Ginger Hardage recently retired as Senior Vice President of Culture and Communications at Southwest Airlines after an illustrious 25 years, where she served as a member of the CEO’s executive leadership team. At Southwest, Ginger led a team of 150 people responsible for building and sustaining the organization’s legendary culture and communications enterprise.  In 2017, Ginger launched Unstoppable Cultures, a brand designed to help organizations create and sustain cultures of enduring greatness.  Recognized by many as a foremost global authority on building and sustaining organizational culture, Ginger was responsible for the activities at Southwest that nourished the culture and the internal and external communications function. Ginger was a tireless ambassador of the world-famous Southwest Culture, leading to honors such as being a perpetual standout on FORTUNE’s “Most Admired Companies in the World” list. She helped champion the values, purpose and “Best Place to Work” initiatives at the nation’s largest airline.  Upon her retirement, Southwest CEO Gary Kelly said “Ginger has made countless contributions to Southwest. She has been an invaluable business partner, advisor, and mentor. She brings constant, positive energy and enthusiasm to all those around her, and that is infectious. She has built superb teams that we are very proud of, and that I know will continue her special brand of excellence.”  Ginger has received numerous honors throughout her career, including induction into the Public Relations Hall of Fame and being named as one of Texas’ Most Powerful and Influential Women. PRWeek has named her multiple times to its Top 50 Power list and 50 Most Powerful Women in Public Relations. She was named “Legendary Communicator” by Southern Methodist University, Legacy Award honoree by the Plank Center for Leadership, and selected for the James C. Bowling Executive-In-Residence Lecture Series at the University of Kentucky.  Ginger currently serves as a Trustee on the global board of Ronald McDonald House Charities. In Dallas, she serves on the board of The Trinity Park Conservancy and was recently President of the Trinity Commons Foundation. Ginger previously served on advisory boards of Novartis in Basel, Switzerland; The Page Society; Business Civic Leadership Center, an affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; Big Brothers and Sisters of Metropolitan Dallas; Southwest Cares; and the Council of Public Relations Firms.  Before beginning her career at Southwest Airlines in 1990, Ginger held a variety of marketing and public relations positions at Maxus Energy Corporation, Diamond Shamrock Corporation, and Life Insurance Company of the Southwest.  Ginger earned a B.A. in advertising/public relations from Texas Tech University and was recognized as an outstanding alumna by the College of Mass Communications at Texas Tech University.  Ginger lives in Dallas with her husband, Kelly, and has grown stepsons, Patrick and Ross.

Bob has 40+ years of experience in operating, managing and teaching in the real estate brokerage industry. As the Vice President of a prestigious real estate company in New Orleans, Gertrude Gardner Realtors, he headed up both the residential and the commercial divisions, helping to expand the company to 22 offices throughout the city and surrounding areas.  Bob opened his own Keller Williams market center in New Orleans in June 1998, which grew to 75 agents in one year.  Because of his enthusiasm for the Keller Williams concept, he bought the rights to develop the Southeast Region which includes Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama.  Bob holds an MBA in Business, Finance and Management and an Engineering Degree from Tulane University, as well as the coveted CRB designation from the National Association of Realtors. He was with IBM in Technical Marketing support prior to entering real estate. In his early real estate career, he was involved in ownership of a custom home construction company, and he built a 4 office residential real estate company, which was then sold to a major national real estate organization.  Bob also loves to share and give back! He was the recipient of the Keller Williams Robert B. Carter award in 2006 for his involvement in developing a relief program for families who suffered the devastative effects of Hurricane Katrina (New Orleans, 2005).   Bob’s passion is teaching and consulting agents, leaders and office owners to assist them in enhancing their careers and businesses to the highest level. In just the past 13 years that he has been with Keller Williams Realty, he has developed, published and taught 8 unique courses around the United States and Canada.

Peter Bourke is the CEO and founder of Better Way Sales Strategies. With a deep background in sales leadership, marketing and professional management, Peter travels the globe speaking to groups about “The Narrow Line Between Winning and Losing Strategic Pursuits.” As the author of “Unselling,” Peter coaches sales teams on how to win highly competitive deals that they cannot afford to lose. 

Peter's credibility on the topic comes from over 20 years of experience conducting win and loss reviews (face-to-face interviews) on behalf of his clients to understand why they choose the firm they ultimately choose. By doing so, he finds the unedited, honest truth about why sales teams win and lose business.  

At the same time, Peter has a passion to help men grow to provide better leadership in their homes. Leading “Men, Your Marriage Matters” workshops, he challenges and encourages men to live and lead well in the home, loving their wives and guiding their children.

Kendall Ware is the President & COO of Orange Leaf Frozen Yogurt, a 200 location franchise located in 30 states and Mexico. Ware, who serves as President & Chief Operating Officer for the Orange Leaf brand, has over 12 years of franchise leadership experience and is a certified franchise executive through the IFA. In addition, he is a recent recipient of Oklahoma’s 30 under 30 award. Prior to his time at Orange Leaf, Ware developed his leadership experience at other franchised concepts such as CiCi’s Pizza and Genghis Grill. During his tenure at CiCi's Pizza, Ware led training and operations initiatives to enhance product quality that resulted in an increase of guest satisfaction and stable same-store sales growth for their nearly 500 restaurants. At Genghis Grill, Ware developed a comprehensive set of operating systems, processes and people that helped successfully grow their franchise from 7 locations to 100.

About 15 years ago, Chris and Lyndie Carneal, noticed that most schools are under-funded, and decided to find a better way to raise funds for schools. Chris and Lyndie founded Boosterthon, a turn-key fundraising company for elementary schools with the corporate mission “We Strengthen Schools.” Boosterthon is a high-energy, character-based fun-run program that kids love and that allows schools to raise more money than they think possible. In addition to raising more money, Boosterthon relieves the school and parent volunteers from the burden of fundraising, freeing them to use their time to address other school needs.

Now with over 600 full- and part-time employees throughout the U.S., the company served approximately 1900 schools in 2017. Boosterthon is a true servant leader modeled company whose values are:

Intentional leadership is Boosterthon’s translation of servant leadership. According to Chris, when he founded the company, he first determined what kind of leader he wanted to be. “To lead others, you first have to lead yourself. To do that, I lead with intentionality, and I encourage and coach others to do that as well. From the first thing in the morning, and throughout the day, be self-aware and question what your leadership intentions are. Then act accordingly.”

According to Chris, intentional leadership shares many characteristics of servant leadership. However, it also has a different perspective. While servant leadership begins with serving others, Chris believes, “Intentional leaders start with themselves. The intentional leader allocates time and resources for self-leadership and for understanding their motivations, strengths, and weaknesses. Only then are they ready and able to lead others.”

Chris offers these tips for intentional leadership:

Boosterthon, under Chris’s leadership, has even developed an app to systematize leaders’ abilities to live these values by communicating, coaching, and leading others.

Chris believes in servant leadership and studies many of the leading thinkers and writers on the topic. He also encourages others to implement servant leadership in their companies, as servant leadership often leads to business success. As Cheryl Bachelder points out in her book, Dare to Serve: How to Drive Superior Results by Serving Others, financial results from servant leader led companies far outperform the ROI from companies using traditional leadership models. According to Chris, “Anyone can be a servant leader, but it has to start with you. What type of leader are you, what type of leader can you be. The size and success of your organization will flow from there.”

Hope in the Midst of Crisis - 

Life and business is a long-term proposition. Leading well means executing effectively through the seasons of life, regardless of the challenges. Learn from Scott MacLellan how he has been able to grow a thriving business while dealing with personal crises. You will find hope, encouragement and practical advice to lead well in the midst of life’s storms. 

Scott serves as CEO for Touchpoint Support Services & Morrison Community Living, providing a variety of services to hospitals and senior living facilities across the country. These two organizations have been separately been named as among the best places to work in healthcare. An unwavering champion of the food services, environmental and healthcare industries, Scott has spent his entire 35 year career in these fields growing healthy businesses and focusing on the development of his teams. 

Scott is also an accomplished author and has raised substantial funds for multiple non-profit organizations through his writings. "Amanda’s Gift" is dedicated to serving parents of seriously ill children. He is an inspirational leader who understands the power of building strong teams based upon an alignment of values. In this episode, we sit down to talk about business, relationships and how to manage life when facing substantial headwinds.