Listen Now

If you do a great job fulfilling your role, you'll likely get opportunities to lead projects and people. However, transitioning from subject matter expert and independent contributor to leader is like an athlete transitioning from playing on the field to coaching the team. It requires different skills and abilities. Consequently, a promotion into a leadership position often negatively affects the contributions of an organization's top performers, but it doesn't have to be that way. We can begin preparing ourselves and our team members for opportunities to lead. In episode 211, Heather Zempel of National Community Church in Washington D.C. shares how she develops herself and others as leaders at one of the most successful churches in the United States. She also gives us a framework to do the same. Welcome to episode 211.

The reward for doing a great job at work is typically more projects to manage, more people to lead, bigger decisions to make, and bigger goals to accomplish. However, you never get more time to do it all. As you grow, One of the keys to your professional success will be how well you manage your time as the demands for your time increase. In episode 210, David Farmer, SVP of Restaurant Experience at Chick-fil-A and one-fourth of the MNTR team, shares how he masters his schedule to maximize his time. In the process, David gives us a masterclass in time management and productivity. Welcome to episode 210 of Executive Minds.

Ambitious, high-achievers, like us, often struggle to acknowledge what we are doing well. We develop a critical eye, which quickly identifies when we and others around us are not hitting the mark. We believe it helps us raise our game, deliver excellence, achieve results, gain recognition, and maximize our growth. However, brain science disagrees. In this episode, we revisit Jeff Henderson's conversation with organizational and clinical psychologist Dr. Tim Irwin to learn how affirmation, not criticism, is the way to improve performance at work and bring the best out of others.

As go-getters, we often have a future-focused, what’s-next orientation that can rob us of enjoying today. However, we still need to think, plan, and work ahead intentionally. It’s required to be an effective leader for ourselves and others. Planning today helps us reduce the potential stress and overwhelm of tomorrow. So, how do we both stay present and get ahead? In this episode, we catch up with Chick-fil-A executive and founding mentor at Executive Minds, David Farmer, for a behind-the-scenes into his annual review for 2021. We also discover how he works to balance leading for the future while still living in the present.

Everything gets hard at some point. There are just different types of hard. Physically, it's hard to work out, and it's hard to navigate a failing body. Relationally, there's the difficulty of uncomfortable conversations or the challenge of fractured relationships. Professionally, we can lead ourselves and our teams through the obstacles of just growing the bottom line or also solving problems that matter. Our opportunity is to choose our version of hard, so the effort put into our work and career is for something that matters. In this episode, Ashley Jones of Love Not Lost shares how she discovered a problem worth solving. However, this conversation also reveals principles we can use to do the same.

Go-getters, no matter how motivated, often struggle to achieve goals when it’s hard to measure their progress. Physically, we know when we’re losing weight. Financially, we know when we’ve earned more money. Professionally, we typically know when goals are achieved and projects are completed at work. However, things are never quite as clear in our marriage, parenting, spiritual life, and even our leadership at work. In this episode, we catch up with Chick-fil-A executive and founding mentor at Executive Minds, Shane Benson, for a behind-the-scenes into his annual review for 2021. We also discover how he’s learned to make progress in areas of life that are a bit harder to measure.

All of our ideas will not work. Some ideas will underperform and not meet expectations, and some ideas will simply bomb. Back in 2016, after significant research and development, David Farmer’s team at Chick-fil-A replaced the restaurant’s classic barbecue sauce with a new one. Despite having success during testing, it was publicly criticized by thousands of loyal customers, and the original sauce quickly returned. In episode 205, Jeff Henderson leads a conversation with David and Shane Benson recapping the experience — what happened, how they responded, and what they learned. Along the way, they will arm you with a toolbox of strategies and principles on how to handle situations where ideas, projects, and products simply don’t go as planned. Welcome to episode 205.

It’s challenging to work your way up the ranks of an organization. Unlike the military, most companies provide no clear path for earning more opportunities and preparing yourself for the next level of leadership. In this episode, Courtney DeRonde, the managing partner of the accounting and business intelligence firm TDT, shares her journey and how she went from an entry-level employee at the company out of college to now leading and owning the organization without ever being given a roadmap. Through her story, we extract a strategy to help you grow where you are and what is assigned to you so you can get where you want to go. Welcome to episode 204.

Go-getters feel compelled to grow. We know it's the path to earning more money, improving the quality of our lives or our family's lives, getting a promotion, landing our dream jobs, launching our business, and making a more significant impact in the world. We know our potential is our responsibility, but how do we cultivate it? In episode 203, you'll learn how to intentionally and strategically take your growth into your own hands. To help you, we revisit a conversation between Kevin B. Jennings and David Farmer when they shared how to develop and execute an effective professional development plan. Welcome to episode 203.

What got you where you are often isn’t what will get you where you ultimately want to go. How things have been done is no indication that they should continue being done that way. Business as usual and status quo will, at best, typically get us the results we’re currently getting. To achieve our biggest goals, attract the right opportunities, and maximize our impact, we will likely have to think and act differently. In episode 202, Brett Hagler, CEO of New Story, shares his journey of building a tech-driven nonprofit tackling global homelessness while opening up about his approach to thinking differently to help us stand out, attract top talent, and achieve big goals. You’ll also discover the power of perusing what's possible and, sometimes, what even seems impossible. Welcome to episode 202 of Executive Minds.

Despite knowing the impact relationships have on our careers, many professionals and leaders still struggle to cultivate and nurture their networks, which ultimately limits their future opportunities for growth. In episode 201, we revisit some of the guidance we received from business strategist and networking expert Darrah Brustein about how to both grow your network and build authentic relationships while embracing your personality style and navigating a busy schedule.

Have you ever wondered how some people succeed professionally while also enjoying a fulfilling life outside of work? We’ve often wondered the same. While there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to life, success leaves clues. To celebrate our 200th episode, we’ve invited Chick-fil-A franchisee Kevin Williams on the podcast to discuss his book, "Irrational Kindness." For decades, Kevin has been inspiring everyone he meets to pursue an extraordinary life, but his approach isn’t rooted in an unhealthy, never-ending pursuit of more. It’s quite the opposite. Kevin has created an extraordinary career and life by choosing to be irrationally kind, infinitely curious, and consistently believing in the power of possibilities. Now, what started as simple one-on-one meetings with new employees at his Chick-fil-A restaurants has turned into a grassroots movement inspiring others to pursue an extraordinary life by being irrationally kind. Check out Kevin’s conversation with Jeff Henderson, David Farmer, and Shane Benson, and welcome to episode 200 of Executive Minds.

After taking 2021 to reset, Executive Minds is back with more interviews and conversations full of principles, strategies, and tools to help you maximize your potential as you launch ideas, lead teams, build businesses, and improve communities. Our goal is still the same: To help you convert potential into high-performance so you can grow your career. Now, we're doing it as a podcast in The Art of Leadership Network — a podcast network by Carey Nieuwhof dedicated to helping you live in a way today that will help you thrive tomorrow. Discover what's next for the podcast as we continue to help go-getters, like you, become difference makers.

You and your team are accomplishing big things. Big, difficult things. And with all the testing, tweaking and launching, it's easy to lose sight of something just as important: celebrating. As Shane and David share in today's episode, a pause to celebrate creates energy and momentum. It can even be the fuel to rocket power through the next launch.

It's the opening day of your new clothing boutique. As a new entrepreneur, you've worked so hard to see your passion and vision come to life. But when you arrive for your first day of work, you find that your business has been completely robbed. Everything from your inventory to your register is gone. What do you do? This is what happened to Dana Spinola, CEO of fab'rik boutique stores. Since the 2006 launch, fab'rik has grown to over 40 store locations and launched a nonprofit, free fab'rik. On today's episode of the podcast, Jeff and David join Dana in the fab'rik offices to hear her story. We hope you find Dana's unwavering vision and heart as inspiring as we did.

Meet Dave Adamson an Australian sports reporter, online pastor, photographer, YouTuber and podcast host. You might be asking how can one person be all those things? It s surprisingly simple: Dave has designed his life and schedule to allow him to say yes to most things. And he does so without sacrificing his sanity or time at home with his family. If you re a multi-passionate creative or entrepreneur, this podcast is for you. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did. Welcome to The Executive Minds Podcast.

The Launch Youniversity Podcast helps go-getters, like you, discover what it takes to turn good intentions into reality in their career, business, and life.

Welcome to the Executive Minds Podcast! On this week's episode, we sat down with Rodney Bullard, Chick-Fil-A Corporate Social Responsibility Leader and Executive Director of the Chick-Fil-A Foundation. Rodney is a frequent public speaker as well as being the bestselling author of Heroes Wanted: Why the World Needs You to Live Your Heart Out. We talked with Rodney about what it means to be a "difference maker" in our lives and businesses. We were lucky to be able to have this conversation with Rodney and we know you'll enjoy it as well!

Most of us visioneers have the same problem we have this idea we d like to see get off the ground, but we re overwhelmed by the starting point (where is that thing anyway?). Others of us jump clear over the start line and land somewhere in the middle, bypassing all of the important stuff that keeps the idea afloat. On today s episode, we re joined by MacKenzie Wilson, cofounder of Delight Ministries, a nationwide Christian ministry that invites college women into a community centered around shared college experiences and stories. What started as an idea among college sophomore friends in 2012 with just a few interested women transformed into an organization present in more than 130 universities nationwide and in the United Kingdom and Uganda. Together with host, Shane Benson, Wilson shares how the vision for Delight Ministries was propelled by community, and trial and error.

In this week’s Executive Minds, David sits down with co-mentor Jeff to discuss the nuances surrounding transitioning out of one occupational position and into another. Having recently been through this, Jeff has a lot of wisdom and tips to share for someone who is currently in the process of transitioning or thinking about transitioning in the near future. We discuss the importance of paying close attention to where the world is leading you and how to take those directions in the most mindful way possible. Hopefully, this conversation provides you with some beneficial insight into how to properly navigate this process now or in the future!