With Special Guest: Brandon Hance, Serial Entrepreneur, Investor, and High-Performance Coach

What separates leaders who perform at the highest level under pressure from those who crack when it counts? According to serial entrepreneur and high-performance coach Brandon Hance, it's not talent. It's not even strategy. It's identity - and most leaders have never taken the time to define theirs. In this intellectually rich and practically grounded episode of Ask for Change, Meridith sits down with Brandon to explore the inner work that high performers across sports, business, and entrepreneurship consistently credit for their competitive edge. Brandon draws on his experience playing under legendary USC coach Pete Carroll - and winning back-to-back national championships - to break down the four mindset shifts that separate performers who rise under pressure from those who collapse: moving from fear to love, from projection to presence, from self-centeredness to selflessness, and from drift to deliberate identity. He and Meridith connect these frameworks directly to the business challenges leaders are facing right now - how to build cultures of transparency and alignment, why speed and shared vision are inseparable, and why the next frontier of human performance will be unlocked through inner work, not harder work. Brandon reframes resilience in a way that will stay with you: it's not about how high you can go, it's about your rate of return to center. Raise the floor, not just the ceiling. If you lead a team, run a company, or are simply trying to perform at your best in one of the most uncertain markets in recent memory, this episode delivers the strategies and the mindset to do exactly that.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandonhance/

X: @brandonhance_

With Special Guest: Mark Hunter, "The Sales Hunter" and Author of Integrity Selling

In a marketplace flooded with noise, shortcuts, and quarterly pressure, integrity has become one of the rarest competitive advantages in sales. And according to Mark Hunter, that's exactly why it's the most powerful one. In this candid and compelling episode of Ask for Change, Meridith sits down with her Sales Logic co-host and one of the most respected voices in professional selling, Mark Hunter, to talk about his newest book Integrity Selling and why he believes now is precisely the right moment to make integrity the foundation of every sales conversation. Mark and Meridith go deep on what integrity actually looks like in practice - from referring a customer to a competitor when you're not the right fit, to showing your homework in a complex sale, to calling out the quarter-end games that quietly destroy trust and long-term revenue. Mark shares a defining personal story about closing a deal he knew was wrong, and the painful consequences that followed years later, a reminder that in sales, you're not closing deals, you're opening relationships. They also tackle the harder question: what do you do when the pressure to hit a number comes from the top and your own integrity is at stake? Mark's answer is uncomfortable and honest. This episode is essential listening for sales leaders, business development professionals, and any executive who wants to build a culture where trust is the strategy, not an afterthought.

www.TheSalesHunter.com

With Special Guest: Dr. Mary Kelly, Co-Author of Leadership is Tough (with Peter Stark)

Leadership looks easy when the market is good. It's when conditions get hard that you find out who's actually running a great organization - and who's just been riding a favorable tide. In this high-energy episode of Ask for Change, Meridith welcomes back one of the show's most popular guests, Dr. Mary Kelly, to dig into her new book Leadership is Tough, co-authored with business strategist Peter Stark. Mary pulls no punches on what actually separates great leaders from average ones in a change-fatigued, uncertain world: the disciplines they practice daily, the decisions they make before the decision gets made for them, and the accountability they hold even when it's uncomfortable. She and Meridith unpack the real cost of letting uncertainty dictate business decisions, why the best people leave organizations where accountability is selectively enforced, and how leaders who fail to constantly reinforce vision watch their teams revert to old behaviors under pressure. Mary's chapter on holding the line without breaking trust is worth the price of admission alone - it maps out all four layers of accountability and the specific ways organizations erode from the inside out when leaders look the other way. Her closing advice is direct and actionable: action trumps uncertainty. You don't have to have all the answers. You just need to pick a direction and move. If you're a leader who's been waiting for conditions to stabilize before you make your next move, this episode is your wake-up call.

youtube.com/@MaryKellySpeaker

linkedin.com/in/drmarykelly/

x.com/marykellyspeaks

With Special Guest: Steve Bonar, EVP, Conklin Company

Most leaders coast once they earn the title. The ones who build lasting teams — and lasting results — never do.

In this episode, Meridith sits down with Steve Bonar, Executive Vice President of the Conklin Company, to talk about what it actually takes to lead, sell, and grow when the pace of change is relentless and uncertainty is the only constant.

Steve has spent 25 years developing entrepreneurs and leading large sales organizations inside one of the most relationship-driven industries in business. His perspective is practical, proven, and direct.

What you will take away from this conversation:

• Why "systems permit ordinary people to achieve extraordinary results" — and what that means for how you build your team

• The mindset shift that separates leaders who fold under pressure from those who drive performance through it

• Why obstacles are not blocking your road to success. They are the road.

• How to keep your people motivated and focused when uncertainty keeps escalating

• The rearview mirror principle — and why most leaders are looking in the wrong direction

If you are leading a team, building a business, or trying to find your footing in a marketplace that will not hold still, this episode delivers the strategies you need to stop managing uncertainty and start leveraging it.

Connect with Steve Bonar: conklin.com

With Special Guest: Jim Alling, Former President of Starbucks U.S. and COO of T-Mobile

What does it actually look like to lead through uncertainty at the highest levels of corporate America - and never lose yourself in the process? In this rare and candid episode of Ask for Change, Meridith sits down with Jim Alling, a C-suite veteran whose career spans Nestle, Starbucks, T-Mobile, and Tom's Shoes, for a masterclass in values-driven leadership. Jim shares the defining decisions that shaped his career - including walking away from a senior role at Starbucks because his son's health came first, and later leaving the coveted international president role because he was gone 35 weeks a year and losing his joy in the process.

But this episode isn't just personal - it's a playbook. Jim breaks down the servant leadership philosophy he learned from legendary Starbucks executive Howard Behar, including why the org chart should be flipped upside down, why your front-line employees are your most valuable intelligence source, and why trust always grows a business faster than protection. His advice for facing uncertainty is disarmingly direct: your attitude is the most determinant factor in your outcome. Leaders who are navigating pressure from shareholders, managing rapid change, and trying to hold onto their best people will find this conversation both grounding and actionable.

With Special Guest: Jeannie Walters, Founder of Experience Investigators

Your competitors are not just disrupting your market. They are stealing your customers, one bad experience at a time.

In this episode, Meridith sits down with customer experience pioneer Jeannie Walters to break down why most organizations treat CX like fairy dust — and why that is costing them revenue they cannot see leaving.

Jeannie is the founder of Experience Investigators, creator of the Customer Experience Investigation Framework, and author of the new book Experience Is Everything. She has spent two decades helping organizations turn good intentions into measurable business results.

What you will take away from this conversation:

• Why customer experience is not a department — it is a discipline that lives across every function of your organization

• The three-part framework (mindset, strategy, discipline) that separates companies who talk about CX from the ones who profit from it

• Why your C-suite dashboards are hiding the real cost of poor customer experience

• How uncertainty in the marketplace is actually your window to build deeper customer loyalty — if you move first

If you lead a team, own a business, or sit in the C-suite, this episode will change how you see every customer interaction — and what it is actually worth.

Connect with Jeannie Walters: experienceinvestigators.com | LinkedIn: Jeannie Walters Experience Is Everything — available now at experienceiseverythingbook.com

With Special Guest: Michael Neece, President of Our Future Is Kind and Co-Founder of the Human Summit

In a marketplace driven by quarterly results, relentless urgency, and constant disruption, kindness rarely makes the shortlist of competitive strategies. But what if it should?

In this episode of Ask for Change, Meridith sits down with international bestselling author and kindness researcher Michael Neece to challenge the assumption that soft skills are secondary skills. Michael makes a compelling, data-backed case that kindness is not niceness - it's the foundation of psychological safety, the driver of team performance, and a measurable bottom-line differentiator.

They unpack Google's Project Aristotle research on high-performing teams, dig into the real cost of unkind workplace cultures (hint: your best people leave first), and discuss why ego management and focus management are essential components of genuine kindness. Meridith and Michael also address one of the hardest questions leaders face right now: how do you stay kind when uncertainty is fueling fear, anger, and unkindness all around you? The answer will challenge how you think about your daily choices as a leader. If you've been looking for a competitive edge you haven't tried yet, this episode will make you rethink everything.

Connect with Michael Neese:

Linkedin Primary

https://www.linkedin.com/in/yournextkeynotespeaker/

Linkedin Our Future is Kind

https://www.linkedin.com/company/our-future-is-kind

FB

https://www.facebook.com/meteormike/

IG

https://www.instagram.com/michaelgneece/

Youtube

www.youtube.com/@YourNextKeynoteSpeaker

With Special Guest: Ken Hartley, Certified Speaking Professional and Author of Calling the Presidents

History doesn't repeat itself - but it does offer a playbook. In this episode of Ask for Change, Meridith welcomes speaker and author Ken Hartley, whose new book Calling the Presidents goes where most business books don't: straight into the leadership crucibles of every U.S. president to extract timeless lessons on navigating uncertainty, change, and crisis.

What made Washington lay down power when no one in history had done it before? What can Harry Truman's first days in office - inheriting a world war he knew nothing about - teach today's executives about leading blind? And what separated the presidents history remembers from the ones who became trivia questions?

Ken's answer is both simple and unsparing: the leaders who endure are the ones who serve the needs of their people at the moment that matters most, own their mistakes without flinching, and embrace change instead of retreating from it. This episode is a compelling reminder that uncertainty is not a new problem - and that the strategies to turn it into advantage are already written. Meridith and Ken close with a challenge every leader needs to hear: everything you've ever wanted as a leader is waiting on the other side of the fear and uncertainty you've been avoiding.

Ken Hartley:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ken-hartley/

https://www.facebook.com/kenhartley777

https://www.youtube.com/@kenhartleyspeaks

www.kenhartley.com