The Reboot Chronicles with Dean DeBiase

Personal reboots are the hardest, especially if you have been knocked down and kicked out of the industry and ecosystem of people that got you there. On this Episode of the Reboot Chronicles Actor, Producer, Director, and Author Kevin Sorbo openly shares his remarkable comeback story.

Long before Marvel movies were everywhere, Kevin was known to millions around the world as Hercules. The hit series Hercules was beloved in 176 countries, surpassing even Baywatch as the most watched TV show on the planet.

A conservative Christian shunned by Hollywood, Kevin formed Sorbo Studios which has produced some critically acclaimed movies including God’s Not Dead and Miracle in East Texas, with many more on the way.

Listen in and learn about Kevins’ reboot, from action hero to Christian influencer, his new movies like Regan with Dennis Quaid—and how his near-death experience kicked it all off.

Most all companies are going through some form of tech. reboot. From the 20-person start-up to organizations with 100,000 people—some who have been around for over 100 years. Though there is much to learn from big and small reboots, the business in question has roots back to the 1800’s when it was a small NYC accounting office.

Today KPMG is one of the world's top professional services firms, serving 80% of the Fortune Global 500 with a broad spectrum of Audit, Tax, Advisory and Innovation services. With more than 270,000 people operating in 143 countries who delivered $36B in revenue last year.

On this episode of The Reboot Chronicles, KPMG’s CEO (US) Paul Knopp unpacks changes he made as a newbie CEO in the disorienting COVID times, and how AI will help his clients—some the world’s largest public companies in the world—reboot themselves.

Legendary entrepreneur Joel Hyatt has built extremely disruptive ventures that have democratized services across legal, technology, and media sectors.

He did it with legal services for ‘the rest of us’ when he co-founded Hyatt Legal in the 70’s —busting the ban on lawyer ads—and also shook up the industry by adding legal as an employee benefit, which is now part of MetLife.

After winning an antitrust case which broke up a big media stronghold, he and Al Gore started Current TV pioneering user-generated content. Current TV was hot, and received multiple Emmys, Peabodys, and Livingston Awards, investments from Comcast and Direct TV and is now a part of Aljazera Media Network.

Joel's latest venture, Globality, is all about streamlining and enhancing the procurement process for businesses. Leveraging both machine learning and generative AI, the company offers something totally unique it calls “autonomous self-serve sourcing.”

And what’s interesting is that this is no 2024 VC-backed start-up leaping on the AI bandwagon. Joel has been developing this solution for years, and so has both learned what works and what doesn’t.

On this episode Joel shares decades of wisdom from his various endeavors that democratized oligopolies; unpacks untold stories about how Globality is transforming the boring side of business—and tells some fun and humorous startup stories with his friend Al Gore.

The personal care and beauty market is projected to be a $750B by 2032—and women and celebrities want a piece of it. Celebrities and the beauty industry have been ubiquitously tied together through generations. In recent years however, celebrities aren’t only endorsing or becoming the face of the brand—they’re now working on their own beauty brands.

Christie Brinkley, the international superstar and seemingly ageless beauty, served as a brand ambassador after being introduced to SBLA Beauty by a friend during the pandemic. The science-backed, non-invasive skincare brand, founded by Beauty Pioneer Randi Shinder, is a new platform of tools that sculpt, lift and firm the face, neck, chin and jawline.

Prior to the rise of the Girl Boss in the 2010’s, that has trickled into the 2020s, Randi revolutionized the fragrance space with CLEAN Beauty in 2002, which became one of the most successful independent fragrance brands of all-time. She followed that with Dessert Beauty with Jessica Simpson, the first brand to exceed $10 million at Sephora, and Fusion Beauty, the first to exceed $50 million at Sephora, before selling both Clean and Fusion in 2009.

Seeking to slow down (yeah right) after launching the I Smell Great brand with Sophia Bush, Randi noticed a white space in the industry, and decided to get back into the lab and invent SBLA.  On this episode of The Reboot Chronicles Show, Randi unpacks her secrets to scaling brands and exits, why Sephora shifted away from their Indi-strategy—and why she should be the CEO of Pinterest.

When trying to grow a food chain it can easily lose its character and freshness as everything becomes about speed and profits. And, when you are a chain that was built on the back of amazingly fresh food and unique in-store customer experiences, how do you grow and expand to 2000 locations?

From humble beginnings in 1977, and being named to “America’s Fastest Growing Private Companies” in 2005, to now having over 400 locations and headed to 2000, Potbelly Sandwiches has been growing with quality in mind. During covid they took steps to reinvent themselves through tech, investing heavily into their team—and creating an app and rewards program that kept them breathing as many companies drifted.

On this episode of The Reboot Chronicles, Potbelly CEO Bob Wright unpacks how to grow a brand without losing its identity. Listen in to the inside story on how he is rebooting this loveable brand once again—aggressively expanding their global footprint, investing in digital loyalty platforms, and competitively positioning them to provide the next level of authentic consumer experiences.

Ever wonder how some companies seize serendipitous moments—with the likes of Adam Sandler and Walker Hayes—while others pass on the opportunistic gifts that could have moved their brand needle?

Listen to Dean and hospitality guru and CEO of Dine Brands, John Peyton for this episode of The Reboot Chronicles to unpack funny untold behind the scenes stories, explore the art and science of innovating—and what happens when you combine the Applebee’s and IHOP menus.

The gig economy is hotter than ever with 36% of U.S. workers in it, and nearly half of the global workforce—1.6 BILLION PEOPLE—are independent gigsters.

The way a customer interacts with a business can make or break a brand. There are immediate break points, like how hard it is to interact, and more long subtle break points, like how well can a business curate a customer's experience to keep them coming back. Even with all the technology at our fingertips, these long form conversations continue to be challenging, because they require both sides to communicate effectively—and know what they want from each other.

With AI being aggressively adopted in most every industry sector, you may be wondering what becomes of the billions of call center interactions that take place around the world? With all the technology imbedded in our lives, most are frustrated because they are not served well through self-service platforms—and many say they want to connect with real humans behind the brands they deal with.

The food industry has been struggling to adapt to the world around them. With pickup and delivery services impacting grocery store sales, and the rise of services like DoorDash and Uber Eats rebooting consumer habits, competition and change are the new norm.

A key player quietly rebooting the grocery and supply chain sectors is SpartanNash. Founded in 1885 as a tiny candy and tobacco store in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota, SpartanNash is a $9.7 Billion Fortune 400 company with 17,000 Associates that delivers to 2,300 independent grocers and hundreds of their own stores. They also “deliver a little taste of home” to all who serve the U.S. military no matter where they are stationed around the globe.

We invited SpartanNash CEO Tony Sarsam to this episode of The Reboot Chronicles for a behind the scenes tour of his reboot story. A thoughtful agile leader and industry veteran from Frito-Lay, Borden, and Nestle, Tony has been transforming the company—and keeping his teams on a mission to “Make Yesterday Jealous For How Great Today Is.”