Fast Leader Show | Customer Experience Leadership

About 5 years ago, Karin Hurt had everything in her life crash all at the same time. Karin had just left her executive role at Verizon to start her own company. In trying to run her startup, Karin invested a lot of money into it but did not really get the clients or returns she needed. There was a massive learning curve and it required a lot of courage and energy to make everything work. In the midst of all that, her mother got extremely sick and died. Everything in her life seemed to be falling apart. Not willing to quit, she courageously moved forward one day at a time. Today, Karin and her husband are the founders of Let’s Grow Leaders, a leadership training and consulting firm in Maryland. Recently named on Inc’s list of Most Innovative Leadership Speakers and American Management Association’s 50 Leaders to Watch, Karin Hurt helps leaders from around the world achieve breakthrough results without losing their souls.

Patrick Schwerdtfeger has made plenty of mistakes in his life, and a majority of those mistakes happened because he tried plenty of different things in his life. Yet, despite his many failures, Patrick never stopped and continued coming back. Patrick learned that if you truly want to be successful in business and life then you must be willing to try new things and be willing to accept the risk of failure. You must be willing to be a bold leader and stand up for what you believe to be right, especially during these times.

Doug Conant was recruited to work as the General Manager for a division in RJR Nabisco. After a rough first meeting with the chairman, Lou Gerstner, which turned out to be a test, Doug discovered how important it is to have the courage of your convictions and with all humility just stand up and be counted.

With the current pandemic going on, Annette Franz goes through this difficult situation with the help of her two teenage boys who lives together with her and shares some quality time with each other.

David Dye experienced the lowest moments of his leadership when he was first promoted in a middle-level management position. During one team lunch, the things he was communicating to his team was falling on deaf ears as the things he was asking did not feel relevant to them. After realizing his mistake, David learned that he was executing his own vision and did not ask the team what their vision was. It was his wake-up call. He learned that it's not just about his own vision, but about their vision together as a team. It helped him get over the hump of needing to engage his people. Today, David is sharing his experiences to help other leaders become better versions of themselves and teaching them that together they are able to build something much stronger and much more cohesive.