Corporate Competitor Podcast

Ep. 273: Six months before his daughter's wedding, he got a diagnosis: liver cancer, less than six months to live. Three years of treatment later, and now he's Chairman, President and CEO of Southern Company — a company that just ranked #1 in its industry on Fortune's World's Most Admired Companies list.

On this episode, you will learn:

• Why he tells his team "I can't do anything by myself" — and means it

• How vulnerability, not authority, built trust across 30,000 employees

• What it actually takes to avoid complacency after you've already won

Do you want to write a book? In my new role as Publisher at Forbes Books and with the incredible resources and expertise of their team, we're making it easier than ever to help YOU to tell your story. Send us a message here to get started:https://books.forbes.com/don/

Looking for a speaker for your next event? From more than 30 years of interviewing and studying the greatest winners of all time Don offers these live and virtual presentations built to inspire your team towards personal and professional greatness.

Special thanks to Amelia Prieto for making this episode possible.

Ep. 272: The Business of Storytelling hit shelves this week and Simon Sinek is here to celebrate! Join us for this special edition episode to learn:

• Why you should treat every story like a jigsaw puzzle

• Why AI can write a great story, but can't make you a better storyteller

• The Disneyland detail that reveals the real power of a company's origin story

• Why "I've heard this story..." might be the most underrated four words in storytelling

Do you want to write a book? In my new role as Publisher at Forbes Books and with the incredible resources and expertise of their team, we're making it easier than ever to help YOU to tell your story. Send us a message here to get started: https://books.forbes.com/don/

Looking for a speaker for your next event? From more than 30 years of interviewing and studying the greatest winners of all time Don offers these live and virtual presentations built to inspire your team towards personal and professional greatness.

Special thanks to Abbie Brandt for making this episode possible.

Ep. 271: The captain was given a choice: grab a rag to help the team wash the windows or hand over the boat.

He tapped his epaulettes signaling his rank, "I'm the captain."

John fired him.

Why? Because the problem was never the windows. It was the belief that his title made certain jobs beneath him.

Today, John Waggoner, Founder and Chairman of Victory Cruise Lines, still tells that story during employee orientation. His message is simple: if the owner will sweep the dock, carry the trash, or wash the windows, everyone should be willing to jump in.

Do you want to write a book? In my new role as Publisher at Forbes Books and with the incredible resources and expertise of their team, we're making it easier than ever to help YOU to tell your story. Send us a message here to get started: https://books.forbes.com/don/

Looking for a speaker for your next event? From more than 30 years of interviewing and studying the greatest winners of all time Don offers these live and virtual presentations built to inspire your team towards personal and professional greatness.

Special thanks to Will Goodman and Abbie Brandt for making this episode possible.

Ep. 270: Linfield basketball alum Dan McMillan shares how empowering your team to GIVE can create a ripple effect. A grieving customer once received a box of gourmet pears from his insurance company because a claims employee sensed he needed something extra. It turned out pears were his late wife's favorite fruit. Dan, now President and CEO of The Standard, shared the story with his executive team — and today, it's included in strategic materials shared with 30,000 salespeople around the world.

On this episode, Dan joins Don Yaeger to talk about:

• The five words a high school coach gave him that he still lives by 40+ years later

• How to turn disappointment into development

• The lesson from a Linfield basketball bench that shaped how he handles every setback since

Do you want to write a book? In my new role as Publisher at Forbes Books and with the incredible resources and expertise of their team, we're making it easier than ever to help YOU to tell your story. Send us a message here to get started: https://books.forbes.com/don/

Looking for a speaker for your next event? From more than 30 years of interviewing and studying the greatest winners of all time Don offers these live and virtual presentations built to inspire your team towards personal and professional greatness.

Special thanks to Amelia Prieto and Abbie Brandt for making this episode possible.

Ep. 269: Team Penske has raced in more than 6,600 races and won 10% of them — and they're the winningest team in IndyCar history.

This summer, Bud is leading the Freedom 250 Grand Prix, the first-ever IndyCar race in the nation's capital, down Pennsylvania Avenue August 22–23.

In this episode, you will learn how a dinner-table idea turned into a presidential executive order and lessons in:

• Why "it's all in the communication" when you're building trust with people you don't lead

• Why effort equals results — and why Bud carries a coin with his sons to prove it

• How to turn a gut-wrenching loss into your team's next strategy session

• Why he opens meetings with a story instead of a to-do list

Do you want to write a book? In my new role as Publisher at Forbes Books and with the incredible resources and expertise of their team, we're making it easier than ever to help YOU tell your story. Send us a message here to get started: https://books.forbes.com/don/

Looking for a speaker for your next event? From more than 30 years of interviewing and studying the greatest winners of all time, Don offers these live and virtual presentations built to inspire your team toward personal and professional greatness.

Special thanks to Amelia Prieto and Lilly Mae Stewart for making this episode possible.

Ep. 268: Stonepeak CEO was shaped by rugby league, cricket, and growing up in a working-class farming town in Australia. Today he's built a career on Wall Street, but the personality that took him there was forged on fields where teammates and opponents alike gave each other unfiltered honesty — and expected the same in return.

Want to become a better storyteller?

Pre-order Don's new book The Business of Storytelling and become a Founding Member of The Circle of Storytellers. This is a limited experience — it ends at launch. All of these resources are yours FOR FREE the moment your order is confirmed. donyaeger.com/circle

Do you want to write a book?

In my new role as Publisher at Forbes Books and with the incredible resources and expertise of their team, we're making it easier than ever to help YOU to tell your story. Send us a message here to get started: https://books.forbes.com/don/

Looking for a speaker for your next event?

From more than 30 years of interviewing and studying the greatest winners of all time Don offers these live and virtual presentations built to inspire your team towards personal and professional greatness.

Special thanks to Sophia Fusco and Johnny Levin for making this episode possible.

Ep. 267: Harvard Golf and playing at Whisper Rock alongside Jon Rahm, Wyndham Clark, and Max Homa shaped Josh Isner's understanding of what winning really requires — and it shows in how he leads one of the most competitive companies in America.

Axon is the $45 billion public safety company behind body cameras and life-saving technology protecting law enforcement and first responders across the country.

In this episode, you will learn:

• Why the best mentors are never assigned — and how Luke Larson, a Marine Corps officer just one year ahead of Josh at Axon, chose to invest in him and deliver the one line that transformed his leadership: "It's not what you say — it's what they hear."
• How the advice, "It's not what you say; it's what they hear," reshaped the way he communicates, coaches, and leads.
• How playing alongside the world's top golfers at Whisper Rock revealed the mindset shift that separates good from great — and how Josh applied it to his leadership.

Download a free chapter of Don Yaeger's new book on mastering The Business of Storytelling

Do you want to write a book? In my new role as Publisher at Forbes Books and with the incredible resources and expertise of their team, we're making it easier than ever to help YOU to tell your story. Send us a message here to get started: https://books.forbes.com/don/

Looking for a speaker for your next event? From more than 30 years of interviewing and studying the greatest winners of all time Don offers these live and virtual presentations built to inspire your team towards personal and professional greatness.

Special thanks to Lilly Mae Stewart and Abbie Brandt for making this episode possible.

Ep. 266: Long before he was CEO of Deloitte US, Jason Girzadas was on the pitcher's mound with the bases loaded, his team up by one run, and his coach walking out to deliver the kind of feedback that sticks for a lifetime.

In this episode, you will hear the lesson he learned, PLUS:

• How to fight complacency inside a historically successful organization — and keep your people hungry

• Why "know yourself so you can be yourself" is not a soft idea but a leadership prerequisite

• How timely, direct, one-on-one feedback creates a domino effect of accountability across an entire organization

Do you want to write a book? In my new role as Publisher at Forbes Books and with the incredible resources and expertise of their team, we're making it easier than ever to help YOU to tell your story. Send us a message here to get started: https://books.forbes.com/don/

Looking for a speaker for your next event? From more than 30 years of interviewing and studying the greatest winners of all time Don offers these live and virtual presentations built to inspire your team towards personal and professional greatness.

Special thanks to Danielle Cadena and Abbie Brandt for making this episode possible.

Ep. 265: As Head of Client Solutions and Wealth Management at Guardian Life Insurance, Mike has learned that the most transformational moments in business look a lot like cycling: riders who trust each other, rotate leadership, and communicate constantly can cover ground together that no one could cover alone.

In this episode, you will learn:

• How finding a coach — whether on a bike or in a boardroom — speeds up every kind of growth.

• Why the best response to a crisis is not reacting to the event itself, but locking onto what you can actually control.

• How making space for every voice in the room doesn't just improve morale — it produces better ideas and stronger teams.

Do you want to write a book? In my new role as Publisher at Forbes Books and with the incredible resources and expertise of their team, we're making it easier than ever to help YOU to tell your story. Send us a message here to get started: https://books.forbes.com/don/

Looking for a speaker for your next event? From more than 30 years of interviewing and studying the greatest winners of all time Don offers these live and virtual presentations built to inspire your team towards personal and professional greatness.

Special thanks to Guillermo Orellana and Johnathan Levin for making this episode possible.

Ep. 264: Playing high school golf in Michigan and winning the Upper Peninsula State Championship shaped this CEO who led Wendy's through a decade of global growth before stepping into the CEO role at Papa John's after a very brief retirement.

Today, Todd Penegor brings that same team-first mentality to every leadership table he sits at — and in this conversation, he shares exactly how.

In this conversation, Todd shares how he thinks about developing next-generation leaders, why he believes a CEO's job looks more like an offensive lineman than a quarterback, and what it really takes to earn both the heads and hearts of a franchise community.

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Do you want to write a book? In my new role as Publisher at Forbes Books and with the incredible resources and expertise of their team, we're making it easier than ever to help YOU to tell your story. Send us a message here to get started:https://books.forbes.com/don/

Looking for a speaker for your next event? From more than 30 years of interviewing and studying the greatest winners of all time Don offers these live and virtual presentations built to inspire your team towards personal and professional greatness.

Special thanks to Abigail Brandt and Danielle Cadena for making this episode possible.