Storytelling isn’t just for books and movies—it’s one of the most powerful tools a leader has. In this episode, Bert, Steve, and Katie dive into the art of storytelling and why great leadership starts with great communication.

This conversation unpacks why stories move us, how they shape the world around us, and what it takes to truly inspire others.

Whether you lead a team of 5 or 5,000, if you want to be a better communicator, this episode is for you.

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About the Podcast: Chat the Chief is your microdose of workplace culture and leadership insights—straight from a CEO of a billion-dollar global company. Bert Bean worked his way up to CEO after first joining staffing and professional services company, Insight Global, over 20 years ago as an entry-level recruiter. Now, he’s pulling back the curtain for a raw and unfiltered peek into how Insight Global operates and his take on purpose, resiliency, and the future of work. Joining him are Culture Expert Steve Wasik and Sales Chief of Staff Katie Hillary as they dig into the principles that make companies thrive. No fluff. No sugarcoating. Just real conversations from real leaders, reshaping the way we think about work.

About the Hosts:

Bert Bean started as a recruiter at Insight Global in 2005 and became CEO in 2018. Under his leadership, the company has doubled revenue, expanding to 70+ offices worldwide. Passionate about culture, leadership, and growth, Bert drives Insight Global’s mission to empower people personally, professionally, and financially.

Steve Wasik is the VP of Talent Services within Insight Global’s professional services division, Evergreen. In 2020, he launched Compass, now the division’s culture and performance consulting team. He consults with leaders across the Fortune 500 on how to build cultures that take great care of people and get great business results.

Katie Hillary serves as Chief of Staff in the Sales and Revenue office at Insight Global. Her success as a sales executive is driven by a deep passion for people. She builds scalable systems that accelerate business and professional development as well as revenue growth, ensuring long-term success for each individual employee and the entire company.

Cracker Barrel simplified its logo and the internet lost its mind. Why? And what does the CEO of a global staffing and professional services brand have to say about it? (Spoiler: a lot.) Tune into this episode of Chat the Chief with Bert Bean, CEO of Insight Global, and Steve Wasik, culture expert and VP of Talent Services, as they hash out what went wrong and the critical importance of understanding your people and your brand.

Referenced in the Show:

➡️ Mad Men carousel scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suRDUFpsHus

➡️ Nike "Find Your Greatness" ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SwaQHkSu2E

➡️ Jocko Podcast 503: Norm "Hoot" Hooten. Blackhawk Down & a Legendary Career, Army Special Operations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uG6IQhXwRow

Have a question for Bert? We want to answer it on the air! Email your questions to [email protected]. 📩

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About the Podcast: Chat the Chief is your microdose of workplace culture and leadership insights—straight from a CEO of a billion-dollar global company. Bert Bean worked his way up to CEO after first joining staffing and professional services company, Insight Global, over 20 years ago as an entry-level recruiter. Now, he’s pulling back the curtain for a raw and unfiltered peek into how Insight Global operates and his take on purpose, resiliency, and the future of work. Joining him are Culture Expert Steve Wasik and Sales Chief of Staff Katie Hillary as they dig into the principles that make companies thrive. No fluff. No sugarcoating. Just real conversations from real leaders, reshaping the way we think about work.

About the Hosts:

Bert Bean started as a recruiter at Insight Global in 2005 and became CEO in 2018. Under his leadership, the company has doubled revenue, expanding to 70+ offices worldwide. Passionate about culture, leadership, and growth, Bert drives Insight Global’s mission to empower people personally, professionally, and financially.

Steve Wasik is the VP of Talent Services within Insight Global’s professional services division, Evergreen. In 2020, he launched Compass, now the division’s culture and performance consulting team. He consults with leaders across the Fortune 500 on how to build cultures that take great care of people and get great business results.

Katie Hillary serves as Chief of Staff in the Sales and Revenue office at Insight Global. Her success as a sales executive is driven by a deep passion for people. She builds scalable systems that accelerate business and professional development as well as revenue growth, ensuring long-term success for each individual employee and the entire company.

Get to know the real meaning behind Insight Global's fifth Shared Value, "Always Know Where You Stand." People deserve to know where they stand—both in life and at work. But it's on you to own your progress and seek to know where you stand. In this episode, Bert, Katie and Steve get deep on the origin story of Always Know Where You Stand and how everyone can live this value out, whether you're a leader or not.

Chat the Chief questions Have a question for Bert? We want to answer it on the air! Email your questions to [email protected]. 📩

About the Podcast: Chat the Chief is your microdose of workplace culture and leadership insights—straight from a CEO of a billion-dollar global company. Bert Bean worked his way up to CEO after first joining staffing and professional services company, Insight Global, over 20 years ago as an entry-level recruiter. Now, he’s pulling back the curtain for a raw and unfiltered peek into how Insight Global operates and his take on purpose, resiliency, and the future of work. Joining him are Culture Expert Steve Wasik and Sales Chief of Staff Katie Hillary as they dig into the principles that make companies thrive. No fluff. No sugarcoating. Just real conversations from real leaders, reshaping the way we think about work.

About the Hosts: Bert Bean started as a recruiter at Insight Global in 2005 and became CEO in 2018. Under his leadership, the company has doubled revenue, expanding to 70+ offices worldwide. Passionate about culture, leadership, and growth, Bert drives Insight Global’s mission to empower people personally, professionally, and financially.

Steve Wasik is the VP of Talent Services within Insight Global’s professional services division, Evergreen. In 2020, he launched Compass, now the division’s culture and performance consulting team. He consults with leaders across the Fortune 500 on how to build cultures that take great care of people and get great business results.

Katie Hillary serves as Chief of Staff in the Sales and Revenue office at Insight Global. Her success as a sales executive is driven by a deep passion for people. She builds scalable systems that accelerate business and professional development as well as revenue growth, ensuring long-term success for each individual employee and the entire company.

For the first time on Chat the Chief, we’re bringing in a guest—meet Santosh Kandle! With 20+ years in the high-tech industry, Santosh is Insight Global’s go-to expert for leading digital transformations at scale. In this episode, he breaks down where AI is headed, why agentic AI is a game-changer, and how we’re already using it to create real business impact.

Santosh shares why you shouldn’t be afraid of AI—but you should be afraid of the people who understand it better than you.

About the Guest:

Santosh Kandle leads the Data, AI, and Applications Practice at Evergreen, Insight Global’s professional services division. With deep expertise in data science, machine learning, and generative AI, he helps Fortune 1000 companies drive large-scale digital transformation. Before joining Insight Global, Santosh led a multibillion-dollar telecom transformation for AT&T at Ericsson, generating over $14B in revenue. He’s known for forging strong C-suite partnerships and delivering forward-thinking tech solutions.

About the Podcast:

Chat the Chief is your microdose of workplace culture and leadership insights—straight from a CEO of a billion-dollar global company. Bert Bean worked his way up to CEO after first joining staffing and professional services company, Insight Global, over 20 years ago as an entry-level recruiter. Now, he’s pulling back the curtain for a raw and unfiltered peek into how Insight Global operates and his take on purpose, resiliency, and the future of work. Joining him are Culture Expert Steve Wasik and Sales Chief of Staff Katie Hillary as they dig into the principles that make companies thrive. No fluff. No sugarcoating. Just real conversations from real leaders, reshaping the way we think about work.

About the Hosts:

Bert Bean started as a recruiter at Insight Global in 2005 and became CEO in 2018. Under his leadership, the company has doubled revenue, expanding to 70+ offices worldwide. Passionate about culture, leadership, and growth, Bert drives Insight Global’s mission to empower people personally, professionally, and financially.

Steve Wasik is the VP of Talent Services within Insight Global’s professional services division, Evergreen. In 2020, he launched Compass, now the division’s culture and performance consulting team. He consults with leaders across the Fortune 500 on how to build cultures that take great care of people and get great business results.

Katie Hillary serves as Chief of Staff in the Sales and Revenue office at Insight Global. Her success as a sales executive is driven by a deep passion for people. She builds scalable systems that accelerate business and professional development as well as revenue growth, ensuring long-term success for each individual employee and the entire company.

Learn more about Insight Global: https://insightglobal.com/

Learn more about Compass, Insight Global's Culture and Leadership division: https://compass.insightglobal.com/

Learn more about Evergreen, Insight Global's professional services division: https://evergreen.insightglobal.com/

Looking for a career in recruiting and sales? Learn more here: https://careers.insightglobal.com/?_g....

Follow Us on Social:

/ dashboard https://www.instagram.com/insight_glo... https://www.tiktok.com/@insight_globa...

One thing about our chief? He has some obsessive tendencies. Listen in as Katie dives deeper into the obsessive minds of Bert and Steve and how they've harnessed their obsessions to succeed in their careers and in their passions outside of work. Yes...Bert talks about running again. 🏃

Have a question for Bert? We want to answer it on the air! Email your questions to [email protected]. 📩

About the Hosts: Bert Bean started as a recruiter at Insight Global in 2005 and became CEO in 2018. Under his leadership, the company has doubled revenue, expanding to 70+ offices worldwide. Passionate about culture, leadership, and growth, Bert drives Insight Global’s mission to empower people personally, professionally, and financially.

Steve Wasik is the VP of Talent Services within Insight Global’s professional services division, Evergreen. In 2020, he launched Compass, now the division’s culture and performance consulting team. He consults with leaders across the Fortune 500 on how to build cultures that take great care of people and get great business results.

Katie Hillary serves as Chief of Staff in the Sales and Revenue office at Insight Global. Her success as a sales executive is driven by a deep passion for people. She builds scalable systems that accelerate business and professional development as well as revenue growth, ensuring long-term success for each individual employee and the entire company.

Learn more about Insight Global: https://insightglobal.com/

Learn more about Compass, Insight Global's Culture and Leadership division: https://compass.insightglobal.com/

Learn more about Evergreen, Insight Global's professional services division: https://evergreen.insightglobal.com/

Looking for a career in recruiting and sales? Learn more here: https://careers.insightglobal.com/?_g....

Follow Us on Social:

/ dashboard https://www.instagram.com/insight_glo... https://www.tiktok.com/@insight_globa...

How a company solves problems is its culture. In this episode, Bert, Katie, and Steve take a trip down memory lane to a time where employee turnover was at 100% and Bert as a new CEO was desperate for change.

Have a question for Bert? We want to answer it on the air! Email your questions to [email protected]. 📩

About the Hosts:

Bert Bean started as a recruiter at Insight Global in 2005 and became CEO in 2018. Under his leadership, the company has doubled revenue, expanding to 70+ offices worldwide. Passionate about culture, leadership, and growth, Bert drives Insight Global’s mission to empower people personally, professionally, and financially.

Steve Wasik is the VP of Talent Services within Insight Global’s professional services division, Evergreen. In 2020, he launched Compass, now the division’s culture and performance consulting team. He consults with leaders across the Fortune 500 on how to build cultures that take great care of people and get great business results.

Katie Hillary serves as Chief of Staff in the Sales and Revenue office at Insight Global. Her success as a sales executive is driven by a deep passion for people. She builds scalable systems that accelerate business and professional development as well as revenue growth, ensuring long-term success for each individual employee and the entire company.

About Insight Global:

Insight Global is an international professional services and staffing company specializing in delivering talent and technical solutions to Fortune 1000 companies across the IT, Non-IT, Healthcare, and Engineering industries. With over 70 locations across North America, Europe, and Asia, and global staffing capabilities in 50+ countries, our teams are dedicated to finding the right talent and technical solutions to help our customers thrive. At our core, our mission is to develop people personally, professionally, and financially so they can be the light to the world around them. 

Visit our website. 

Follow us on LinkedIn.

Follow us on Instagram.

Resiliency looks different for everyone and every organization. Listen in as Bert, Katie, and Steve share their personal stories of resilience, talk organizational health, and mock the Chief for watching Jeopardy reruns. No offense, Ken Jennings!

Have a question for Bert? We want to answer it on the air! Email your questions to [email protected]. 📩

About the Podcast:

Chat the Chief is your microdose of workplace culture and leadership insights—straight from a CEO of a billion-dollar global company. Bert Bean worked his way up to CEO after first joining staffing and professional services company, Insight Global, over 20 years ago as an entry-level recruiter. Now, he’s pulling back the curtain for a raw and unfiltered peek into how Insight Global operates and his take on purpose, resiliency, and the future of work. Joining him are Culture Expert Steve Wasik and Sales Chief of Staff Katie Hillary as they dig into the principles that make companies thrive. No fluff. No sugarcoating. Just real conversations from real leaders, reshaping the way we think about work.

About the Hosts:

Bert Bean started as a recruiter at Insight Global in 2005 and became CEO in 2018. Under his leadership, the company has doubled revenue, expanding to 70+ offices worldwide. Passionate about culture, leadership, and growth, Bert drives Insight Global’s mission to empower people personally, professionally, and financially.

Steve Wasik is the VP of Talent Services within Insight Global’s professional services division, Evergreen. In 2020, he launched Compass, now the division’s culture and performance consulting team. He consults with leaders across the Fortune 500 on how to build cultures that take great care of people and get great business results.

Katie Hillary serves as Chief of Staff in the Sales and Revenue office at Insight Global. Her success as a sales executive is driven by a deep passion for people. She builds scalable systems that accelerate business and professional development as well as revenue growth, ensuring long-term success for each individual employee and the entire company.

About Insight Global:

Insight Global is an international professional services and staffing company specializing in delivering talent and technical solutions to Fortune 1000 companies across the IT, Non-IT, Healthcare, and Engineering industries. With over 70 locations across North America, Europe, and Asia, and global staffing capabilities in 50+ countries, our teams are dedicated to finding the right talent and technical solutions to help our customers thrive. At our core, our mission is to develop people personally, professionally, and financially so they can be the light to the world around them. 

Visit our website. 

Follow us on LinkedIn

Follow us on Instagram