and Transformation Officer at a most propitious time: March 2020. No sooner had she settled into her new digs at their cool Colorado headquarters when the pandemic shut down supply chains and manufacturing—but also helped make Crocs a true zeitgeist performer. Those shoes people love to hate— but everyone from kindergarteners to your gardening grandma has a pair—became a huge success, once again. In 2021, they had 67% revenue growth and industry-leading 30% operating margin and sold 103 million pairs of footwear globally, up 49% over 2020. During the fourth quarter, the brand sold 22.6 million pairs, an increase of 19.7% over last year—adding $1 Billion of topline revenue in just a year!
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As the Chairman of Revieve, I speak regularly at conferences around the world and meet with fellow speakers and CEO’s who proclaim that their company will transform categories like health, beauty, wellness and food. When I ran into Alan Hahnat a recent event, I was reminded that his company, MycoTechnology, is delivering the critical ingredients that next-generation food companies need at scale—mushrooms. The company is growing rapidly, has raised $120 million, and as Alan says: “If we grow as a world population from 7 billion to 10 billion by 2040, it's a 50 to 70% increase in protein requirement. So we really need to use this food that would go to waste and upcycle it into the food stream. It will be a huge way to achieve our exponentially growing needs.”
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Andrea Harrison, VP of Beauty & Personal Care at CVS Pharmacy, is a business executive for whom the pandemic brought radical growth opportunity. She oversees beauty at 10,000 CVS locations that are within 10 miles of 80% of the US population. CVS Health has been growing rapidly over the last few years and forecasted to deliver over $300 billion of revenue in 2022. When so many retailers were shut, Andrea and her remarkable team had “the perfect sandbox” to explore how to connect with customers both #IRL and online and engage them in product trial. As Andrea sees it, we are in the midst of a whole personal exploration into the nature of “self-care” and CVS was able to meet the expanding needs of its customers whether it was a drive through rapid test, something I did a few times, administering crucial vaccines or simply testing a new type of mascara or bath salt.
Rami Rahim, CEO of Juniper Networks is someone who truly can be labeled a pioneer in the building of the Internet. Headquartered in Silicon Valley with over 9000 employees, operations in 50 countries and over $4.7 billion in revenue, Juniper Networks played a pivotal role in how we all communicate today. Along his two-plus decades of experience at Juniper (how rare in an industry so lacking in company loyalty), Rami has received many accolades including being named by The Economic Times as one of the “most loved CEOs.” Juniper is one of the behind the scenes sort of companies that doesn’t get the attention of the media the way others do and I was delighted to pick Rami’s brain about the future of networking.
With telecom and infrastructure growth having slowed due to supply issues along with competition from cloud services, we discussed how the company is rebooting into more agile growth and moving from this hardware centric world into software, AI-driven cloud services, security and 5G.
As Rami says “Juniper has always been a true innovator in IP networking technology. We were builders of the infrastructure that helped the internet scale at a time when service providers were really struggling to keep up because it was at the cusp of the.dot-com boom. Imagine a little upstart company trying to convince service providers to trust their networks with a startup’s technology. The only reason I think we managed to get that kind of trust was because they really had no choice. Traffic was exploding. They needed technology that could keep up with it. We had an innovative new architecture and were developing routers with silicon technology. We offered a very scalable internet, and a great operating system to keep up with that demand.”
Rami went on to discuss how Juniper has rebooted itself for the cloud-based world.. “But we have evolved our business and diversified it. Now it’s very nicely split between telecom operators, which remain extremely important to us, cloud providers, (all of the major hyperscale cloud providers in the world are our customers), and global 1000 type enterprises that are increasingly trusting their networks, on our technology.In the early days, our claim to fame, our credibility, our pedigree was scale and performance. But things have evolved beyond that into experience. Right now, if I talk to a CTO, CIO or CEO of a big fortune 500 company or a telco or a cloud provider, their biggest challenge is complexity in network operations that is slowing them down. The solution to that is software driven innovation, AI-driven innovation that will remove the complexity from running networks. And yes, it will remove the human factor from running networks altogether.”
I’m a big believer that some of the best business ideas are simple, and also driven by personal conviction. I recently sat down with Kara Goldin, author of a great book called Undaunted, Overcoming Doubts and Doubters, which details how she faced up to endless naysayers and triumph with Hint Water which she scaled into a couple hundred million dollar company. What is Hint? Water with fruit essence. No sugar, no artificial flavors or sweeteners. It was one of the big successes of the Covid beverages-by-mail era. Like me, she was a Diet Coke addict who wanted to be healthier and looked at what was right in front of her: a big cup of water that she made more palatable by adding fruit slices, and she created a product out of it. This was not her first go round in startup land, she had worked at a dot com that was sold to AOL, but the first time she ever entered the consumer products space and wow, she did with a bang, or kiwi, strawberry or coconut.
David Dow, CEO, Sportsmap Tech Acquisition Corp, Gow Media
Know what a SPAC is? If you are interested in novel ways to raise money for a company, you certainly should. I recently interviewed David Gow, CEO of Gow Media, the largest media company in Texas with properties like SportMap Radio Network, 2 ESPN local stations, a lifestyle site, an automotive and a sports site. He recently created a blank check company through a SPAC (Special Purpose Acquisition Corp) IPO with the NASDAQ raising $100 million. SPACs have been all the rage over the last 24 months, with over 850 of them taken public. Is this just another risky way to find funding or a sound plan going forward?
First off, how exactly does a SPAC work? As David recounts, it’s the opposite of the typical money raising process which involves an operating entity, a business it grows up, and becomes large enough to then go public, or list on an exchange like the NASDAQ and raise a lot of capital through an IPO. “In the SPAC world, it's backward. We’ve created a hollow company listed with NASDAQ that can raise a lot of capital. But now we've got to go find the operating business. And that's why it's often referred to as ‘a blank check company.’ We've been given over $100 million to go identify and acquire or merge with a great operating business. Our special purpose is sports tech.”
With so much private equity currently available, why would you go this route? As David sees it, the opportunity brings together capital, a board which has great expertise and that public stock. “For some businesses, having a public stock creates a great currency for additional acquisitions. So we are a time and cost efficient way for a private entity to get to the public realm.” He has a point there. The planes, trains and automobiles of the roadshow process and all the filings required for an IPO are not for the faint of heart or wallet.
So what is his SPAC looking for (contact me if you want in!) are companies where technology is innovating the sports industry: eSports; health and wellness including wearable devices and businesses like Peloton which are both software and hardware; fan engagement including smart stadium technologies and fantasy and gambling.
David is particularly bullish on esports because the business models are still being defined and he and Gow Media can play an active role in that. As college athletes become able to monetize their name, image and likeness, he plans to build a platform to connect athletes with brands. NFTs also hold huge promise when connected to athletes.
One thing that David believes is a big part of fueling innovation in start-ups in his region is The Cannon, which provides support infrastructure and colocation of support resources. The Cannon offers “an angel network of investors, a mentor network, shared services of fractional CMOs and CFOs to help businesses who couldn't afford a full time employee community building programmes when somebody gets a big VC round.” Having participated in a similar project in Chicago, 1871, I can attest to how essential this sort of support is.
One of the most important topics I teach at the Kellogg School is corporate governance. Coming out of the pandemic and with heightened awareness of the impact of corporations on the future of the planet, I welcomed onto The Reboot Chronicles Ravi Chaudhry. His book, Quest for Exceptional Leadership: Mirage to Reality has been acclaimed as a discerning analysis of the leadership vacuum that pervades the world. He believes that leaders have to re-discover the leadership traits that lie dormant within them. He is the founder and Chairman of CeNext Consulting & Investment Pvt Ltd, New Delhi. Prior to that, he was Chairman of four companies in the Tata Group, India. He has consulted with many Fortune 1000 corporations as well as been an advisor to Governments of Switzerland, Turkey, Brazil and Norway, as well as the World Bank.
In Ravi’s mind, the last two years have been a breaking point for the general public with corporations. As he says, “Business leaders are pretty good at keeping track of the company's performance indices. But somehow, they still apply the toolkit of yesterday. They tend to miss out how radically society has changed in the last two years and how the social contract, which kept the wheels of economy moving, is broken.”
He sees how employees have awakened to the lack of equity, fairness, and transparency, and how an increasing proportion of customers are asking tough questions about company ethics. He typically begins his consulting with corporate leaders by asking them if they are aware that the world is changing faster than anyone could comprehend, in directions that they are not likely familiar with. The big challenge for them is to keep abreast of what is happening, distinguish between risk and opportunity and identify anomalies before they become established trends.
He decries corporate boards as too often “the echo chambers of like-minded peers, with self confirming news inputs that reinforce our beliefs.”
To him, there are seven non-negotiable tenets of business today. The first two are related to ESG: Decisive stakeholder primacy over shareholders, social and climate justice. The third and fourth relate to the respect for women and minorities, and support for youth activism, and regard for trade unions and employers. Fifth and sixth reflect corporate director ethical citizenship, transparency and humility. And seventh, is to create and nurture a company with sustainable profitability.
In Ravi’s world of fixing the corporation, he requires a total narrative shift from “corporate governance, to governance of the corporation. Beyond compliance to corporate character. Beyond corporate lobbying, to corporate acknowledgement that society matters, and nature matters more than all the corporations put together.”
It was a heady discussion filled with ideals that will inspire you to new levels of possibility in the world of corporate governance. And yes, he does have recommendations for the most controversial corporate entities today. Mark Zuckerberg, we are talking about you.
Paul Mangiamele, CEO, Legendary Restaurant Group
I have been a “turn-around guy” for the last 20 years and rarely do I encounter someone like Paul Mangiamele, who swooped in to fix long-standing fast casual brands Bennigan’s and Steak & Ale. He not only wanted to set these brands on a better course, he put his money where his mouth was and bought the franchise. Once he had them back on their feet (and ensured distribution of those Baby Back Ribs and Monte Cristo sandwiches again), along came the pandemic. And yes, he and his wife Gwen, the co-owners, persisted and came up with new ways of connecting with customers and even increased their reach globally.
If you are not familiar with the Fast Casual category, the Applebee’s and Sizzler’s of the restaurant world promise familiar menus nationally, but have been contracting for some time. Paul Mangiamele was brought in in 2011 to lead the turnaround of Bennigan's and Steak & Ale but he ended up buying the firm and bringing the brands back from the brink of Chapter 7. What worked? As Paul says “Not too many CEO’s own their brands (100%) and the fact that my wife and I have significant skin in the game by investing our own money lends strong credibility to our franchise offerings and models.”
Paul’s work with these origin fast casual brands embodies the three key components of reboots that I teach at the Kellogg School: people, platform, and passion.
Rather than cut costs as many turn-around experts advise, Paul decided to “invest our way into profitability, not save our way into profitability.” He followed the precepts of Ray Kroc, of McDonald's, who always said that the quality of service, cleanliness and value equals profitability. “I bought what I saw was the unlocked value of the brand and wanted to shine up these diamonds that got a little dirty through the mismanagement of people. We brought the leadership and retained the intellectual capital that my team possesses.”
The Reboot Chronicles is about organizational and personal transformations, and my guest on this episode, Michael Rubenstein, Co-Founder of OpenStore may likely not be known to you yet. But, the work he has done over the years has radically changed advertising and ecommerce. He is someone whose work likely touches everyone in business who does any kind of advertising and is currently helping early-stage ecommerce brands get the early liquidity they may want, and maybe be the next Chewy or Wayfair.
Michael honed his skills at DoubleClick, where he was founder and general manager of their ad exchange and stayed with them through their acquisition by Google in 2007 for $3.1 billion. Before advertising exchanges, buying “spots” on TV, radio, print, and even digital was a holdover from the Mad Men world of phone calls, lunches and vast amounts of paperwork. Into this picture stepped DoubleClick that automated the buying of ads online and placed them on an ever expanding “network” of sites. Sellers could feed “inventory” into the system and buyers could place orders and within a day see their ads on their favorite websites. Wall Street sales efficiency entered the advertising world.
Michael’s next move was running AppNexus which upped the ante for this ecosystem by being an exchange of all exchanges and coming up with the concept and the technology to deliver “RTB”: or real time bidding. Just like the automated commodities exchanges of corn and wheat, advertising became a traded commodity. What you may not realize is that the ads you see on digital content (and increasingly streaming video) that appear so relevant to your interests or purchasing habits are bought instantaneously on a bidding basis and matched in that instant to various databases of sales and online activity.
As Michael recounts it: “if you look at the way media was bought and sold on the internet, prior to the advent of programmatic 15 years or so ago, it really looked a lot like the way television or magazine advertising or anything like that have been bought and sold. So the idea of actually putting that model online and using algorithms in real time to tailor media buying decisions was revolutionary. And what started in the early 2000s as an experiment using publisher remnant inventory, has since turned into a movement that has eaten the entire advertising and media buying world. Today the majority of advertising, even in traditional media is being bought and sold using programmatic techniques.”
When you hear the name “Boeing” you may think of airplanes and defense, but there is a huge division devoted to keeping that hardware running smoothly through technology. I recently interviewed Ted Colbert, the CEO of their Global Services division, which operates in 400 locations and over 70 countries servicing not just Boeing hardware, but also their competitors. Ted was just awarded the 2022 Black Engineer of the Year Award, was the first recipient of the Fisher Center Prize at Berkeley for Business Analytics; and named one of the Most Powerful Executives in Corporate America by Black Enterprise magazine. He rose through the ranks of IT at companies like Ford before joining Boeing where their mission is is to keep the world's fleets flying safely and efficiently through data-driven innovation.
I was interested in how what we often perceive as a hardware company has embraced digital. As he recounts, data and solutions help engineers and technicians make decisions with more clarity, faster and support predictive needs of the customer in the services world. Predictive capabilities improve the operational performance of Boeing customers’ fleets, improve crew scheduling, and help with fuel optimization. As he says, “You take a business metric that drives your business, and then you describe what success looks like. You go all the way back to how you do the work. We can think of and we can innovate around digital to make things that much better.”
Boeing Global Services is a customer-centric organization. As Ted relates it, “we deliberately designed our services around key segments that serve our customers. That includes supply chain, training and professional services, engineering, global technical operations and digital data analytics…we believe that our domain platform, and knowledge around the world, is unrivalled and allows us to provide this customer-centric solution.”
With billionaires throwing money at commercial space travel, how does a long-time aerospace company continue to innovate in the sector? NASA is a customer of theirs and they continue to contribute to the International Space Station. Ted cautions about the race for space and believes that their legacy of development trumps the current push to get more people into orbit. “Nobody needs to be in a rush to do this. We just need to do it right.” He sees Boeing’s recent $450 million investment in Whisk, an autonomous air taxi as a good and responsible example of partnership in future tech. “They have a lot of experience in building these types of vehicles, and know the regulatory aspects and safety aspects of them.
Best-Selling Author, ex-Coke CMO and Marketing Visionary Sergio Zyman spoke with The Reboot Chronicles about what was said to be an epic fail in marketing (remember the introduction of New Coke?). As the first person to EVER hold the title of Chief Marketing Officer, he should know! Lots of good nuggets in this episode, from his thoughts on pandemic marketing to why marketers are still focusing way too much on TV—including $6 mil. Super Bowl Ads.
We had to, of course, address the elephant in the marketing room of the introduction of New Coke. So was it the debacle it was reputed to be? For those of you not around in the ‘80s it was all over the media. A guy at Coke dared to do what pretty much every soft drink in the world does now on a regular basis: introduce a new flavor. But here, someone was messing with an iconic brand. In response to the onslaught of the Pepsi Generation (that’s what young people drink!) Sergio backed the introduction of an updated formulation for Coke. Turns out there were a whole lot more lovers of the classic formulation than the company expected. Within a month, “Classic Coke” was back, fans were delighted.
So what was the real story? As Sergio relates, there is more to it than I ever understood:
Long before the rise of Kim Kardashian or Jeffree Star, there were veritable armies of direct sales people going door to door selling their wares by telling stories and using their personal passion for the products. What happened to that model in the age of the influencer and with a pandemic that seems to never end? To understand direct sales today in health, beauty and wellness, I spoke with Tyler V. Whitehead, new CEO of Arbonne, about how his work and life, embody the principles of the Reboot Chronicles: be nimble, adapt to what life throws at you and always be leading
Heart to Beat: What A Cardiac Surgeon’s Experience Says About Leadership
Dr. Brian Lima
At the Reboot Chronicles, we most often talk to business executives about their challenges and triumphs. I met Dr. Brian Lima speaking at a conference and decided to up our ante to life or death issues. Dr. Brian Lima is a cardiothoracic surgeon and bestselling author of an inspirational autobiography, Heart to Beat, was awarded the 2020 top doctor of the year. I spoke with him about how his work and life embody the principles of the Reboot Chronicles: be nimble, adapt to what life throws at you and always be leading.
Dr. Lima is a global authority on advanced heart failure, heart transplants and medical circulatory devices. In his world, there is no room for failure. How does he keep the stress in check? How did he rise to this position?
When I met Dr. Lima, I was struck by his childhood story about how he came to want to be a doctor. Lots of people would probably mention a character they saw on TV as an inspiration. For Dr. Lima, it was at the age of 10 seeing his father have a heart attack. He turned the fear and helplessness into a desire to become a doctor. When he got to a surgery rotation in his training he found his “do what you love” moment. As he says: “Surgery was love at first sight. And it was just a natural fit. It just seemed to click. I couldn't think of myself doing anything else.”
And while surgeons are renowned for their confidence and egos, Dr. Lima is rather modest about his abilities. He’d agree with the old “99% perspiration” adage. Surprisingly, he never felt like heI was the smartest kid in class. “I felt like I always had probably a lower IQ relative to what I would you know, what I thought of as really geniuses with photographic memories.” What was his solution? He worked two or three times as hard and excelled even though it took him longer periods of time to absorb the information. He felt like an underdog but that was part of his motivation.
If, like me, you have found yourself at large conferences wondering where the diversity is, you would have been surprised and delighted to see Shelley Zalis leading groups of like-minded women across the giant trade halls of CES, the esplanades of Cannes Lion or the conference rooms of the World Economic Forum.. Shelley, who built her career in market research, responded to a need for connection, first among women, now among all those seeking greater diversity and inclusion in an organization called The Female Quotient. From its beginnings as an ad hoc networking organization, the group has expanded to take on representation of women in media and mentorship of the next generations of leaders. What started as “The Girls Lounge” has turned into the “Equality Lounge” and now embraces male attendees as well. Before Covid, it was operating as pop ups at 70 major conferences around the world. I sat down with Shelley to talk about her journey.
We now welcome onto The Reboot Chronicles Tom Deierlein. Bronze Star and Purple Heart Recipient and serial entrepreneur. On this Veterans Day, we are honored to have Tom, a 1989 graduate of West Point, who is also an Airborne Ranger, Wounded Warrior and angel investor. Tom was recently named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of The Year, Greater Washington and is the co-founder and current CEO of a major systems integrator that specializes in data center solutions for the Federal government. But unlike most of us, Tom (at the age of 38) had a call to duty that took him to the frontlines of Iraq leading a regiment. A sniper cut short his service. He not only had to learn how to walk again, he had to reboot his business and personal life as he reentered the civilian world.
I recently sat down with Christopher Gavigan, the founder of Honest Company, (which had a wildly successful IPO this year) to talk about Prima, his latest venture. With this company he is boldly going into the premium CBD space, separating the “woo woo” from science, and in the process bringing pain and sleep relief to a Covid weary world.
Chris started thinking about CBD products before he teamed up with Jessica Alba to launch the Honest Company in 2012. His latest venture went on hold as he built one of the most successful subscription-based CPGs of recent times. He’s someone who understood the potential for purpose driven, natural, healthy, clean nontoxic lifestyle goods. He’s also a champion of human health social entrepreneurship, and author of a bestselling book I like called Healthy Child, Healthy World: Creating a Cleaner, Greener, Safer Home.
Keep learning, even at home
The COVID-19 pandemic closed offices and schools around the world last year. 1.6 billion students around the world had their schools closed in April 2020 or 90% of all students. My partner is an assistant principal at a K-12 school in Colorado, and I have witnessed first-hand the new challenges that she and all educators and learners have had to navigate.
On the Reboot Chronicles podcast, I recently interviewed Jeff Maggioncalda, Board Member at Silicon Valley Bank and CEO of Coursera, which provides anyone anywhere with access to online courses and degrees from world-class universities and companies. Coursera, which was once known as the Craigslist of education, enrolled 30 million new learners in 2020 and grew revenues by 64% year over year.
Lifelong, “chunky” learning has moved from a nice to have to a must do! The world is moving and changing faster than ever, so it is critical for everyone to continue to learn new skills to stay relevant and grow personally and in their careers.
Higher education reinvents itself
Jeff detailed how Coursera was not a business at all when it started, and grew from the “Craigslist of Education” to a multi-platform business. Initially it only offered free courses directly to consumers. Many top universities, expanded their businesses when they began publishing their content and supplying it to global audiences through Coursera.
Now as a business, Coursera has three institutional channels—one for businesses, one for campuses and one for governments. “What they're all looking for is really high quality, online courses that they can get and use for their constituents,” said Jeff of their customers.
The higher education business model is under pressure and somewhat fragile. Their curriculum is an institution’s core offering or the family jewels. However, from Jeff’s point-of-view, tools like Coursera are allowing the higher education sector to reinvent itself. Universities are collaborating and licensing content from other academic institutions. This is very similar to textbooks, but just with the digital mechanism that empowers speed and scale.
There is more content available to consumers than ever before. Content that stimulates almost all our senses -- streaming video, podcasts, short social clips, blogs and much more. With so many content options, creators have to produce high quality content to be rewarded. And the more that quality content is rewarded, the more incentive there is for brands and creators to elevate the content they are making.
My recent guest on the podcast, Triangle Capital Partner, Richard Kestenbaum believes this pattern has us in the golden age of content. Richard is an expert on consumer products, apparel, retail and digital markets, co-author of three books on finance and computer programming as well as a Forbes contributor.
I also recently contributed a Forbes article about the creator economy that explored how influencers and content are reshaping retail and the consumer experience. Amway, an unexpected leader, essentially created the influencer economy by working with and launching entrepreneurs—which is really what creator/influencers are.
Many challenges that companies face stem from a disconnect between sales and marketing teams. Finger pointing between the two departments, who ultimately have the same end-goal, can infect an organization. Next to reputational damage, it is a CEO’s worst nightmare.
I recently welcomed back a great leader and friend to the Reboot Chronicles podcast, Scott Miller, best-selling author, fellow podcast host, leadership coach, columnist and advisor to FranklinCovey, to talk about his latest book, Marketing Mess to Brand Success.
Inspired to help sales and marketing teams get on the same page, Scott’s new book was pulled from his 10 years of experience as a public company CMO and various sales and leadership roles. He strongly believes that sales and marketing have to “stop the finger pointing, get on the same boat and start rowing the same direction.” Similar to the other books in his Mess series, this book outlines 30 challenges that he had in his marketing role which every marketer needs to understand and learn from his mistakes. No matter what you are doing, you will enjoy his new book.
I laughed at many of the challenges when reading the book as they were messes I’ve participated in, in my past CMO and CRO roles.
Bruise hard and heal fast
While it sounds painful, to bruise hard and heal fast is valuable life advice.
Throughout all aspects of our lives, lots of people give unsolicited feedback. This is especially true for marketers, because everyone thinks they can put on their marketing cap and give you their opinion on your campaigns and branding efforts.
Scott advises to be the open-minded marketer who is open to other stakeholders’ insights. Take the feedback. Forget the bad suggestions. Implement the good. Then heal fast and pivot. Don’t go down with one campaign that you’re especially passionate about. Think longer-term about protecting the power you have over the brand.
Good advice, many of us can relate to, I definitely fell on some swords I should not have when I was a CMO of a large B2B company in my 20s and when CMO of LG Zenith.
Serial CEO and entrepreneur Jeff Hoffman has had his hands in a number of different ventures, including Priceline, a Grammy-winning jazz album, an Emmy Award-winning television show and a best-selling book. On this episode of the Reboot Chronicles, I spoke with Jeff about 1871, the travel industry, helping entrepreneurs, the current financial craze of SPACs and crowdfunding and how to successfully scale your business.
Inspired by 1871
As the chairman of the Global Entrepreneurship network, Jeff’s focus is to create ecosystems for entrepreneurs in any geography and ecosystems, allowing for a breadth of experiences and backgrounds. Jeff was inspired early on by our Chicago-based incubator 1871, ranked the top global business incubator, with over $1 billion of funding associated with the member companies since inception. We have various corporate and entrepreneurial programs, with hundreds of startups and DEI initiatives for women, Hispanics, African-Americans, Veterans and Neighborhood Accelerators. Jeff and the Global Entrepreneurship team are also focusing on initiatives for female entrepreneurs and minorities, ensuring that they have the resources to succeed and grow their companies.
The Art of Scaling
Jeff and I have been deeply involved in scaling businesses, which led to an interesting conversation about how every startup is different. It’s not enough to provide generic advice to an entrepreneur—you need to assess the business, people and market to give advice situationally. While some might need examples of how to pitch investors, others might require direct funding and scaling help. As scalers, we exist to create the experiences and space that early stage, growth stage and corporate innovators need while they build extraordinary businesses.
Unreasonable Expectations
Working with one of his mentees, Daniel Epstein, Jeff’s involved in the Unreasonable Group, which was named after the George Bernard Shaw quote that reasonable people adapt to the world around them, while unreasonable people expect to adapt to them. The idea behind the group is that entrepreneurs are the people most likely to solve the world’s biggest problems, so they focus on social entrepreneurship. To play into the idea of being “unreasonable,” the team spent over 100 days on a research ship, dedicating different boat decks to various initiatives. For example, the fifth deck was an incubator, where mentors would meet with entrepreneurs and help them grow their start-ups—sounds like the area I’d hang out in!
Mentors would join the ship as they circumnavigated the globe, creating a collective of investors that companies could tap into for all aspects of their growth strategy. While this might not have been your traditional cruise ship, participants enjoyed themselves, and over $4.5 billion was raised though this and the other Unreasonable initiatives so far.
Deloitte as it exists today is not your father’s Big Four accounting firm. With over $47 billion in revenue and 330,000 employees spread across 150 countries, Janet Foutty and her Deloitte colleagues work with around 70% of the global Fortune 500 companies. On this episode of the Reboot Chronicles, I spoke with Janet Foutty, the executive chair of the board of Deloitte and chair of the Deloitte Foundation, to learn more about diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and how Deloitte is helping companies improve their efforts to be more inclusive.
Building Agility and Equity to Thrive in a Post-Pandemic World
Those companies that have diverse and inclusive cultures provide a competitive edge over their peers. When you compare low and high-performing boards, those are that are high performing are more likely to exhibit gender balance and promote inclusive behavior.
Beyond adding value, it’s also about values. In Janet’s view, the more doors and opportunities that companies can create, the more that families benefit, the economy benefits and perhaps most importantly, the next generation benefits.
The idea of DEI is not just a moment, but a movement, and it is up to a company’s board to be accountable for fostering an environment where everyone can be included.
The Equity Equation
While much of the conversation over the years has been around diversity and inclusion, equity has quickly become part of the conversation. Deloitte was at the forefront of diversity in the professional services industry, as it was the first company to have a women’s initiative. That then evolved to be diversity and inclusion, where the organization sought out ways to create an inclusive workforce and promote inclusive behaviors. But what the industry learned is that focusing on just diversity and inclusion is not enough. Instead of being about an initiative or a program, equity is about an outcome. For Janet, this is about "lasting economic and social outcomes, and leveling the playing field."
Boardroom Innovation
In compiling their Racial Equity Imperative Report, Janet and her team determined that creating sustained change in the boardroom and C-suite starts with changing the questions that are being asked. For example, cybersecurity has changed the way boardrooms have conversations around technology, and the risks that come with it, so now that is part of every board conversation.
To help improve DEI efforts, Deloitte is working with its clients to start changing the conversation around a number of related topics. For example, when discussing mergers & acquisitions, the board should be asking questions about whether the move will be dilutive or accretive to diversity efforts. I agree with Deloitte on this, it has proven to to work well with the Dancing with Startups initiatives my group conducts with Fortune 500's, brining DEI directly into their partnership and acquisition target areas—driving both value and values.
Within a span of seven years, she went from selling her products at her local flea market to selling it to Unilever in a nine-figure deal. On this episode of the Reboot Chronicles, I spoke with Jamie Schmidt, the founder and former CEO of Schmidt’s Naturals, to learn more about how her products went from humble beginnings, to being sought after by all the major CPGs, to now being on the shelves of 30,000 retailers in over 30 countries.
Making Natural Products Mainstream
When natural products first showed up on retailers’ shelves, there was much to be desired. For example, natural deodorants offered by conglomerates like P&G didn’t really work and their smell was a turnoff to consumers. Inspired by her fellow creators in Portland, Oregon, Jamie sought out to solve this problem herself. She started researching different ingredients and how they interact with the body’s chemistry, eventually cracking the code to create something that worked and that people were excited to use. In Jamie’s view, she was successful because she kept an open mind as to who her customer was. Instead of thinking of a specific type of customer, she envisioned reaching people in Middle America who did not have access or exposure to natural, healthy products. As she scaled up her business, she tapped into distribution channels, like Walmart or Costco, where other natural products weren’t going and cornered the market. In doing so, she made natural products more mainstream and started making inroads in an area that was largely untapped.
Selling to Unilever
Having drawn the attention of mass market brands through her distribution channels, Jamie was in talks with a number of CPG brands to purchase Schmidt’s, including Unilever. While she was initially shocked by the attention, it was an incredible experience for her to think that her brand could join a family and have the backing of a large conglomerate. However, she had to balance the risks of joining a larger company, such as having to compete against other brands in its portfolio or pulling back on innovation. Ultimately, she decided that Unilever was the right partner as they did not have intentions of shaking things up among the brand team or in product development. Instead, Schmidt’s could continue in the spirit that it had always grown in with the support of a larger parent company. For Jamie, this was important as she wanted to ensure that her company was taken care of while still able to remain itself.
Stuckey’s Corporation which started as a roadside pecan stand during the Great Depression and grew into 350+ stores by the 1970s, has evolved itself under the leadership of Stephanie Stuckey, who brough the company back into family hands in November 2019.
On this episode of the Reboot Chronicles, Stuckey’s CEO Stephanie Stuckey discusses how her unique background translates into her leadership style, how the organization is rebranding itself for the new retail space and its goals of expanding further into B2B retail.
Restoring Stuckey’s Stuckey’s started out as a simple, family-owned Georgia pecan stand selling pecan rolls in the 1930s, eventually morphing into America’s favorite roadside oasis with over 350 stores in the 1970s. Like many companies experiencing tremendous growth, Stuckey’s was bought out by a larger company, leading to a “perfect storm,” where Stuckey’s fell out of favor with its owners, slipping into obscurity and decline. Seeking to turn the tide of the company, Stephanie took the wheel with a plan to reacquire the company, bringing it back into the family and rebooting it for the 21st century.
As a founder of 1871 in Chicago, one of the largest incubators in the world, I'm often on the lookout for hybrid business acceleration platforms, and recently found one that looks like a rollup with an incubator on the side! On this episode of the Reboot Chronicles, I caught up with Chris Hobson, CEO of Rare Beauty Brands, who helps high-growth indie brands scale innovation, product and channel development—while empowering founders with access to new markets, funding, personnel, and highly relevant industry mentorship.
Dancing with Startups
In recent years, the indie beauty boom has presented a challenge to cosmetic conglomerates like Sephora, forcing them to rely on both partnering with and incubating beauty brands. Similarly, to grow at scale, indie beauty brands need funding to build out their tech and logistics teams, investing in marketing, new hires, geographic expansion opportunities, and even bringing in professional-grade management. Chris and his team set out to help young brands scale indie beauty startups through their friendly partnerships with prestige retailers like Sephora, Macy's, Neiman Marcus and Ulta, to place their products online and in-store.
Secret Sauce Blend
The chemistry of having a team of people on the cutting edge of the latest industry developments and consumer trends are what sets Rare apart from the rest. Their secret formula truly lies within its team of experienced scientists, innovative R&D and marketing experts that indie brands could otherwise not access themselves. As Chris states, “Our vision is, as we grow our capabilities, we also expect to grow our staff of scientists.” Unlike other incubators, accelerators and inno-labs, Rare’s’ approach is to bring the company in and keep the young brand’s unique culture.
The company has seen success so far with its first launch, “Patchology,” and its first acquisition of “Plant Apothecary.” They prefer to work with brands that are on a profitability track and active in the professional, direct-to-consumer and traditional retail segments, generating $500,000 to $10 million in annual revenue.
With more than $8 billion in revenue and a team of 15,000 employees, Amway has helped entrepreneurs in more than 100 countries see success selling health, beauty, and wellness products through a program called “A Million Entrepreneurs.”
According to Fortune magazine, Amway is among the Top 50 privately held family-owned companies in the U.S. Founded in 1959, the company is still headquartered in the small town of Ada, Michigan, and today is the world's largest direct to selling company. I talked with their CEO, Milind Pant, on The Reboot Chronicles about how he is rebooting the future of the company.
Stumbling Into Action
Too often, new CEOs forget to take a step back and listen before taking action. As the first CEO to not be part of the founding family, Milind embraced what I like to call “the stumbling around phase” approach when he took the position, spending his first one hundred days traveling the world listening to and learning from colleagues, customers and partners. Milind's approach proved successful as he learned the business—seeking diverse perspectives from the one million entrepreneurs that sell their products to the trenches and fields behind-the-scenes.
Along the way, he also took a deep dive into better understanding the integration of holistic, wellness and sustainability ethos, which is at the heart of the company's culture. By taking the long-view, and asking hundreds of questions, he built lasting relationships and gained allies who helped him as he began to reboot the company—from its historical strengths of direct selling into the next-gen of personalized social commerce.
Global Entrepreneurial Ecosystems
About 90% of Amway's revenue is from outside of the United States. Though this points to numerous growth opportunities in North America, Milind points to massive growth markets in China, India and various Asian markets where they are strong. An impressive 75% of Amway's revenue comes from geographic territory stretching from Mumbai to Tokyo—not many organizations can say that yet. This approach has made Amway, like Amazon Sellers now, a company that entrepreneurs have looked to as a platform for their personal financial growth. Those of you that follow my Dancing with Startups programs know that tapping into entrepreneurial ecosystems is one of our secret weapons that creates sustainable competitive assets for large corporates. I think Amway's entrepreneurial network is one such asset which will serve them well into their long-view connected-economy journey.
On this episode of the Reboot Chronicles, I talked with Matthew Putman, CEO Nanotronics, a dynamic group transforming a broad spectrum of manufacturing and processing industries, through artificial intelligence, science and other cutting-edge stuff. I don't say this often, but if you are involved in the manufacturing space, you should check out what they are doing to bring manufacturing into the 21st century.
Matthew and his team started out creating a platform that combined AI, automation, and imagining to find flaws in factories. The global Automated Optical Inspection market is a hot space, which promises to reduce waste and costs, while speeding up designs across most all industries. His vision evolved into a dynamic platform that tackles this whitespace bringing the next-generation of capabilities to a sector that has not experienced enough change in the last 100 years—manufacturing.
Thinking beyond the core of manufacturing Mathew and his Dad also began to focus on home healthcare innovation. In the depths of the 2020 pandemic they launched Nanotronics Health, and a new product nHale™, which quickly received EUA from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration to assist patients suffering from COVID. It is a non-invasive approach designed to be used in non-life-threatening situations, without invasive ventilatory support. Next up, potentially producing personalized medicine to best-fit consumer needs through genomic sequencing. Nanotronics is currently working with some of the largest genomic sequencing companies to curate out-of-the-box thinking and create new products, services and ventures.
A talented musician, Matthew points out the parallels of playing jazz music to the art of innovation. When a musician plays, they must utilize different parts of the brain to create or play music. Like musicians jamming together, working together, either in person or virtually across the globe, is often about serendipity and improvising, so it is essential to trust your gut—because it's all that you may have in the spur of the moment.
We covered and eclectic mix of topics in this episode, you can watch Matthew here or tune in wherever you listen to your podcasts.About The Reboot Chronicles Podcast: Hosted by Dean DeBiase, The Reboot Chronicles is a popular no-holds-barred podcast on iHeart Radio, iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts and YouTube that has been bringing together CEOs, entrepreneurs, authors, and global leaders, for over a decade, to discuss how organizations are rebooting their leadership-competitiveness of everything from growth, innovation, and technology to talent, culture, and governance. Tune in wherever you listen to podcasts or at https://www.revieve.com/rebootchronicles
When Heather Wallace joined Revlon as President of Americas just about a year ago, she had a plan— to reboot the iconic brand and help prepare it for the future. Then, before she could even meet her team, the pandemic hit.
And as Mike Tyson said, “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face.”
On this episode of the Reboot Chronicles, I talked with Heather about how she grabbed the wheel of this 90-year-old brand, took on a reboot challenge of truly historic proportions, and orchestrated an agile pivot inside an already tough turnaround.
“We are well positioned to capture the reemerging opportunities ... accelerating brands,
China and e-commerce.”
Revlon president and CEO Debbie Perelman
COVID Wrenches
Like many in-retail brands, the 2020 lockdowns threw a wrench into topline revenues—dropping a whopping 20%. However, these punched in the face impacts also created growth optionality that Revlon can seize upon now—my favorite being the growth of their ecommerce businesses, which was jolted up to 20% of revenues.
“We are seeing signs of broader positive momentum in the business, and with several major 2020 challenges behind us, we believe we are well positioned to capture the reemerging opportunities in the beauty industry…Revlon plans to focus on accelerating brands, China and e-commerce going forward.” Revlon president and CEO Debbie Perelman
Right Team – Right Time
As Revlon quickly discovered, they brought in the right leader at the right time. Heather is an inspiring leader, and according to her competitors, a tough operator who delivers.
While Revlon had already been in the process of making much-needed changes when Heather joined, including the Revlon 2020 Restructuring Program, the pandemic brought about a whole host of new challenges. With the beauty industry getting hammered, the crisis forced her to navigate the existing culture while increasing the speed of change and adjusting—often on the fly—to significant shifts in consumer shopping habits.
Rather than focusing on the negatives that faced them, she and her team stayed unified in working towards a common goal, which she says enabled them to adapt well to a shifting environment.
The effort was anchored by an emphasis on consumer analysis, which Heather says allowed her team to assess how purchasing habits were changing and how to best meet new consumer needs and demands.
As a result, Revlon was able to effectively identify what consumers were looking for and where and what their preferences were for engaging with brands, influencers and products.
Way before Dermalogica, the world’s top professional-grade skincare brand, was acquired by Unilever in 2015, and even before the company had a product line, it was known as the International Dermal Institute, where innovative cutting-edge skincare treatments were taught. Unlike many indie-brands owned by corporate-motherships, who learn the hard way that tigers eat their young, Dermalogica provides a rare story about how a $60B corporation can continue to nurture the culture and growth of the asset they acquired.
A pioneer in the space, the DNA of education and engagement has served the company well throughout the pandemic, says Aurelian Lis, CEO, and is helping it even now to innovate in ways that will define the brand in the decade ahead.
Lis, a brilliant leader who recently joined me for a lively episode of the Reboot Chronicles, says that even though Dermalogica today is sold in more than 80 countries by more than 100,000 skincare professionals, it is still very much defined by the core principles established by co-founders Jane and Raymond—dedication to education, personalization, human touch and sustainability. Human Touch, in particular, he says, is a point of difference for the them, always driving the brand to want to find new ways to connect with consumers.
Saving an Industry (No Touching)
As the 2020 pandemic hit, Dermalogica saw the drastic impacts it was having on skin therapists—in 20,000 salons worldwide—that have been so central to the company’s success and immediately called upon their education roots to help them.
The brand implemented a number of programs to support this community including starting an affiliate sales program to help increase commission rates for all accounts; offering free returns; extending credit card payment terms; doubling digital streaming classes and creating business resources that ranged from financial planning guides to online marketing opportunities, digital classes and bi-weekly live streams.
Scaling Personalization and Education
They also introduced a program called Clean Touch, which provided a safe way for skin therapists and consumers to continue to engage, at a time when it was off limits. Dermalogica even scaled up certification classes to industry professionals on how to survive and thrive—and rapidly certified and astounding 60,000 therapists! This is now expanding into more hard-core educational programs across sectors.
Aurelian has also been an innovator in using technology to enhance consumer engagement. For example, Dermalogica utilizes AI powered face mapping, which is essentially a personalized assessment for consumers to get professional insights into their unique skin needs—making personalization both a product and a service—and they are just getting started.
Watch us here or tune in wherever you listen to podcasts.
In the Amazon fueled ecommerce marketplace wars, with aggressive competitors—from eBay and Google to Walmart and Target — Supermarket Mega-chain Kroger seized the lock-down pandemic era to launch its own marketplace in 2020. In this bold move Kroger’s shifted from its old store-based model into a co-created marketplace that offers tens of thousands of indie and global product brands—from food and household goods to health, beauty, and wellness companies.
“We’re continuing to invest in technology that enables us to expand our digital services to deliver anything, anytime, anywhere.” Jody Kalmbach, Kroger
With many organizations still jumping on the band wagon—even Hudson’s Bay is planning a 2021 launch—many have turned to marketplace SasS providers, like Mirakl, to create, launch and host transaction platforms between global buyers and sellers of products and services. Not surprisingly, Mirakl’s growth in transactions on the marketplaces they operate was up 110% to $3.1 billion in 2020! On this episode of the Reboot Chronicles, fresh off of closing their $300 million funding round, we go under the Mirikal hood with Co-founder and Co-CEO, Adrien Nussenbaum to see how they are helping to drive disruption and innovation for these B2B and B2C companies.
“Ecommerce accelerated dramatically in 2020, with marketplaces capturing a disproportionate share of that growth.” Philippe Corrot, Mirakl CEO
Marketplaces are extremely complex models, with multi-factor optionality, so managing key growth variables is a powerful tool to build successful platforms that can keep-up and compete with the big-dogs. After working with over 300 B2B and B2C companies in over 40 countries such as Best Buy Canada, Kroger, HP Enterprise, AIRBUS, and Toyota, Mirakl has figured out how to partner with high potential companies that have great assets—and seek to evolve their business models and target changing consumer buying habits. Adrien puts it this way, “ imagine yourself ten years from now, do you see yourself as a consolidator or being consolidated ... on a consolidator site such as the Kroger’s and Best Buy’s of the world."
On the heels of Australia’s top 2020 public offering—the largest female-led IPO in that market’s history—Adore Beauty’s CEO, Tennealle O'Shannessy, shares her unique journey of taking a company public in the midst of a seriously strict Stage Four Lockdown. Already the leading profitable online retailer in their category—with $200 million of fresh IPO powder in the bank, Tennealle provides some insights into their aggressive expansion plans and a sneak-peak into the road ahead.
Founded in in Melbourne in 2000 (think early internet dial-up days), with a lofty mission to provide empowering and disruptive new shopping experiences to consumers, Kate Morrisand James Height built-up a reputation for fast, easy and friendly services. During Tennealle's CEO tenure, she has rebooted the company even further, pushed the boundaries of beauty, and challenged the company to expand to what is now the leading platform with over 230 brands representing 11,000 products.
Being the number one beauty online retailer comes with a lot of pressure to grow and innovate. On The Reboot Chronicles Podcast, we often explore the importance of not just talking to consumers but really listening. This is exactly what Adore has done well, often finding early trends and repetitive patterns in consumer learning, influencing, trying and buying behaviors. One example, taking an early lead to offer emerging products—such as ingestible skincare supplements—as the beauty category shifts toward the health and wellness space.
Tennealle shares other approaches to grasping consumer interest. They have taken a sustainable yet careful approach, to adapt to consumer behavior and preferences, by analyzing data to create better engagement, education and shopping experiences. The goal is to give consumers what they want because Adore is all about "beauty democracy" and meeting consumer needs. Identifying how to leverage technology, while creating more natural digital experiences, allows them to improve and personalize core customer experiences.
Tennealle reveals some challenges she has dealt with along the way, and advice for fellow entrepreneurs and indi-brands, to spend time identifying the problem you are solving in the marketplace. Once you figured out this whitespace (gap in the market), identify how you will draw in consumers and how they will resonate with your product. The best thing to do is be transparent on who your brand is for, what you provide, what you stand for, and create an open conversation of your message to consumers—including education.
As a co-founding board member at 1871 in Chicago and creator of the Dancing with Startups program, I am always on the lookout for potential global expansion partners, like Founders Factory. They are a very dynamic startup accelerator and venture studio, launched five years ago in London by Brent Hoberman and Henry Lane Fox, on the principles of aiding founders with hands-on resources.
On this episode of the Reboot Chronicles we dig into how entrepreneurs and startups should evaluate incubators, accelerators or venture studios with Founders Factory Managing Director, Isabella Chick. With a growing list of corporate partners, 100 people (wow) and 4 global locations, they have funding from numerous organizations, allowing them to invest in and rapidly scale and transform global sector challenges—opportunistically.
How it Works
Standing out from the rest, Founders Factory provides a different perspective, separating their accelerator and venture studio, enabling a more direct operating approach. Moving beyond the typical "cohort" model, over 200 startups have been in their six-month accelerator factory—68 in 2020 alone. Most of these ventures have received bespoke tailored services and advice focused on growth—with a keen understanding about the (land mine) spaces between retail and brands. Another secret sauce they provide founders is coveted all-access passes to world-renowned companies like J&J, M&S and L'Oréal who has a strong CVC group.
The venture studio program allows entrepreneurs to start with funding and some de-risking. Isabella shares the two ways the venture operation works: either Founders Factory develops an insight or target area with a corporate partner and brings talent into the mix, or founders bring their concepts to the group and pitch for inclusion in the program.
Corporate Partners
Isabella points out, the importance of relationships with their corporate partners across multiple sectors, including education, media, beauty, travel, finance, AI & big data, retail, and home. This is not the typical demo-day/corporate entertainment format, but a more serious corporate commitment program. Within these sectors, the industry relationships they have, plus the corporate partners clout, have been crucial market accelerators for the entrepreneurs and startup teams. These corporate partners often de-risk too, as they can engage with the startups ahead of investment. Once a vote through the investment committee has been determined, based on the relationship momentum, concept feasibility and other insights, they can commit. With L'Oréal alone they have run over 200 pilots with entrepreneurs and startups!
Next-Gen Media, Entertainment and Leadership
On this episode of the Reboot Chronicles, fresh out of my COVID-19 recovery, I discussed one of my favorite sectors, the entertainment industry, with Jacqueline Parkes, CMO, and SVP of Digital Studios Entertainment Youth Group and ViacomCBS.
Responsible for overseeing marketing, creative and digital content, and social media for MTV, Comedy Central, the Paramount Network, Smithsonian Channel, popT.V.V, and CMT, Jacqueline has rebooted some of TV’s most famous brands. She and her team have made many creative moves, including rebooting original content to build new brands and digital audiences.
Not Your Dad's MTV
In 2020, Jacqueline's team took a hard and fast look at their assets and identified what they could do, in their role as a global media company, to best help consumers (people). With a 93% reach in 18-34-year-old audiences and an impressive 750 million followers across platforms worldwide, they quickly went to work. With the goal to create information that would provide lasting impressions within the minds of existing and new consumers, they developed the first digital campaign. The idea was to hit home in young people's hearts, educating and informing them on the virus—and to help slow the curve. The provocative campaign was a great success, and in partnership with the Ad Council, her team developed over 1000 pieces of cross-platform content.
Digital Content Partnerships
Content, especially digital content, has shifted dramatically in 2020. Now more than ever, content creation matters, and brands need to be ready to step up to the plate and place society considerations into the forefront of their brands M.O. Moving forward CEO's and CMO's must follow the everchanging habits of consumers, and be mindful of these radical shifts, in order to stay ahead, draw consumers in and resonate with their audiences. One of the partnerships Jacqueline shares is with Twitter, is a prime example of consumer consideration. In preparation for a prior VMA show, Jacqueline and her team worked with the social media giant to produce a unique product to drive business to the brand and give fans insight into the show. It turned out to be a quarantine hit and a direction we will likely see more of in the future—partnerships creating unique perspectives and products to benefit both partners and the audiences.
Advice To Gen Z
Generation Z is one of the most socially-minded generations—and more demanding of brands and on businesses. Those graduating from college, looking to pursue media or content related careers should look to a organizations and brands that they best resonate with. For those looking to start their own company, remember to put the clients or consumers first, think of what they need and ask yourself ... is there really a need for what you want to develop? Step up to the plate and do not conform, but rather create relevant, original products, services and content.
Can we Crowdsource Government?
NASA’s Deputy Director for the Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation (CoECI), Steve Rader, joined me for an episode of the Reboot Chronicles, to discuss how our government went from “not-invented-here” to crowdsourcing and the art of Dancing with Startups.
Founded in 2011 by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, NASA's CoECI goal was to drive crowdsourcing programs to further research and development efforts, assist other federal agencies in solving mission-critical projects, and bringing a new level of co-creation and open-innovation culture to NASA.
This decade’s overused buzzword, co-creation, was introduced into NASA's culture a decade ago by Dr. Jeff R. Davis, NASA's prior Director, Human Health and Performance. During a time when NASA was experiencing heavy budget cuts with increasing R&D needs, Jeff found he could expand his resources in various industries, through open-innovation challenges. He took this discovery, and often without permission, ran pilot projects with entrepreneurs and startups to prop-up research projects—and the rest is history.
"If I had an hour to solve a problem, I'd spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and five minutes thinking about solutions." - Albert Einstein
NASA was able to elevate the center to the agency level, tasked to teaching other government agencies to understand how to re-frame problems and reboot their closed mindsets. Similar to what I teach students, executives and board members at Kellogg School of Management, through my Dancing with Startups Program, NASA has guided the US Space Program and over 30 other agencies, on how to discover better solutions by driving more open-innovation, co-creation and crowdsourcing. Listen in here for some good stories here or tune in wherever you get your podcasts.
Why did Accenture Stock rise 24% in 2020? Leadership, talent, digital and focus— and with record earnings for its software products and services, management has just increased their fiscal 2021 outlook from 2%-5% to 4%-6% revenue growth.
Sitting as Number 279 on the Fortune 500 list and about $43 billion in annual revenue, Accenture is one of the world's largest consulting companies, with over 500k employees companies, helping over 6k clients in over 120 countries reboot their businesses and brands. Today, the company has over 4.8k patents and about 2.5k pending, with a very robust partner network of nearly 200 organizations worldwide, while growing their digital footprint through high-profile acquisitions like the agency Droga5.
Rotating to the New - Digital
Since Julie Sweet became CEO of Accenture a lot has changed under her remarkable leadership, from transforming their market approach and culture to reinvigorating their service platforms and brand. Today, 70% of their business has rotated to the "New": digital, cloud and security, all supported by Accenture's biggest brand relaunch in a decade, spearheaded by Accenture’s dynamic CMO Amy Fuller, who joined us for an episode of the Reboot Chronicles to talk about what’s new and what’s next.
Speed, Scale and Agility
During the 2020 pandemic, consumers have moved dramatically toward online channels, and companies and industries have responded in turn. Today, more than ever, organizations have to accelerate the pace of transformation to supplement and further strengthen their relationships with clients. Most of the companies who have overseen a digital transformation were fraught with challenges: they wish they had - and could have- moved faster. We see companies that emerge stronger from the crisis are those that innovate through it, using the current crisis as an opportunity to transform their company digitally. In short—2020 lit a fire under corporates and acceleration has been good for Accenture and a few of their peers.
The rapid shift to working from home is a good example. A vast number of companies were forced to move to digital channels and communication platforms, like Microsoft Teams, to work remotely. Accenture, for instance, has converted more than a million NHS people in a matter of days - onto Teams. Similarly, retailers are going through the “digital makeover” to adjust according to customer changes and preferences. Grocery delivery is now the norm for many people who wouldn’t bother in the past. In light of this, Walmart, for the first time, activated and scaled curbside pickup at a mass scale.
Optimal Experiences
With Accenture’s deep industry knowledge, they have discovered recently that the problem lies in understanding how humans interact with technology. And for many clients, the biggest concern was how to interact with advanced technologies and make the most of it. In a world of uncertainty, businesses have to deliver promises of consequence that drive everyone's purposeful change through experiences. Accenture Interactive, the consultancy giant's agency arm, connects deep human and business insights with the possibilities of technology to define and deliver new experiences that can make lives more comfortable and more rewarding.
Should you get the COVID-19 Vaccine?
I’ve been off the air for a while—personally recovering from COIVD-19—and with Pfizer shipping vaccines to a provider near you today, kicking off the largest vaccination rollout in U.S. history, I talked with Dr. Nicole Saphier about the question on the year: should you get the shots?
Author of the new book Make America Healthy Again, Fox News guest anchor and board-certified radiologist at Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Nicole has unique perspectives about who should get the vaccine, why she will not, why her husband (also a doctor) will, and what about their children.
Before you (U.S. listeners) head to your local CVS, Walmart or Walgreens, you should know Pfizerand Modernaare two shot deliver systems and require the second injection two or three weeks after the first. According to Pfizer research, the immunity skyrockets after that second injection to about 95% effective. Nicole states that there will likely be a limited supply of coronavirus vaccines at first, so "determining who has already had COVID-19 is crucial.”
According to the recent studies, antibodies for people who have been exposed to the virus, like me, would likely be present for about four to five months, at least. And with limited vaccine supply, we want to make sure that we are vaccinating the vulnerable, those who have no level of immunity to this virus and who are most at risk for being hospitalized or dying, starting with caregivers, health care workers and other people deemed as "essential" employees.
Luckily, children are less vulnerable to coronavirus's effects, but they can still be infected. According to Nicole, kids can also transmit the virus, but children have not been included in the clinical trials that are being put forth right now. Therefore, Nicole recommends children not to take the vaccine now–but rather get the flu shot to help keep people and children out of hospital.
Older adults and patients with underlying health conditions should get first dibs on a new vaccine because, for them, getting sick is more likely to be serious or fatal. She also adds that frontline health care workers, nursing home residents and high contact essential workers will get the first doses, like Long Island Jewish Medical Center nurse Sandra Lindsay, who said “I feel hopeful today. Relieved,” after she was the first one to receive a shot in America.
"I would encourage as many people as possible to get the vaccine, especially if you are over the age of 55. If you are over 55 and have comorbidities and obesity, you should absolutely get the vaccine," says Nicole.
How The World’s Largest Company Can Be The Most Innovative
From its beginnings as a discount store with a simple way of helping people save money and live better lives, Walmart, with 2.2 million employees serving 265 million customers weekly and annual revenues over a half-trillion dollars, has become not only the world’s largest retailer, but the quintessential example of the traditional retail approach.
Now, they are looking to turn that approach on its ear and reboot the future.
Tom Ward, Walmart's very thoughtful Senior Vice President of Consumer Product, and a key figure behind Walmart’s “digital makeover,” joined me for a “look-under-the-hood” episode of The Reboot Chronicles. Tom took me through how Walmart today is running on all cylinders and how they are driving some serious growth initiatives and timely partnerships that are pivotal to their future.
Juggling a Bizarre Christmas Season
I think 2020 will be the strangest Christmas season we have ever seen, morphing Black Friday into hybrid events—which started in October with Prime Day and will last all season long! Before the pandemic, people would line up and crowd into stores, but now companies must make sure that the way customers engage and shop with them is smart and safe—but still easy.
With contactless delivery becoming a prerequisite across industries, people have become reliant on online grocery delivery and pickup options to safely obtain necessities. In light of this and in preparation for the holiday season, Walmart, for the first time, will be activating curbside pickup at a mass scale.
But Tom says the retailer knows the in-store experience is still a significantly important experience. Certainly, as the omnichannel approach has changed forever, retailers must bridge online and physical worlds to include hybrid touch-point solutions. Instead of one big Black Friday event, they have three so far and will be extending hours, which should help flow control for you late night shoppers like me.
Target ‘s CEO Brian Cornell has echoed this, following Walmart’s lead to close for Thanksgiving Day, stating that they are taking a “completely new approach to Black Friday, minimizing the event-day shopping behavior that is typical for this time of year.” You can now check wait times online, make reservations at Target.com/line, use contactless checkout and make last minute pickup time changes.
Tom in our conversation frequently referred to the focus on solving customers' problems, regardless of the channel that they select. To that end, Walmart's app is going to play a leading role in the physical shopping experience—whether it's about navigation, scanning, drive by pickup or payment—helping to remove pieces of friction that traditionally slowed the retailer down.
There is much more going on here, with many co-created innovations coming to a store near you soon...one common denominator seems to be a need for speed! "I think it is going to a huge lift in speed and convenience as a focus. I'm always excited and keen to see what the next innovation is going to be around the corner, and whom we can partner with to accelerate that," says Tom.
To the Future and Back
On this episode of the Reboot Chronicles, I invited Ian Ginsberg, third-generation President of C.O. Bigelow Apothecaries, to join me for an action-packed episode about the past, present and future.
Founded in 1838 by Dr. Galen Hunter, Bigelow is the oldest apothecary in the United States, with some amazing history. Ian and his ancestors have stayed true to the company’s traditions of focusing on personalized products, services and formulas. Two centuries later, a Bigelow experience seems to transport us back in time and into the future simultaneously. Today, the company has been rebooted itself from the historical landmark in NYC into a vast global platform with over 10,000 personal care products, gaining the attention of multi-generational e-commerce shoppers.
An Essential-Connected Business
Unlike most companies that were founded after WWII, Bigelow has undergone some extreme times like two world wars, the Great Depression, 9-11 and COVID-19. Deemed essential during the 2020 lock-down, they reacted quickly, never closed and continued prioritizing emotional connections with wary shoppers—something they are good at in good times and bad.
Not Your Father’s Store
Ian continues to expanded the brand, including a rebooted retail business which still has the original functioning pharmacy, an expansive commerce site, and Bigelow Trading, which imports and distributes several brands. Having been on a few large family-enterprise boards myself, I like how Ian, who runs one of the oldest US family companies himself, seeks out and represents other family brands and products, who also have multi-generational heritage stories.
Focus and Passion
Ian provides some advice to aspiring entrepreneurs to set your sights on something you love. Many of us have set out to disrupt markets mostly for profit reasons, which can limit results. He prefers to focus on creating something you are very passionate or even obsessed about. Starting a business should be for the right reasons first and often things will fall into place financially. It is important not to get sidetracked, so listen in here, or where ever you listen to podcasts, to find out what type of sign you should hang up in your office to remind you of just that.
Challenges of the Female Entrepreneur in the Beauty Jungle
In this Startup Stories episode of the Reboot Chronicles, I talked with Franziska Leonhardt, co-founder of AVE + EDAM, an award-winning company based in Berlin, that offers tech-enabled personalized products. As you may have guessed, the company's name is a play on Adam and Eve and was founded in Silicon Valley at Stanford University, on the principles of influencing change in the beauty industry.
Levels of Personalization
Personalization of beauty products and experiences are increasing in popularity. A recent survey found that eight in ten consumers stated they had purchased personalized skincare products, with 35% spending around $100 on customized products. With that, is personalization here to stay—or is it a fad? Looking at the past, Franziska notes that products started off being highly personalized, as they were developed from the pharmacy, but were not available to everyone for price reasons. She believes personalization will grow, and could become a standard across many categories, if it can be developed and delivered at affordable costs.
However, given mass-scale issues, I do not see the big brands moving quickly to introduce custom formulations. To unpack the real trend, it is important to understand two different levels of personalization: SKU level personalization and formula level personalization.
SKU Level Personalization: Using AI/selfie skin data and analysis, brands and retailers recommend currently available products—potentially narrowing a search from 50 to five specifically targeted SKU’s.
Formula Level Personalization: Using the same AI/selfie skin and data analysis, brands offer custom-formulated products targeted to a person’s specific profile data.
Personalized customer journeys and product/service choices can be achieved by partnering with AI solutions providers like Revieve.
Female Entrepreneur Challenges are Real
Starting a company, in what industry experts call “The Beauty Jungle,” has been a huge challenge for Franziska—especially when it came to differentiating herself and brand. In the beginning, she had her hands full with all the startup challenges entrepreneurs face, while being a single mom. She experienced fundraising issue with European investors, who saw her as a single mother rather than an entrepreneur. Given the strong women in tech movement in America, especially in Chicago with programs like WiSTEM at 1871 where I mentor CEO's, she eventually found supportive U.S. investors.
It's a remarkable story that is still evolving, and Franziska’s passion and determination is contagious
The Rise of Luxury Indie Brands
In another Entrepreneur Indie-Brand episode of the Reboot Chronicles, I invited KYPRISFounder Chase Polan to discuss emerging luxury in the booming global skin care market.
As many know, skincare is one of the fastest-growing segments within the beauty industry with high demand for quality product formulations and self-care. According to the NDP Group, skincare sales within 2020 have risen $1.4 billion and are expected to continue growing by 2023, with an estimated 3.5% annual increase reaching $180 billion in global spend by 2024.
With over 15 years of entrepreneurial experience, Chase proves to be a natural-born leader as she has founded two of her own companies. The first being the Beautiful Minds Group, founded in 2005, a comprehensive educational consulting and support program for students K-12 grade and college; the program provides a new approach to better educate students. Also, she founded KYPRIS, a high-performance luxury skincare line of organic and sustainably sourced ingredients to ensure a unique and safer beauty experience for consumers. In creating the brand, she saw a niche in the market for a safe and quality ingredient skincare line.
Breaking Barriers
With buzzwords like “natural," "clean" and "non-toxic" trending, they are increasingly being used by brands to entice consumers—but are they all authentic? Navigating through such a saturated market, filled with these claims, is often difficult, especially for consumers who are not well-versed. Talking with Chase, I learned her thoughtful approach with KYPRIS. She instilled trust within her clientele base by creating a safe space to educate and provide superior sourced ingredients—going beyond the industry natural standards. The strategy is paying off and momentum is building, with the newly restructured and energized Nieman Marcus adding KYPRIS to their ecommerce lineup.
Falling Cactus
Sustainability and an ethically sourced supply-chain play heavily into KYPRIS. One brand ingredient, prickly pear (yes it exists), is locally sourced through a practice known as wildcrafting, aka the practice of going into the wild and strategically collecting an ingredient. Chase mentions the challenges that go hand in hand as there is a high risk, but is known for being an ethical and beautiful practice.
The Pillars of Growth and Innovation
The growth and innovation process for any brand is crucial; KYPRIS has a great guide to the seven core pillars they stand by. There should be no harm; this is really the brand's overarching motto they use to guide innovation—I expect others will follow.
What’s an Indie-Brand To Do
For all the entrepreneurs out there, it is important to focus on where the opportunity lies, especially in today's current climate. Although the market seems saturated, and retail stores and sites looking more like a “beauty-jungle”—there is still much room for innovation. One Indie-brand tip: rather than only hopping on the current trend bandwagon, that are likely to be short-lived, entrepreneurs should seek to develop out-of-the-box ideas to revolutionize the market—like in the areas of technology and personalization. Whatever you decide, do it authentically well.
Driving Cadillac's Tech Innovation
On this episode of the Reboot Chronicles Podcast, Cadillac’s CMO, Melissa Grady, and I look at how they are driving innovation and technology—and what's next for the auto market.
Arriving Home - Back in the Auto Industry
Coming out of grad school, Mellissa started her career in the auto industry, and the years, she has been on the digital industry's leading-edge, from starting her own companies to Motorola, MetLife, and now Cadillac. Since appointed CMO of Cadillac, Melissa has been driving the future of the luxury automotive brand. She's launched various campaigns, including the "Make Your Way", which debuted the 2021 Cadillac Escalade addressing COVID-19 and the unprecedented times we are going through: stating the brand has its consumers' backs.
Building the Next-Gen for the Next-Gen
A lot has changed since I took digital pioneer Autoweb public, when I was their CEO. The automotive industry remains a bit fragile in 2020, with sales down anywhere from 10 to 30%, depending on the brand and country. Unlike other automotive companies, Cadillac has gained momentum to accelerate growth and scale up the manufacturing process. While, my fav, the Escalate launch has been slightly delayed, the company has moved forward towards an electric future 'with Zero Crashes, Zero Emissions, and Zero Congestion' and has launched its new and exclusive platform.
Unlike Baby Boomers and Gen X, the latest up-and-coming generations are less car crazed and prefer shared mobility—at least before a global pandemic hit the world. Now, as economies gradually reopen, we are seeing significant changes in drivers' behavior. The coronavirus has led to a sharp rise in new car use patterns as commuters, like you, shun public transport. Cars have become the ultimate form of personal protection, understanding that people are comfortable in their "own germs" at home and in car.
Personalization Technology
We live in a time when technology has never been more critical in consumer segments, including luxury cars, and Cadillac is no exception. Melissa believes that "the two things that are important right now are technology and personalization: Technology brings a whole new level of vehicle personalized experience to life—from the performance driving to advanced AI & AR. Cadillac is known for its high standards, and the company continues to innovate, define and take advantage of tech trends. I was fascinated by the number of different features they offer, like huge OLED screens, 36 speakers and next-gen augmented reality elements to the navigation display.
The Art of Serendipitous Innovation
On this episode of the Reboot Chronicles Podcast, Rose Fernandez, CEO of Algenist, and I explored how her company was accidentally discovered and born in a lab, and instead of being cast aside, it was repurposed, carved out and acquired.
Throughout Rose's career, she's helped build a handful of well-known beauty companies in executive roles, including Murad, Kate Somerville, and Jurlique. She joined around the time it was being spun out its parent company and acquired by Tengram Capital Partners, and eventually she took on the (her first) CEO role. Her journey was not easy, as she stepped up to the plate with much to learn about running a company, creating ingredients—and the legal, governance and growth issues that followed.
Algae Lab Experiment to Beauty Brand
Their core ingredient, alguronic acid, was accidentally discovered for another project and later turned into a patented skincare ingredient, expanded and imbedded into their broad productline. Unlike other health, wellness and beauty brands, Algenist was born from robust biotechnology, and turned into a culture that gets the science, and can actually make the ingredients, not just source it like most brands. They pride themselves on being a safe and clean brand with natural, quality ingredients suited for the emerging mass-market.
Health, Beauty & Food
Today consumers are more educated and informed about the foods they buy and the products they put on their bodies, a trend that is headed to the mass-market. Whole Foods paved the way, informing the average consumer on quality ingredients and what is going into their bodies. This is becoming the overarching theme in the health, wellness and beauty sectors, with many brands taking the initiative to provide consumers with quality ingredients while informing and providing clarity on the benefits. Larger CPG companies are also jumping on the bandwagon, building and acquiring brands in order to leverage these new ingredient claims—but they have a way to go.
Entrepreneurial Tips
Rose shared some tips she has learned about building a business. First, know your customer. This is key to draw them in and create appealing products. Second, find the best distribution options for your customer—DTC is just one. Three, do not just do what's currently trending. This can be a distraction; one you may have to undo later. Lastly, do not try and do everything, I have made this mistake as a CEO. Do what is true to you; this will set you apart from the rest. I might add, having some unique and patented products in your portfolio doesn’t hurt either!
On this episode of the Reboot Chronicles, I invited the head of Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) at The Clorox Company, Jackson Jeyanayagam to discuss consumer shifts and the future of consumer packaged goods (CPG).
For over 100 years, this $7 billion dollar giant, with over 9,000 employees in over 200 markets, has been developing and acquiring market leading products that consumers rely on worldwide. With a wide assortment of cleaning oriented brands, Clorox has experienced a massive increase in demand in response to the coronavirus. According to CNBC, Clorox reported their third fiscal quarter being a net income of $241 million with $1.89 earnings per share has increased from year prior of $187 million.
See Opportunity, Take It
No longer just considered the company your mom buys bleach from, Clorox has worked to revamp their image with new brands tapping into the DTC space. CPG companies have pursued DTC brands to fill market whitespaces, steal share and appeal to more consumers. Clorox acquired Burt’s Bees and Nutranext, and has been expanding their consumer facing brands, a move which also helped them segway into future investments. Jackson is continuing this growth by investing in future products, projects and companies, leveraging data tracking, creating customer brands relationships and loyalty experiences, getting new consumer insights, and creating more personalization experiences.
Dancing with Startups? Build-Buy-Borrow
As serial CEO, I have scaled companies unnaturally faster than the competition by addressing growth and innovation through a Build-Buy-Borrow lens that favors the speed and robustness of co-creation of new products, services, channels and ventures. Nowadays, it is becoming increasingly popular for larger companies, like Clorox, to simply acquire DTC companies to expand, and often that is still the smart move. Clorox on the other hand, as Jackson shares, is taking more of a hybrid approach ,not starting from scratch, but instead of investing in, white labeling, partnering or acquiring—and then assembling the right people to take over and finding what works at scale.
Opportunity Lies Ahead for Entrepreneurs and Startups
Although there will continue to be bumps in the road triggered by the pandemic, there are new opportunities for entrepreneurs and startups to blossom. With ecommerce and Shopify type platforms, there is a lot of whitespace out there to create new ventures and growth partnerships. Jackson’s experience has taught him the importance of treating your people well, not as a dollar sign—but as humans, while encouraging, supporting and motivating them. With motivated people and a solid path toward profitability you can be unstoppable.
Ivan Markman, Chief Business Officer of Verizon Media, joined me on the Reboot Chronicles to discuss all things tech, media, advertising and the next-gen of content for Verizon Media.
With an impressive background, Ivan also serves as an advisor, investor or director at CreatorIQ, Measured, Holly by Nimblr.ai, TrueData, PetInsurer, Wonder, QLess, and Local ID. At Verizon he is responsible for the advertising and media platform businesses, B-to-B partnering, and innovating around an evolving set of offerings and solutions for the future.
2020 Trends: What’s Here To Stay?
With 900 million users worldwide, Verizon has seen a profound shift in consumer consumption patterns due to the pandemic, lock-downs, and here in the US, election year impacts. Specifically, there’s been an increase of new, life-oriented content, entertainment, and finance with interest in following market volatility and what is currently happening in a somewhat upside-down world. The pandemic has realigned consumer media expectations, especially when it comes to connected TV consumption (CTV), which as of last year hit 200 million viewers and growing.
OTT vs CTV
During the course of the year, this dynamic space has seen a lot of change. They launched the Verizon Media Platform, with heavy partner participation and capabilities surrounding content delivery and video streaming. Verizon developed an integrated digital media platform to deliver, display and monetize online content on any device. The platform has over 10,000 of the world’s largest brands and publishers including Disney, Fox, and Discovery. The crucial aspect is, as Ivan explains, is to continuously innovate when it comes to technology. Now more than ever, companies must adapt to the tech-driven digital revolution, leveraging the power of data and deploying AI for quicker optimization of assets.
Because of the unprecedented coronavirus challenge, online grocery shopping is now the new normal and Verizon Media is well-positioned to take advantage of the behavior shifts.
Guru Gowrappan, CEO of Verizon Media
Robert Foye, CEO of Accolade Wines , an amazingly thoughtful global leader who knows how to scale big-time, joined me for a fun episode of The Reboot Chronicles to dive into what’s next for one of the world’s largest wine companies, on track to be a global powerhouse.
From 1836 to The Millennials
With their first winery founded in 1836, Accolade has a fascinating history and expanding footprint, up to becoming a part of one of the largest private equity firms, Carlye Group. The company is built on a rich heritage and has been grown into a leading global wine company that produces some of the best-known brands admired worldwide. With over 70 brands and 50 vineyards, Accolade is number one in the UK market, number two in the Australia market and, in my opinion, just beginning to tap the massive potential of the U.S. and China markets....not to mention Millennials.
Shared Experiences: People-Food-Wine-Conversation
Wine has stood the test of time as it has been around since the beginning of civilization. Not everyone drinks the same bottle of wine, but it shares a commonality, bringing people together. With this mentality, Robert has led the company in newer directions, one of which is targeting Millennials. He explains when the company innovates, they use a millennial lens to create a very appealing product experience. Millennials are known for being adventurous, enjoy trying new experiences, and fond of out of the box products or services. In response Accolade has invented some cool drinks, like Madam Sass and Jamshed, two catchy, innovative brands with playful names and great taste.
Elana Drell- Szyfer, CEO of ReVive Skincare, and Algenist and This Works board member joined me on the Reboot Chronicles to dive into what’s happening in the beauty industry.
A Startup Journey
ReVive Skincare was founded in 1997 by Dr. Gregory Brown, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon who crafted the luxury skincare company. Before its founding, Brown spent most of his time dedicated to researching how to accelerate the healing process of burns on people’s skin. During the span of his research, he discovered restorative benefits to speed up healing damaged skin. Building on that research Brown built a solid foundation creating specially formulated products that rejuvenate customers changing skin behaviors. Elena calls it the “twenty-three-year-old startup” , because during its lifespan the company has been owned by Amway, while I was on their venture board, acquired by Shiseido and then acquired by private equity firm Tengram Capital Partners.
Corporates To Startups
With a long corporate career, Elena decided to make the switch to working with startups. Like me, she found that she really enjoys the challenge of working on startups. She worked with L’Oreal, Avon, Estee Lauder, and spent some time with Kenneth Cole. Before joining ReVive, she also worked with Laura Geller, where she learned the ropes. In 2017, Elena joined ReVive Skincare, taking on the role of CEO, where she rebooted the company instilling a strong sense of company culture, while keeping true to the company’s roots. For those of weighing the pros and cons of corporates vs. startups, remember to look for what will keep you professionally sustained and stimulated—while you balance Fun-Money-Purpose.
On this episode of The Reboot Chronicles, beauty health and wellness industry leader Joel Palix joins me to discuss the brand and shopping “Jungle” consumers are faced with. Over the years, Joel has been a game-changer across various industry sectors including beauty, wellness, fashion, luxury, and premium service brands. His experience has led him to advise brands, startups, and private equity funds, with this he founded Palix Unlimited a boutique consultancy. Prior, Joel served as CEO of Feel Unique, a cool e-commerce brand selling various inclusive beauty brands ranging from skincare and fragrance to cosmetics and supplements—and is currently run by CEO, Sarah Miles.
Beauty Is A Jungle
The beauty industry is really like a jungle, as Joel explains. There are so many ingredients, claims, products, and brands, that it is overwhelming for consumers. This has led to beauty tech solutions that help consumers navigate the jungle of choices, with personalized diagnostics and pinpointed product recommendations. Providing consumers personalized search for products and the option to receive assistance as needed, is becoming a preferred combination of human touch and tech. Consumers no longer need to deal with human intervention, and can virtually try on and buy products.Revieve is a prime example, making it simple for consumers to virtually try on and buy products, through simple selfie-based solutions, in partnership with retailers, brands, ecommerce and social platforms.
The travel and leisure industry has been devastated in 2020. I invited my friend, colleague and digital thought leader, Atif Rafiq President at MGM Resorts International on the Reboot Chronicles to explore how he is helping to reboot Vegas and the global hospitality industry.
Over the years, Atif has worn a variety of hats as an exec. at Amazon, McDonald’s, and Volvo. Now, at the $14 billion dollar Fortune 300 company, Atif has a full plate overseeing marketing, sales, revenue management, direct marketing, digital products, IT, and business and corporate development. Additional key components include rebooting MGM's growth strategies including business models, customer experiences and commercial approaches. Bringing a diversity of experience, Afit describes his career pivot as “an art as much as it is a science”, with an evolving toolkit of tips you can use when rebooting your organization
Pivoting Your Culture and Taking Flight
On this episode of the Reboot Chronicles, we take a trip down memory lane with Robert Pasin, CEO of Radio Flyer, and explore why brave leaders are needed to reboot their organization's People, Platform and Passion.
Humble Beginnings
Radio Flyer was founded in 1917 by Robert’s grandfather, Antonio, an Italian immigrant who moved to America, at the age of sixteen, searching for a better life. The young entrepreneur found work in Chicago and eventually opened a shop to continue the family carpentry tradition. His work began with furniture and cabinets and shifted to wagons after Antonio built one to haul around his tools. This bit of serendipity eventually pivoted the shop into creating the iconic red wagon, which grew in popularity over the decades, and became a part of American history.
Engaging iPhone Kids
Through ethnographic research, Robert's team observed what people like and don’t like about existing toys and created white-spaces to make them better, like creating longer-lasting battery-operated children's cars. This discovery led them to partner with Tesla to create a lithium-ion battery-powered mini Tesla for kids. This very cool car Platform, is just like an actual Tesla, and allows for customizing the car's color, license plate, and allows for a phone or mp3 player plugin. Nowadays, children are drawn to devices rather than playing outside. Children spend only ten minutes a day on average compared to approximately five hours a day using electronic devices. Radio Flyer combats this and brings innovation and fun toys for kids to use their imagination while riding in style.
Join Dean 迪恩 DeBiase and Author & CEO at OutThinker, Kaihan Krippendorff – Strategy and Innovation Speaker, business strategist, keynote speaker, former McKinsey consultant, and author of four business strategy books, for a discussion about Rebooting Companies: The new challenges in technology and strategy.
Named “one of the most creative and brilliant business minds of our time” by Forbes, Salesforce’s Global Innovation Evangelist, best-selling author, keynoter and futurist Brian Solis joined me for a fun episode on The Reboot Chronicles.
Over the years, Brian has immersed himself in mastering business market disruption, society and the future in a digital anthropologist role. Now working at the $17 billion dollar giant Salesforce, analyzing trends and technologies to gain new perspectives, he has no shortage of insights to share in and around digital transformation, innovation, cognitive experiences and human behavior.
Who Moved My Playbook?
The 2020 pandemic will have a lasting impact on all of our businesses, some permanently! It seems that most everyone is struggling to figure out their next steps without a Playbook. Brian labels it the Novel Economy, with a new normal that, in my opinion, is too new, too foreign and way too unusual for society. And, since we don't have a current Playbook, many of us are searching for the best way to re-establish forward momentum in our lives and organizations, including what specific steps to take and how to re-invent most everything.
Our challenge and the gift before us is that we’re looking at a blank canvas for what lies ahead,” Solis
I recently spoke with Carl Martin Lindahl, CEO of SVP Worldwide, on an episode of The Reboot Chronicles about how millennials are driving the company’s growth, what the latest technological advancements are in sewing and what new opportunities lie ahead for the company in terms of innovation and partnership.
SVP Worldwide is the world’s largest consumer sewing machine company and home of the legendary SINGER®, HUSQVARNA VIKING and PFAFF® sewing machine brands. Through their innovation and pioneering of offerings in the Internet-of-Things (IoT) segment, SVP Worldwide has helped make sewing today not only bigger and better but also higher-tech than ever before.
Millennials are Making Sewing Trendier Than Ever
According to an industry report, the sewing market is growing at a steady rate and surprisingly much of this growth is coming from millennials. “During the coronavirus lock-down, we have seen an explosion in growth - people have gotten into sewing to the extent that we had not anticipated at all,” says Lindahl.
The 2020 shortage of everything from boats to bicycles has extended into sewing machines, according to CNN. He says millennials are accounting for about 65% of the total growth of the industry on a global basis. According to Lindahl, there are multiple trends driving this growth among the demographic:
Upcycling. Lindahl believes that sewing can reach the level of art, or be a form of recessionary self-expression for consumers, especially Comic-Con attendees, who are willing to spend $500 dollars on a costume. Lindahl believes that the upcycling trend is primarily responsible for attracting customers, particularly those who are very conscious about sustainability, the environment and reuse.
Home Entertainment. Children who have been locked down during the pandemic are also now finding a way to learn how to sew with parents teaching their kids how to sew.
Urgent Care. Lindahl says sewing market growth was also driven by the increased demand for facemasks, respirator covers and the desire of consumers to donate to local healthcare systems.
He states in support of this SVP has donated thousands of machines to help consumers and local non-profit organizations. “We are donating sewing machines directly to hospitals and organizations to help sew face masks, gowns, respirator covers, and other PPE. We are in a unique position to help during this challenging time," says Lindahl
On this episode of The Reboot Chronicles, industry veteran Stirling Murray, CEO of Red Tree, the UK's leading international brand consultancy, joined me to discuss the challenges facing the global health, beauty and wellness industries.
Deep Roots
Stirling’s roots are deep in the beauty industry, having worked for copious companies, including Unilever, Estee Lauder, and Chanel globally. Red Tree is one of the top action-oriented consultancy groups that provides strategic advisement to a mix of large and startup brands, and the group also manages certain brands in specific regions around the world. He calls it “country managers” managing brands internationally, a new gig-economy type service that I think most startups and many large companies, across sectors will be considering in the 20's.
“This crisis has taught us - if we didn’t know this before - that we have no control over most of what happens. Yet the things we can control - our reaction to events - need to step up big time.” - SM
On this episode of The Reboot Chronicles, I took a look at startup Atolla, a custom skincare subscription company created by Co-Founder and CEO Meghan Maupin to dive into the insights of AI in skincare data and technology.
Meghan, an MIT graduate, created Atolla to target customer skincare concerns at a very personalized level. Her background lies in design, mass customization, 3D printing, and manufacturing. During her time at MIT, she struggled to take care of her skin and figure out the best products to target her skincare needs. With her creative background, she assembled a team where she and her fellow co-founders tackled skincare concerns through design, data science, and dermatology. After graduating, she began working with her team to build the technology, secure a patent to apply to their custom formulation process, and eventually launch in 2019. Atolla sales have skyrocketed, reaching more consumers, and increasing revenue monthly.
On this episode of Reboot Chronicles I had a no BS conversation with Rishad Tobaccowala on how we can stay human in the data-driven age, and what it means to be human in light of all the technology and data that’s flying around us. Named by Business Week as one of the top business leaders and top five marketing innovator by TIME, Rishad uncovers insightful secrets in his book Restoring the Soul of Business: Staying Human in the Age of Data about how balancing the analytical and intuitive sides of business can lead to increased profitability and even joy!
As most of us have plunged deeper and deeper into digital-data-driven worlds, the power of originality, storytelling and genuine human connections has never been more critical. But as data has become more available and we are more depended on it, common sense and empathy have often been discounted with negative results. So I wanted to know: how do we stay human in the age of data and can CEOs actually reboot or restore the soul of their businesses?
"I have been fascinated by the amount of innovation happening in the food and beverage sectors by big corporations and startups around the world. I invited Ellie Rubenstein a friend and CEO of a new private equity group, Manna Tree Partners, for an episode of The Reboot Chronicles to discuss the future of food and the importance of private equity and venture investing in the next-gen of human health."
We recently sat down with Jesus Mantas, IBM’s Senior Managing Partner, who provided us with some powerful insights into how the company is approaching digital transformation while also humanizing technology. For digital transformation strategy to succeed, companies need to be designed to excel at time-to-market and time-to-customer performance at scale. According to Forbes 45% of organizations believe faster speed to market is their primary goal in digitizing their efforts by adding in AI and machine learning-driven intelligence.
Read the full article here: https://www.revieve.com/blog/digital-acceleration-and-the-humanization-of-technology
In this episode of The Reboot Chronicles Podcast, Dean DeBiase interviews Ann Winblad, Founder & Managing DirectorHummer Winblad Venture Partners, a venture capital firm she co-founded in 1989. She is a well-known and respected software industry entrepreneur and technology leader. Her background and years of experience in the software industry have been chronicled in many national and international business publications.
Hummer Winblad Venture Partners was the first venture firm focused exclusively on software. In her 30-year career as a venture capitalist, Ann’s firm has launched over 160 enterprise software companies and led investments that pioneered successful companies across the enterprise software sector: Business Intelligence, Analytics, Software Development, Integration, Data Center Optimization, Cloud Computing and Security.
In this episode of The Reboot Chronicles Podcast, Dean DeBiase interviews Matt Renner, MicrosoftPresident US Enterprise. Matt is a tech industry veteran who leads a $13B division with an organization of over 2,000 people servicing thousands of clients. In this interview, they discussed what Matt’s team is doing to help the world’s largest brands reboot their growth and innovation in unprecedented times.
In this episode of The Reboot Chronicles Podcast, Dean DeBiase interviews Tim Draper, founder of Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Draper Associates, and Draper University and early investor in Skype, Hotmail, Tesla, Baidu, Twitch, and SpaceX. They discussed how the global economy is being transformed in the age of cryptocurrency and Coronavirus.
Join Dean DeBiase and SiriusXM host and former NA chairman of LVMH, Pauline Brown, who oversaw a portfolio of 70 brands in 5 sectors ranging from fashion to cosmetics, as they discuss her new book, Aesthetic Intelligence, and unpack how aesthetics impacts retail success (and failure), why style and design are as important as scale and speed for emerging brands, and her time in global private equity at The Carlyle Group.
In this episode of The Reboot Chronicles Podcast, Dean DeBiase interviews Toby Redshaw, global thought leader and SVP Innovation and 5G at Verizon, where he is focused on Building the Future, 5G inside and the 4th Industrial Revolution.
At Number 19 on the Fortune 500 list and $132B in Annual revenue, Verizon is one of the largest communication technology companies in the world, with 135K Employees serving 99 percent of all Fortune 500 companies in over 150 locations with 1,600 retail locations.
In this episode of The Reboot Chronicles Podcast, Dean DeBiase interviews Bracken Darrel, Chief Executive Officer from Logitech, a $3 Billion electronics company with a wide range of products that most of us are using RIGHT NOW.
Headquartered in Switzerland with major operations in Silicon Valley it has become a multi-brand company designing products that bring people together through music, gaming, video, computing, streaming, and the ever-present WORK FROM HOME MOVEMENT. Through a series of smart developments and acquisitions, Bracken and his teams have delivered double-digit growth consecutively over the last five years. And with their 2021 Fiscal year just underway, an at home global lock-down and continuing work from wherever trend, this is a company to watch.
EVP & CMO at Franklin Covey **and Best-Selling Author - Scott Miller
Boardroom Innovation – How to move from Management Mess to Leadership Success **
Join Dean DeBiase and best-selling author and EVP/CMO at Franklin Covey, Scott Miller, as they unpack Scott’s latest book, Management Mess to Leadership Success, and explore leadership challenges like creating an actionable vision, leading difficult conversations, inspiring trust, actively listening, putting the right people in the right roles, getting the right results—the right way... and how you can become a leader people will follow.
In this new episode of The Reboot Chronicles, Join Dean DeBiase and CEO and Founder of Five Dot Botanics, Zaffrin O'Sullivan.
‘Badass Women’ – Ditching The Dirty List for Clean Products and Fun Retail
Join Dean DeBiase and Credo Co-Founders Dawn Dobras and Annie Jackson to learn how these Silicon Valley entrepreneurs built the largest clean beauty retailer on the planet—partnering with 130 brands run by badass women—to serve consumers who are demanding more sustainability, transparency and education in everything from their food and beverages to cosmetics and skincare.
The Future of Health and Beauty – Rebooting Innovation and Global Growth at ScaleJoin Dean DeBiase and Raheel Khan Estée Lauder’s Head of Innovation Strategy, to discuss how Estée Lauder, with a $14 billion portfolio of 25+ prestige makeup, skin care, fragrance and hair care brands in 150 countries, infuses a passion for creativity and innovation throughout the organization.
**Next Gen Companies – How to harness light and love to create resilient organizations
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Join Dean DeBiase and Zappos's Head of Organizational Sciences, Forbes Contributor and author of 16 books, Pravir Malik, for a discussion about Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS) and how AI, machine learning, light, and love can help to create and incubate a more a resilient organization that will withstand the test of time.
**Boardroom Innovation – Making sense of the changing global business landscape
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Join Dean DeBiase and Silicon Valley veteran, author and co-chairman of Deloitte's Center for the Edge, John Hagel, as they explore emerging business opportunities that are not on enough CEO agendas... and also discuss John’s provocative book, The Power of Pull.
Join Dean Debiase and Steven Galanis, CEO of Cameo as we discuss the celebrity reaction to the worldwide pandemic.
Named one of the "50 Genius Companies on Earth" by Time Magazine, Cameo is the world’s leading marketplace for personalized video shoutouts, from over 30,000 celebrities, on everything from promoting events and brands to COVID-19 fundraising that is making a big impact around the globe.
**The Future of Health – How to make illness optional
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Join Dean DeBiase and EY’s Entrepreneur of the Year, India's "Most Admired Serial Entrepreneur," and Albert Einstein Technology Medal recipient, Naveen Jain, founder of Viome, Moon Express, World Innovation Institute, iNome, TalentWise, Intelius, and Infospace, as they discuss tech investing, traveling to the moon, the future of food and how to make illness optional.
**Reopening The Economy – What we can learn from The Professional Beauty Sector
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Join Dean DeBiase and Chris Chesebro, SVP Digital Transformation of Coty’s massive Professional Beauty business.
Learn how this $9 billion global company, with brands that are #1 in fragrances, #2 in salon hair and #3 in color cosmetics, is pivoting and helping the salon industry survive, re-open and resume services around the world.
**Reopening The Economy – What we can Learn from China
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Join Dean DeBiase and Adam Knight, a renowned expert on China commerce and CEO Tong Digital, as we unpack what business leaders can learn from a post pandemic Chinese economy—what it means for other countries as they re-open their economies, and how businesses can better sell targeted products and services into China.
Our guest, Millie Kendall, is a retail maven and brand creator, who has spearheaded the development of many popular cult brands including Shu Uemura, Aveda, Tweezerman, L’Occitane and Ruby & Millie.
A top industry thought leader and policy influencer, find out what’s new and what’s next in HBA and what Millie is focused on globally as the CEO of The British Beauty Council.
Join Dean DeBiase and Steve Dennis, a Forbes Senior Contributor, Top 5 Retail Influencer and author of Remarkable Retail,which Seth Godin calls “required reading for anyone who runs a store”.
They thought the Retail Apocalypse was the worst thing that could happen—but then came along a pandemic triggering retail lockdowns around the globe. Dean and Steve unpack the historic issues retailers face and why it’s not physical that’s dead—just boring retail!
Join DeanDeBiase and his guest Wizz Selvey for an episode of The Reboot Chronicles - Ideas for Selling In The Age Of Coronavirus.
This Revieve.com webinar will provide practical, hands on, tangible advice on about what brands and retailers need to do now to support their consumers and be positioned to win when the current crisis subsides.
-How to adapt content and marketing to strengthen consumer brand loyalty and be positioned to win
-Who are the brands that are leading the charge and how are they approaching it
-The current consumer mindset, purchasing priorities and what your customers are looking for from brands right now
-What brands and retailers are doing to support consumers and what you can learn from them
-Collaboration opportunities for you with other brands and how you can best support small businesses
Dean DeBiase invites Eduardo Conrado from Motorola Solutions to join him, for an in depth look on how his company is rebooting their growth and innovation, on the heals of receiving a $1 Billion investment from Silver Lake.
Dean DeBiase, invites Tom O’Toole, Chief Marketing Officer and President, MileagePlus for United Airlines, to discuss the future of travel. With nearly two million flights carrying over 135 million passengers a year, hear how United is upgrading its customer experience as never before: from all new digital channels to major product investments on the ground and in the air—on over 5,000 flights daily to 353 airports in 58 countries.
In this very timely no-holds-barred discussion with Steve Easterbrook, McDonald’s CEO, we learn why he has returned to the largest foodservice retailer in the world—and get pre-announcement sneak-peaks into their digital initiatives, rumored Chicago office, new partnership with Kraft and their turnaround plans. On the heels of disappointing sale results, Steve goes on to share his insights with the audience about how McDonald's is transforming the brand, the team, the menu and of course the experience in 35,000 restaurants serving 70 million people in 100 countries every day.
Dean hosts another wide-ranging, no-holds-barred exchange with Court Carruthers peering into the innovation machine at Grainger, from tapping into UX design and customer service connections to leveraging technology and the Internet of Things.
In another no-holds-barred exchange that takes off the protective veneer, Dean DeBiase, Revieve's Chairman and Moisés Noreña, Global Director of Innovation at Whirlpool, chat about Whirlpool's journey and how innovation and design thinking saved an iconic American brand and transformed an industry.
Dean DeBiase, Revieve's Chairman and Sonny Garg, Exelon's CIIO, kick-off the signature no-holds-barred exchange about the real challenges of driving innovation, nurturing and rewarding your people...and how "Dancing with Startups" can help large corporations with accelerated thinking and doing.
In our "back-to-school night" no-holds-barred exchange, Dean DeBiase - Revieve's Chairman and Daniel Hamburger - CEO of Devry Education Group, debate and discuss DeVry's journey from an acquisition by Keller Graduate School of Management, to a multi-billion dollar public brand, with 9 for profit educational institutions, education students at 80 locations around the world. Daniel also announces DeVry's new EdTech venture and incubator in partnership with 1871 at this series, and finds some potential new ventures in the audience.
Part three: Sir Martin Sorrell and Dean DeBiase have in-depth discussion at Digital Media Summit
Part one: Sir Martin Sorrell and Dean DeBiase have in-depth discussion at Digital Media Summit
Part one: Sir Martin Sorrell and Dean DeBiase have in-depth discussion at Digital Media Summit