One question on every industry leader's mind is “How do I stand out?” At least it should be if you are looking to remain a market leader or even a fast-follower. This is especially true in the competitive Beauty Industry, where competitors range form multinational corporations to Indi-brands and startups. How do you continue to stand out and not just be another best practice brand? Dermalogica CEO, Aurelian Lis, has figured that out—and joins us for this episode of The Reboot Chronicles Show—to unpack how he created a sector where his brand is standing out among his competitors. Part of $63B Unilever, Dermalogica is the number one clinical skincare brand used by professionals in 100 countries, that also trains 100,000 skincare therapists annually. Follow along as we learn about being a unique brand, standing out in a crowded noisy market, and breaking away from the pack with AI and other transformational technology platforms.

If you are thinking about starting a company or have an idea for a product, chances are that it has come from a pain point you want to solve. Startups worldwide are doing this with the hopes of growing and even the big-dog titans are doing this with hopes of disrupting the disruptive disruptors. But what does that process look like for a leader of a private company? What pains come with making the transition to a public company? What does the scaling process even look like? Remitly CEO, Matt Oppenheimer, joins us for this episode of The Reboot Chronicles Show to provide some answers to those questions, and how he grew his startup into what is now a thriving public company that is on a global growth tear. With no shortage of competition, like Western Union, Remitly is a cross-border payment app that enables people to transfer funds between parties. Listen in as we unpack stories and lessons of growing on a global scale, the pains of going public, and fighting off big and small competitive forces along the way.

Tech. leaders have been in an AI marketing hype-cycle, while many of their employees have been dealing with a growing fear of lay-offs, and for good reason. Companies like Intel, Google, Microsoft, Tesla, Dell, and Amazon have let go of thousands of employees collectively, due to the hiring craze that occurred during the pandemic. With all those people hitting the job market and plenty of other job searchers out there, how can you best prepare for the job hunt. Liz Ryan, joins this episode of The Reboot Chronicles to unpack this messy situation. A thought leader and avid writer on career and professional development, she has written articles for Forbes, Bloomberg, Kiplinger, The Denver Post, and many other platforms. On top of all the writing and teaching she has done, Liz is also the CEO of Human Workplace, where she continues her campaign to reboot working people, job seekers, and entrepreneurs. Follow along as we learn how to navigate the modern job market amidst a time of layoffs and broken recruiting processes.

Amazon revolutionized the retail market with its online shopping and shipping, a revolution that caused companies to change drastically or go bankrupt. Even Walmart had to reboot itself to battle the e-commerce giant. Another industry that Amazon took a huge swing at, tied to its original founding purpose, was books, and then with its Kindle and e-books in 2007. Already on its heels, COVID-19 took a swing at retail when people weren’t allowed to visit stores to support the already struggling book industry. Today’s guest has taken those swings to the chin and is now turning things around and succeeding. Barnes & Noble CEO, James Daunt, joins this episode of The Reboot Chronicles to discuss how he is rebooting the largest retail bookseller in the United States. Barnes and Noble is the perfect reboot story, which has seen the good, the bad, and the atrocious times as it lived through in its storied journey. With declining store numbers for almost 15 years and then lock-downs, the company is back on a growth track, with 600 stores, and 18,000 employees that deliver around $3.5 billion in annual revenue. Follow along as we unpack this active, back to basics, turnaround, and what Barnes & Noble has in store for us next.

With cybercrime damages estimated to cost the world $15-20 trillion by 2028—none of us are safe from its impact. The Godfather of Israeli Cybersecurity, Shlomo Kramer - CEO of Cato Networks, joins us for this episode of The Reboot Chronicles to unpack why the next generation of cyber security will be SASE technology. Shlomo was a seed investor and board member of industry giant Palo Alto Networks, writing their first investment check. He co-founded both Check Point and Imperva, taking both companies public—and has raised $771 million at Cato, which was last valued at over $3 billion. Speaking of going public, Cato has been on a growth tear, recently doubling revenues with a massive ecosystem of thousands of enterprise clients and partners who they protect. Listen in to this riveting episode about the cyber wars that are attacking our organizations, governments, and families, how to make our digital experience safer, and whether there should be a Geneva Convention for cyber-attacks.

Education is the cornerstone of every great nation, and it is through great education that world-class innovators and leaders arise to make changes where change is needed. Easier said than done but when done correctly, through a team of forward-thinking individuals who believe “there are no such things as unrealistic dreams” you can deliver a level of education that will shape generations. That is exactly what today’s guest on The Reboot Chronicles is passionate about—believing in the impact of the next generation and building a platform that prepares them to do it. President at High Point University, Nido Qubein is a visionary maverick who has spent two decades turning around a school from near closure. After bringing High Point back from the brink of irrelevance, obscurity and decline, Nido has rebooted it into a thriving world-class university that other institutions and organizations are learning from. This episode is chalk full of leadership and reboot stories that people need now. Listen in as we discover Nido’s journey, and unpack lessons learned from leading and governing diverse corporations, and how High Point is preparing our future leaders.

AI is one of the hottest topics in the tech world, with investors pouring billions of dollars into thousands of projects and companies—and no signs of slowing down. It’s predicted that the AI sector will receive another trillion-dollar boost over the next few years. What if there was a platform that would allow you to clone yourself, to broaden your reach, or interact with someone else’s clone to learn from? Would you do it if you could make money from it? While that might sound like the plot of a dystopian novel, Delphi CEO Dara Ladjevardian, has made it a reality—and anyone can tap into it. Join me as I talk with Dara and his clone about how AI clones could revolutionize fields like mentorship, teaching, content creation, and more. Listen in as we also unpack entrepreneurship, starting a business with trust, and the future of AI as it becomes a trillion-dollar industry.

Hyper-scaling in a highly competitive sector is not for the faint of heart. You need a team that is hitting on all cylinders—while adding new engines to increase horsepower and capabilities along the way. In the tech-world, you need to competitively unseat and outpace the other business-as-usual systems integrators—and help your clients build out next-generation systems that will allow them to transform their businesses too. After 17 straight quarters of growth, Persistent Systems, is one of the fastest growing global services and solutions company, with 23,000 employees who have tripled revenue to over $1.2B, while its market cap exploded from $700M to over $9.5B. Persistent CEO, Sandeep Kalra, joins us on this episode of The Reboot Chronicles, to unpack how he went beyond merely turning around the company after it hit a speed bump. After developing a new approach to growth, he and his new team rebooted the company through aggressive organic growth, smart acquisitions, and a deep roster of who’s who partnerships. As our listeners know, Reboots must transform an organizations People, Platform, and Passion to be a long-term success—and Sandeep has done just that. Listen in to learn about his journey, as he continues to reboot Persistent into a multi-billion-dollar industry leader, through a positive leadership style, and a hands-on approach to growth—and blind spots that CEOs need to uncover about their businesses and AI.

Many CEO's parachute in to reboot companies, but today’s guest has had to do it dozens of times. Founded by his father in a Red Barn in Waterloo Wisconsin, John Burke, President and CEO of Trek Bicycle, has been rebooting the company since he started working there as a teenager. A remarkably fun leader and author of three books, John has grown the company into the largest manufacturers of bicycles in the U.S. Now a $2 Billion global company with thousands of employees selling through a massive network of distributors and 5000 dealers around the globe, Trek is one of the world’s most popular bicycle brands, and Fortune Magazine’s Top 100 Best Companies to Work for that is still owned by its employees and founding family. Listen in and learn how his honest and blunt approaches to life have helped him reboot the company—and himself—with a focus on products and customers. Great stories here, like responding to good and bad decisions with big and small reboots to stay competitive, lessons learned from his Dad—and the need for civic minded people who can “drain the swamp” and fix our broken political ecosystems.

With Amazon and online shopping exploding in popularity, with new habits formed and accelerated during the pandemic, brick-and-mortar stores are at yet another turning point to regain relevancy. It is now a common sight to drive around towns in North America to see malls and outlet centers slowly hollowing out, becoming something else, or a place for mall walkers to get some steps in.   One company rebooting the outlet mall experience in a big way is Tanger, a leading operator of upscale shopping centers across North America. Although this company has been around for 30 years, in the last 4 years alone they have been on a post-covid bounce back and are now valued at over $3B.   On this episode of the Reboot Chronicles, Tanger CEO Stephen Yalof gives us a behind the scenes tour of how he’s rebooting the company—and competing in the ever-growing digital age. Listen in as we unpack changes being made to bring shoppers back into brick-and-mortar stores, shifts in consumer behaviors, and some advice for young professionals looking to make an impact in the retail economy.

With Apple going all in on AI to boost its next round of hardware and services with Apple Intelligence, data is needed now more than ever—massive data. More data than one company can provide, if they hope to make AI services quickly and efficiently do what’s asked, without getting bogged-down. Another California company attacking AI plumbing problems is Teradata, one of the largest cloud analytics platforms with a focus on harmonizing data. Starting as a hardware company, making things like the first system over 1 terabyte for Walmart, Teradata has transitioned into a software company, with 7,000 employees in 41 countries who delivered $1.8 Billion in revenue last year. On this episode of the Reboot Chronicles, Teradata CEO Steve McMillan, unpacks how he has rebooted the company and brought it into the 21st century. Listen in as we discuss how they made that transition, how AI is impacting their growth, his personal journey, and where they may end up in the revolutionary times ahead.

We have reported about how India is becoming a global leader across industry sectors and interviewed dozens of top CEO’s who have been leading the charge. From Zoho, Cisco, and Juniper Networks to TTEC, H&R Block, Mphasis and many others, many CEO’s are shifting billions of dollars of investments from a dependence on China and Taiwan toward India. Another global leader driving this massive transformation is The Mahindra group, a $21 Billion Multinational Federation of Companies which employs 260,000 people across dozens of sectors.  They have also become a rapidly growing multi-billion-dollar provider of technology consulting, services and digital solutions—helping other corporations make this reboot a reality. On this episode of The Reboot Chronicles, President and Head of Americas Leadership Council, Tech Mahindra Americas Head, Mahindra Group, Lakshmanan Chidambaram (CTL), takes us behind the scenes in an entertaining and educational tour of what’s next—from  next-gen factories, supply chains, AI automation, and robotics, to turnkey villages of the future where people will work and play, and how trust can change everything.

Power tools are a staple of any garage whether you are a blue-collar worker, a hobbyist, or someone who has just bought a picture frame that needs hanging. Approximately 55 percent of Americans have at least five power tools in their possession, with a large portion of those people buying those tools during COVID-19, when we saw a spike in indoor and outdoor DIY home renovations. Many companies like, DeWalt and Milwaukee, experienced that big spike—as did STIHL, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of chainsaws and outdoor equipment. Founded in 1926, Stihl is still a family owned company with a global network of 55,000 dealers in 160 countries and 20,000 employees who delivered $5 Billion in revenue last year. The engine behind this growth is Chairman/CEO Michael Traub, who is with us for this episode of the Reboot Chronicles to get to the root of what makes Stihl successful, how they maintain their professional-grade competitive edge, the importance of making a product that is passed down from one generation to the next—as well as some great career advice and what keeps him up at night!

Instant shipping is the new norm that continues to fuel America’s Amazon era shopping addictions. Approximately 350 billion packages shipped last year—projected to hit 500 billion worldwide by 2028.  And in this brave new tech. enabled shopping revolution, consumers have moved beyond asking ‘what day’ will my package arrive to expecting real-time tracking with exact arrival times and proof of delivery. With FedEx and UPS enabling these trends, we took a look under the hood to see how UPS is empowering consumers and businesses in the digital age. With 500,000 employees in 200 countries that delivered $91 billion in revenue last year, UPS thinks about all the aspects of shipping services from ordering and delivery, to deep logistics, analytics, and predicting potential returns. The UPS Store® is the world’s largest franchisor of retail shipping and business service centers, with over 5,500 locations catering to the small-office/home-office market, gig-economy workers, corporate road warriors, and consumers. Like Walgreens, Starbucks and CVS, you can find a store within 10 miles of 85% of the U.S. population. Driving their growth is President Sarah Casalan Bittle, who is with us for this episode of the Reboot Chronicles to unpack what makes her people successful, the importance of collaborative partnerships, and how her near fatal heart-attack made her a more remarkable leader.

Cybersecurity is a mess that will continue to impact all of us in the hyper-connected world we live in—and is estimated to cost the global economy $20Trillion by 2026. Whether it is fighting against government sponsored terrorist groups, gig-economy ransomware artists, teenagers holed up in their basements or AI drones, combatting cybersecurity is vital for anyone in charge of digital information. Fighting is the key word of this global war. The Honorable Eric Rosenbach, knows how to fight at scale globally. He has been confronting cyber risk for decades in his government, civic and private sector roles. Eric is a Harvard faculty member and Director of Harvard’s Defense, Emerging Technology, and Strategy Program and previously he was the Chief of Staff for The US Department of Defense—a huge messy job for sure. With a budget of $840 Billion the U.S. DoD is the largest government organization leading The Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, Coast Guard and National Guard Groups. With 3.4 million people working out of 4800 locations in 160 countries, the DoD is the largest employer in the US….and you thought Walmart was big!! A strategic Innovator Eric started The Pentagon's Defense Innovation Unit and has authored several books, including Confronting Cyber Risk: An Embedded Endurance Strategy. Watch or listen in as we unpack scary untold stories that can help you prepare for the rise in ransomware attacks on mid-sized firms, misguided AI drones, dealing with failure and even some on how to reboot bureaucratic government groups.

You can’t Reboot your business or your life with the old playbooks that got you to where you are today—you must redesign your approach to what’s coming next. Even though they were founded in the 40’s, Cannon Design is not your mothers design firm. One of the best examples of the ‘Build, Buy, Borrow’ growth-acceleration examples we’ve discovered outside of tech., they’ve grown into a diverse services and software platform through creative partnerships and acquisitions, across the globe. Bold acquisitions like O'Donnell, Wicklund, Pigozzi & Peterson and Astorino Co. allowed them to break into competitive regions, while mergers with Blue Cottage and others helped them get into healthcare, education, and the workplace sectors. Watch or Listen in as we talk with Cannon Design CEO, Brad Lukanic, about his open and honest plans to elevate design and architecture to the next-level through organic growth and acquisitions—as well as great tips for those starting or rebooting your career.

A serial entrepreneur and go-to-market pro, Andrew Amann has developed a bunch of patents and startups, with some successful exits along the way. A Nuclear Submarine Engineer turned CEO, he runs one of the fastest growing product design and engineering studios, building dozens of companies and hundreds of products, used by millions of people that have created over$ 1B in revenue. Listen in as we unpack how startups can better de-risk themselves and get help. From partnering with hubs like 1871 and developing a supportive ecosystem to coming up with a breakthrough product/platform ideas that can scale with a real market fit—there are lots of challenges, mountains and potholes for entrepreneurs to deal with along the way to success.

The world's largest private equity firm acquired a majority stake in Mphasis—a $1.6 Billion multinational technology services company with 37,500 employees working with large enterprise clients around the globe. The deal was Blackstone’s largest tech. investment and biggest acquisition in India. With a long rough history, being owned by the likes of EDS and HP, Blackstone saved Mphasis by making it independent and agile once again. Since the deal Mphasis has been on a tear, securing some of their largest deal wins in history. Mphasis CEO, Nitin Rakesh, is no stranger to reboots. Watch or listen in as we unpack how he has been building the future, accelerating digital products and AI services while acquiring and partnering with some of the world’s leading tech companies.

Personal reboots are the hardest, especially if you have been knocked down and kicked out of the industry and ecosystem of people that got you there. On this Episode of the Reboot Chronicles Actor, Producer, Director, and Author Kevin Sorbo openly shares his remarkable comeback story. Long before Marvel movies were everywhere, Kevin was known to millions around the world as Hercules. The hit series Hercules was beloved in 176 countries, surpassing even Baywatch as the most watched TV show on the planet. A conservative Christian shunned by Hollywood, Kevin formed Sorbo Studios which has produced some critically acclaimed movies including God’s Not Dead and Miracle in East Texas, with many more on the way. Listen in and learn about Kevins’ reboot, from action hero to Christian influencer, his new movies like Regan with Dennis Quaid—and how his near-death experience kicked it all off.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 SpartanNash. Founded in 1885 as a tiny candy and tobacco store in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota, SpartanNash 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 SpartanNash 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.”

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.

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.

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.

Donating to charities is something that most Americans 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 21st century and to the next generation is Daffy, a non-profit creating community hubs for finding charities and donating to them by making Donor Advise Funds available to the rest of us.   To talk more about how he is making giving into a habit, we invited Adam Nash to this episode of The Reboot Chronicles Show. Adam is a Silicon Valley veteran, helping people access over 1.5 million charities and rebooting an old model industry along the way.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

With a 90% startup failure rate and many Fortune 1000 companies unknowingly being on the 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.