Finding, obtaining, and developing leadership talent is not easy, and there is plenty of data to support making decisions too fast or waiting too long in getting the right team in place.

Ram Charan is known for books like Execution, Boards That Deliver, and What the CEO Wants You to Know. He's also the co-author of Talent: The Market Cap Multiplier. 

In this conversation, we talk about the talent bank, the one-to-one conversations, cutting bait fast, and two of his favorite books. 

Ben Lamorte is making his third appearance on CFO Bookshelf. He certifies OKRs coaches on his platform, OKRs.com. His newest book is The OKRs Field Book.

In this conversation, we address outcomes vs outputs, setting meaningful objectives through a five-step process, and OKRs vs KPIs.

If you ask ten successful CEOs what they do, you'll probably hear many answers--all good, but vastly different from executive to executive.

A dream team of McKinsey partners decided to research the very question based on 200 in-depth interviews and surveys with successful CEOs.

Their findings are found in the new book, CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest. 

In this conversation, we hear from one of the co-authors, Carolyn Dewar as she talks about s-curves, the kitchen cabinet, defining roles vs. the right people, the 40-30-20-10 Brad Smith rule, and much more. 

If you've been searching for the PayPal version of Brad Stone's, The Everything Store, then you can start with Jimmy Soni's new book, The Founders.

In this fast-paced interview with the author, we learn many smaller stories behind the bigger ones of PayPal's big obstacles it faced before its IPO:

• the lack of innovation at the big banks
• Reid Hoffman's role in what PayPal is today
• The combination of X.com and Confinity
• Peter Thiel, the reluctant CEO and the Elon Musk Palace Coupe
• Security - from innocence to frustration to superiority
• The love-hate relationship between PayPal and eBay

Finally, we hit the bookends hard--the three-hour conversation with Elon Musk and the moving and inspiring epilogue.

As we observe the DNA behind some of our favorite CEOs, patterns will start to surface. Some are natural at scaling companies to new levels. And then there are stories like those of Phil Knight, Jeff Bezos, Reid Hoffman, and Sara Blakely who started with a kernel of an idea and went on to launch brands that are household names.

Bob Jordan is the co-author of Right Leader, Right Time, a book that reveals a framework listing four natural instincts of impactful leaders - Fixers, Artists, Builders, and Strategists.

In this episode, we unpack the FABS framework and how to make the most of it.

Joe Coulombe is one of the most intelligent, creative, and thoughtful CEOs I've read about in the past ten to twenty years. He grew Trader Joe's into one of the most successful and iconic brands in the grocery industry before he sold the business in 1979.

Patty Civalleri is the co-author of Becoming Trader Joe and was a dear friend of this gifted entrepreneur. In this episode, we touch on his compensation philosophy, creative marketing strategies, the books he read, product knowledge, and saying no to the big brands.

Dan Montgomery is the founder of Agile Strategies, a boutique OKRs firm, and the author of Start Less Finish More.

Dan states the old strategic planning model of predicting and then controlling needs to give way to sensing and responding, and he calls that agile strategy.

In this conversation, he hit on many fascinating concepts:

• limitations of The Balanced Scorecard
• executing vs formulating strategy
• the retreat to cozy mental models
• the fit between OKRs and agile strategy
•  multicausal systems
• minimal viable strategies
• STEEP framework
• Platonic values
• Cynefin framework

Good luck on finding a book about phantom stock plans that's simple to understand with practical examples. It does not exist.

However, Paolo Pasicolan has created nearly a hundred such plans with the law firm he works for, Miles and Stockbridge. Paulo's explanation of phantom stock plans is clear, concise, and complete.

I've always been intrigued about the roles of business psychologists and certified business coaches and their ability to elevate the performances of the people and businesses they work with.

In this show, I visited with Dr. Russell Thackeray, a business psychologist, certified coach, trainer, and renowned speaker. We addressed topics such as resistance, when to hire a business coach, the intentions and execution of tough love, psychological capacity, and much more.

I first heard Captain Charlie Plumb's POW story some twenty years ago, and I'm thrilled to share this conversation where we talk about Louis Zamperini, an unlikely parachute dialogue, culture, the leadership of Admiral James Stockdale, and some astounding research regarding PTSD of the men held at the Hanoi Hilton.