The Strategy and Leadership Podcast with Anthony C. Taylor
The Strategy and Leadership Podcast with Anthony C. Taylor explores strategic planning, strategy execution, and executive leadership in complex organizations. Hosted by Anthony C. Taylor, Founder & Principal of SME Strategy, the show features conversations with CEOs and senior leaders on business strategy, organizational alignment, leadership development, and change management. Episodes examine real trade-offs, decision-making, and the practical structures that turn strategic plans into measurable results and sustained team performance. Designed for CEOs and executive teams responsible for making strategic plans work in the real world. Learn more: https://www.smestrategy.net Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthonyctaylor604/
Episodes
September 22, 2026 • 22 mins
Keith Wyche has spent his career inside companies in the middle of a transformation. He was at AT&T before the 1984 breakup, at IBM during its shift to services, at Pitney Bowes looking for life beyond mailing, and at Walmart as it moved from brick and mortar to e-commerce. He was also President of Cub Foods and ACME Markets for SuperValu, and he now serves as an independent director on the board of Brink's.
In this episode, K...
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September 10, 2026 • 25 mins
Glenn Kaufman runs KEH Camera, North America's largest pre-owned camera and video equipment reseller, founded D Cubed Group, and previously chaired the Finance Committee on the board of Red Robin Gourmet Burgers. In this conversation he explains why he treats himself as reporting to his own board even as CEO, the line he uses to build real alignment with the leaders he backs, and how he tells a company that's genuinely healthy from...
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September 1, 2026 • 24 mins
Alan Walsh is President of Sentient Jet, the company that invented the private jet card. Before that, he spent 20+ years at Dell and EMC, including leading the 4,500-person Global Support Center team through the EMC-Dell merger across 12 locations and six continents.
In this episode, Alan shares the leadership credo he's carried since his EMC days ("if there's no precedent, you can't be wrong"), what it actually takes to communicat...
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August 20, 2026 • 21 mins
Most franchise CEOs chase the wrong number. Mike Rotondo — who's led Tropical Smoothie Cafe, Edible Arrangements, and Altitude Trampoline Parks, and now runs pet care franchise Skiptown — explains why the real measure of a healthy system isn't new franchise agreements, it's the "second signature": whether the franchisees you already have want to do it again.
Anthony and Mike dig into unit-level economics, when to innova...
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August 6, 2026 • 25 mins
Ron Johnson built the Apple Store from scratch. He was also CEO of JCPenney and led the design-for-all era at Target. In this episode of the Strategy and Leadership Podcast, he walks Anthony Taylor through the specific counterintuitive bets that made Apple retail the most successful launch in the history of the category.
The list is longer than most people realize. He hired baristas and librarians instead of technology experts, be...
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July 30, 2026 • 27 mins
What does it take to lead 24,000 people through the largest telecom merger in US history — during COVID — and come out the other side with a stronger team?
In this episode of the Strategy & Leadership Podcast, Anthony Taylor sits down with Tracy Nolan, SVP at Humana and board member at Dress for Success. Tracy has driven $31B in revenue through a $6B operating budget across a Fortune 100 career that includes leader...
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July 23, 2026 • 22 mins
Dr. Justin Anderson CEO of Premier Sport Psychology and Premier Performance Advising Justin’s work has supported Hall of Famers, All-Pros, world and national champions, and organizations across the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, MLS, WNBA, NWSL, Olympic sports, collegiate athletics, and executive leadership spaces.He shares insights on how elite performers achieve their success through mental frameworks, attention management, and intent...
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What if resistance to change isn't stubbornness or rebellion, but biology? Travis Hahler has spent nearly two decades sitting between great strategies and the people who have to adopt them, and he has a startling answer for why so many transformations stall: change signals threat to the human brain, and most leaders have no idea they are triggering it.
In this episode of the SME Strategy and Leadership Podcast, host Anthony Taylor ...
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July 7, 2026 • 22 mins
The global ocean economy is doubling in size to three trillion US dollars. Canada, a country with the longest coastline in the world and the fourth largest ocean territory, sits at roughly fifty billion. Kendra MacDonald calls that gap the opportunity of a generation, and she left one of the largest professional services firms on the planet to go after it.
In this episode of the SME Strategy and Leadership Podcast, host Anthony Tay...
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June 30, 2026 • 28 mins
Note: This episode contains some strong language.
When a recruiter called George Barrios about a CFO job, George was treasurer of The New York Times Company. His verbatim reaction when he heard the company was WWE: "are you fucking kidding me?" He took the role anyway. Twelve years later, the stock had gone from $15 to $100, and he had helped engineer the largest acquisition in sports entertainment history.
In this episode of the S...
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June 23, 2026 • 27 mins
Three computers, no fridge, and 15 employees. That was Nuheat when John Rose walked in. Sixteen years later it was the North American leader in its industry, and John says culture is the reason why.
In this episode of the Strategy and Leadership Podcast, Anthony C. Taylor speaks with John Rose, former President and CEO of Nuheat Industries, advisor, investor, and board director, about what 16 years at the helm of a market leader ta...
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June 16, 2026 • 19 mins
What does it actually take to lead when the stakes are life and death, and what happens when those same pressures show up in a boardroom? According to Jenn Donahue, the answer starts not with strategy or skill, but with the voices inside your own head.
In this episode, Anthony C. Taylor speaks with Jenn Donahue, PhD, PE, retired U.S. Navy captain, international keynote speaker, business coach, and USA Today bestselling author of Be...
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June 9, 2026 • 26 mins
What happens when you build a global brand, sell it for $200 million, and realize it's not what you want? According to Mark Rampolla, the real lesson isn't about the exit or buyback. It's about understanding that growth isn't something you do. It's something you become.
In this episode of the Strategy & Leadership Podcast, Anthony C. Taylor speaks with Mark Rampolla, founder and CEO of ZICO Coconut Water, co-founder and managin...
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June 2, 2026 • 22 mins
What separates teams that chase perfection from those that settle for good enough? According to Jason Richardson, it comes down to three things: the culture you build from the roots up, the trust you earn before you need it, and the ownership every leader takes for the environment their team lives in.
In this episode of the Strategy and Leadership Podcast, Anthony C. Taylor speaks with Jason Richardson, a former Royal Australian Ai...
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May 26, 2026 • 20 mins
What separates the leaders who scale from the ones who stall? According to Jim Remley, it comes down to three things: the expectations you set, the people you develop, and the financial discipline you build before you need it.
In this episode of the Strategy & Leadership Podcast, Anthony C. Taylor speaks with Jim Remley, founder of the largest independent real estate brokerage in Oregon and nationally recognized coach at eRealE...
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What if the secret to building a company that lasts over a century isn't disruption, technology, or even capital — but the discipline to put relationships before transactions, every single time?
In this episode, Anthony C. Taylor speaks with Jonathan Iger, CEO and President of Sage, a 102-year-old commercial real estate company that has outlasted every recession, market shift, and industry disruption since 1924. Jonathan shar...
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Most executives will tell you they understand their business. Ask them to walk you through their financial statements, and the room goes quiet.
In this episode of the Strategy & Leadership Podcast, Anthony C. Taylor speaks with Tim Vipond, Co-Founder and CEO of Corporate Finance Institute (CFI), about why financial acumen is a non-negotiable leadership skill and why the rise of AI is making it more critical, not less.
Tim break...
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66% of tech projects never launch. 70% of the ones that do fail to deliver what leadership expected. The problem isn't the technology — it's the C-suite.
3x Inc 5000 founder Dustin Domerese joins Anthony C. Taylor to unpack why mid-market tech rollouts keep failing and what CEOs of $30M–$300M companies need to do differently.
In this conversation:
- Why your frontline workers aren't the adoption problem (and who is)- Th...
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April 28, 2026 • 26 mins
What if the biggest mistake leadership teams are making with AI isn’t about the technology at all?
In this episode of the Strategy & Leadership Podcast, Anthony Taylor speaks with Jeroen De Flander, international expert in AI Strategy and Strategy Execution, keynote speaker, and co-founder of The Performance Factory.
Jeroen has worked with more than 500 companies worldwide and has spent decades helping organizations close...
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April 21, 2026 • 30 mins
What happens when success itself starts pulling your company away from its mission?
In this episode of the Strategy & Leadership Podcast, Anthony Taylor speaks with Eric Ries, entrepreneur and author of Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad… and How Great Companies Stay Great.
Eric is best known for The Lean Startup, a book that reshaped how modern companies are built. In this conversation, he expands on that foundati...
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