Confessions of an Implementer

Welcome to Confessions of an Implementer, a podcast by Talent Harbor. We share unique stories of implementers and the companies they've transformed to give you a rare glimpse into the successes and challenges of the system in action. I'm your host, Ryan Hogan.

Let's dive in! 

In this episode, Ryan sits down with Zach Wardlaw, EOS Implementer and founder of Coach House, a venture studio built around helping good people do cool things. Zach is a self-described black sheep in the EOS world, younger than most, creative by background, and deeply skeptical of any system that optimizes for the wrong thing. He grew up in and around his dad's advertising business in Louisville, worked as an art director at McCann in Chicago on Fortune 500 brands, and eventually found his way into EOS after spending years frustrated by how much great work gets killed in conference rooms full of people who are afraid to take a risk.

Zach breaks down why he believes every single leadership team is different after going through EOS work and why that is always a good thing, even when it is painful. He introduces a framework he has been building around the ten hypotheses that separate companies that will succeed with AI from the ones that won't, and why team health is the most important variable in that equation. He also gets into why AI is raising the bar for vulnerability-based trust inside teams, what the music industry can teach leaders about the shift from quantity to quality as a metric, and why some leaders will use AI to demand 16 times the output while others will use it to give their people seven hours back with their families.

This one did not go where either of them expected, and they are already planning a part two.

Welcome to Confessions of an Implementer, a podcast by Talent Harbor. We share unique stories of implementers and the companies they've transformed to give you a rare glimpse into the successes and challenges of the system in action. I'm your host, Ryan Hogan.

Let's dive in!

In this episode, Ryan sits down with Ken Paskins, founder of GCE Strategic Consulting, who spent over two decades in enterprise sales and executive leadership before burning the boats on corporate and building a boutique fractional leadership firm named after his three daughters. Ken has managed half-billion-dollar P&Ls, closed a deal that helped save a publicly traded company after 9/11, and worked with EOS clients in over ten countries.

Ken breaks down what actually made him a great salesperson, including the challenger selling research that put a name to what he was already doing, why relationships alone have never closed a deal worth closing, and what it takes to move from top performer to capable leader without losing what made you great. He also gets into why 87% of integrators are promoted internally and why half of them fail within a year, the four inflection points that signal fractional leadership is the right call, and what the military after-action debrief looks like when you bring it into a business context.

Welcome to Confessions of an Implementer, a podcast by Talent Harbor. We share unique stories of implementers and the companies they've transformed to give you a rare glimpse into the successes and challenges of the system in action. I'm your host, Ryan Hogan.

Let's dive in!

In this episode, Ryan sits down with Dan Dubniak, EOS Implementer and former COO who took a small family merchandising business from missing payroll to over 20 million in revenue in seven years. Dan came in as a CPA who had never run payroll, never managed accounts receivable, and never led a team. What he brought was a relentless ability to simplify.

Dan breaks down the pyramid framework he used to figure out which problems actually mattered, why every dollar in a business is a bet and how to know whether yours are paying off, and why the tailwind behind your industry matters more than most founders realize when building a growth strategy. He also gets into the real reason companies hold onto bad products and services longer than they should, how to think about expansion before it quietly doubles your costs and complexity, and how reading Traction while managing people he had no idea how to manage eventually led him to become an EOS Implementer himself.

Welcome to Confessions of an Implementer, a podcast by Talent Harbor. We share unique stories of implementers and the companies they've transformed to give you a rare glimpse into the successes and challenges of the system in action. I'm your host, Ryan Hogan.

Let's dive in!

In this episode, Ryan sits down with Gabe Muller, EOS Implementer, pilot, and founder of Smokehouse Pilots Club, a community of nearly 9,000 aviation enthusiasts that he built from a handful of friends meeting at a BBQ restaurant on the first Wednesday of every month. Gabe's path into EOS started with a cup of coffee in 2015 and took seven years to fully arrive, winding through COO roles, a Kolbe consulting practice, and a pandemic pivot before he finally made it to boot camp in 2022.

Gabe shares why he replaced the term business development (BD) with relationship building (RB) and what that shift has meant for the growth of his practice, the check-in question he now asks every leadership team that reliably surfaces the real issues before the session even starts, and why curiosity might be the most underrated skill an implementer can bring into a room.

A different kind of implementer story.

Welcome to Confessions of an Implementer, a podcast by Talent Harbor. We share unique stories of implementers and the companies they've transformed to give you a rare glimpse into the successes and challenges of the system in action. I'm your host, Ryan Hogan.

 Let's dive in!

In this episode, Ryan sits down with Angela Kalemis, Expert EOS Implementer, co-author of the book Data, and one of the most passionate advocates for the EOS scorecard in the entire implementer community. Angela spent 17 years at Booz Allen Hamilton doing program management and business development for military defense contracts, then left to implement EOS inside her husband's business, helped it break through four years of stagnant growth, and watched it grow so fast it almost went under. That experience shaped everything about how she now thinks about data, metrics, and systematic growth. 

Angela breaks down why the scorecard isn't meant to be a reporting tool and what it looks like when it drives decisions and actions instead. She introduces the idea that every red number is a gift and why ignoring it or rationalizing it robs your team of the opportunity to improve. She covers the most common scorecard mistakes she sees when she walks into companies, including too many KPIs, goals that are permanently aspirational, and a focus on results instead of the activities that drive them.

 Packed with practical insight from someone who literally wrote the book on it.

Welcome to Confessions of an Implementer, a podcast by Talent Harbor. We share unique stories of implementers and the companies they've transformed to give you a rare glimpse into the successes and challenges of the system in action. I'm your host, Ryan Hogan.

Let's dive in!

In this episode, Ryan sits down with Shelley Woodrow, EOS Implementer and former market leader at Cox Communications, whose 27-year career in radio, broadcast TV, and cable advertising gave her a front-row seat to what separates great leaders from great performers. Shelley stumbled into media through a chance conversation with a radio DJ at NutraSystem and spent the next three decades building sales organizations, right-sizing teams, and running what she now recognizes as a visionary integrator duo before she ever knew those terms existed.

Shelley shares why she has always believed that if someone fails on her watch, it is worth looking in the mirror first, how she thinks about the difference between someone who cannot do the job and someone who will not, and why feedback is a gift even when it stings. She also gets into what the best new EOS implementers do differently in their first 180 days, and how she accidentally landed in a blue-collar niche and why she loves it.

This episode is packed with real experience from someone who has done it at every level.

Welcome to Confessions of an Implementer, a podcast by Talent Harbor. We share unique stories of implementers and the companies they've transformed to give you a rare glimpse into the successes and challenges of the system in action. I'm your host, Ryan Hogan.

Let's dive in!

In this episode, Ryan sits down with Bart Lorang, EOS Implementer and partner at Meritage, who started his first company at 15, selling computer services out of a local newspaper ad, and never really stopped. That first company grew to span 27 countries before Bart exited and went on to build FullContact into the world's largest contact management platform not owned by Microsoft, Apple, or Google, raising venture capital and scaling to several hundred employees before making the deliberate decision to step away at the 10-year mark after a conversation with his 6-year-old son.

Bart breaks down the seven deadly risks every entrepreneur is managing whether they know it or not and why execution risk is the one EOS eliminates better than anything else, how Meritage uses EOS implementers to actually score companies before writing a check, and what it looks like to introduce EOS into your family life complete with a Saturday Level 10, quarterly getaways, and an accountability chart that maps who owns what at home.

If you have ever felt like your business runs better than your personal life, this one is for you.

Welcome to Confessions of an Implementer, a podcast by Talent Harbor. We share unique stories of implementers and the companies they've transformed to give you a rare glimpse into the successes and challenges of the system in action. I'm your host, Ryan Hogan.

Let's dive in!

In this episode, Ryan sits down with Zack Perry, EOS Implementer and former investment banker. Zack breaks down how search funds actually work, what the two-year acquisition process really feels like from the inside, and why 50% of searchers never find a company to buy even when they do everything right. He also gets into why hearing your own voice too often in a business is a warning sign worth paying attention to, what makes self-implementing EOS so much harder than most founders expect, and how to find the single blocker that is keeping a business stuck between 3 and 10 million before spending another dollar on anything else.

Welcome to Confessions of an Implementer, a podcast by Talent Harbor. We share unique stories of implementers and the companies they've transformed to give you a rare glimpse into the successes and challenges of the system in action. I'm your host, Ryan Hogan.

Let's dive in!

In this episode, Ryan sits down with Jeanet Wade, EOS Implementer and author of The Human Team. Jeanet breaks down the six facets of human needs that bridge the gap between human nature and the outcomes leaders actually want, why job hopping is not a generational quirk but a signal that those needs are going unmet, and what it really means to give feedback within 24 hours and why most leaders wait far too long. She also gets into the 20 to 30 percent extra effort required to lead a remote team well, why ritualized recognition matters more than most leaders realize, and what Southwest Airlines can teach every business owner about what happens when you lose sight of the fundamentals that made you great. Timestamps 02:17 Motivating Beyond Financial Compensation 08:04 Unlocking Potential Through Six Human Needs 14:44 Strategies for Remote Team Connection 18:55 The Value of Intentional Leadership 24:30 Addressing Retention and Cultural Turnover 32:07 Coaching and Mastering Feedback Loops 41:47 Timeliness and Consistency in Feedback 46:32 Effective Recognition and Rituals 51:08 The Pitfalls of Unnecessary Processes 58:04 Purpose, People, and Profit Balance Guest Links

j

[email protected]

Phone: 314-488-0791

https://implementer.eosworldwide.com/jeanet-wade/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeanet-wade-ab5500/

https://www.business-alchemist.com/

https://thehumanteambook.com/

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1950863328?lv=shuf&channelId=500&plpRedirect=mhFallback

Welcome to Confessions of an Implementer, a podcast by Talent Harbor. We share unique stories of implementers and the companies they've transformed to give you a rare glimpse into the successes and challenges of the system in action. I'm your host, Ryan Hogan.

Let's dive in!

In this episode, Ryan sits down with Lynda Martin, one of the earliest EOS Implementers in the community. Lynda brings a rare depth to this conversation, drawing on a master's degree in organizational design, 30-plus years of business coaching, and a career that started long before EOS had a name for what she was already doing.

Lynda unpacks the real history behind organizational design, why the accountability chart is its most elegant expression, why you can absolutely get results through fear, but at a cost most leaders underestimate, and what it means to lead people adult to adult instead of adult to child. She also shares the egg analogy that perfectly captures why unclear expectations destroy trust faster than bad decisions. Timestamps 02:16 Discovering the Traction Framework 08:04 Organizational Design Principles 12:58 Leading Through Connection vs Fear 18:24 Diverse Management Approaches 22:32 Centralized vs Decentralized Authority 30:15 The Art of Clear Delegation 36:39 Delegation and Leadership Clarity 43:37 Empowering Employees and Purpose 48:11 Building a Purpose-Driven Organization Guest Links

[email protected]

Phone: 404-697-5212

https://implementer.eosworldwide.com/lynda-martin/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lynda-martin-eos/

https://www.instagram.com/lyndamartineos/