The Reboot Chronicles with Dean DeBiase

Few people have spent more time inside the minds of the world's most powerful leaders than Jeffrey Sonnenfeld. As Senior Associate Dean and Lester Crown Professor at Yale School of Management and Founder of the Chief Executive Leadership Institute, Sonnenfeld has advised five US presidents and thousands of chief executives navigating crisis, succession, geopolitical shocks, and the ever-shifting expectations of corporate governance. A trusted voice across CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, CNBC, Fox, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Financial Times, and Bloomberg, he has spent a lifetime decoding the human side of leadership through eight books, hundreds of articles, and decades of governance research. His latest book unpacks the strategic lessons from President Trump's leadership toolbox, arriving at a moment when executives everywhere are trying to understand a style of leadership unlike anything corporate America has encountered before.

On this episode of The Reboot Chronicles Podcast, we sit down with Jeffrey to unpack how the world's top CEOs are approaching artificial intelligence, what Fortune 500 companies should actually do about China, and what leaders can and cannot learn from Donald Trump's playbook. Jeffrey breaks down how he built the Chief Executive Leadership Institute from a simple idea into the premier peer learning environment for global CEOs, why resilience from failure is the most important leadership lesson he teaches, how AI is reshaping both the C-suite and the classroom, and what civic duty has to do with corporate strategy.

The future of journalism is being reimagined real time, with rising stars like Morgan Brennan leading the way. As anchor of CNBC's Morning Call and host of Manifest Space podcast, Brennan brings a rare combination of editorial instinct, policy fluency, and operator-level curiosity to one of the most consequential shifts in modern media history. Having covered defense and emerging space economies for CNBC and produced shows with world leaders and elite entrepreneurs, she has operated at the intersection of markets, technology, and national security for more than a decade. Today, she is applying that experience to CNBC's mission to build the next generation of business news, one where trusted information moves at the speed of a retweet.

On this episode of The Reboot Chronicles Podcast, we sit down with Morgan Brennan to unpack the Reindustrialization of America, the rise of defense and space as ground zero for industrial policy, and the future of morning news. She breaks down how CNBC is evolving from a linear television network into a multi-platform ecosystem. Why the developing world of retail investors is leading the next wave of financial media adoption and how defense spending and space commercialization are reshaping the American industrial base. Plus, we explore innovator's dilemma for traditional media companies slow to respond to the next generation of content consumption.

The global financial system is being rebuilt from the ground up, and Heath Tarbert is helping lead that effort As President of Circle, the company behind USDC, the world's second largest regulated stablecoin, Tarbert brings a rare combination of regulatory authority, legal prowess, and market experience to one of the most consequential shifts in modern finance. Having served as Chairman of the CFTC, Assistant Secretary of the US Treasury, and Chief Legal Officer at Citadel Securities, he has operated at the center of global finance for decades, representing the United States at the G7, G20, the World Bank, and the Financial Stability Board. Today, he is applying that experience to Circle's mission of building the infrastructure for a global internet financial system, one where dollars move as easily and instantly as an email.

On this episode of The Reboot Chronicles Podcast, we sit down with Heath to unpack the rise of stablecoins, the passage of the Genius Act, and what it means for banks, businesses, and consumers around the world. Heath breaks down how Circle has evolved from a stablecoin issuer into a full-stack internet financial platform, why the developing world is leading adoption, how ARC, Circle's new purpose-built blockchain, could become the economic operating system of the next generation of finance, and what the innovator's dilemma means for the banks that are slow to respond.

Eric Winter didn't take one path. He took all of them.  At once. The actor, best known as the no-nonsense Sergeant Tim Bradford on ABC's smash hit The Rookie, was once a pre-med student at UCLA on track to become a doctor. Then nearly a paramedic with the LA Fire Department, then a model, a soap opera actor, parallel paths until something clicked. While producing TV movies, pitching shows, and spinning up a podcast, another story was unfolding.  On a trip to Puerto Rico to meet his future father-in-law he discovered an unexpected obsession with premium rum. That obsession became Palm Republic, an award-winning premium rum brand, 20 years in the making, now redefining what rum can be in one of the most crowded and competitive spirit markets in the world. But the headline in Eric’s story isn’t that he succeeded — it’s that he juggled it all at the same time without a playbook.  Just the ambition to be a creator and build something to influence a category grounded in family and culture.  

On this episode of The Reboot Chronicles Podcast, we sit down with Eric Winter, actor, producer, entrepreneur, and co-founder of Palm Republic Rum, to unpack one of the most multidimensional reboot stories we've heard. Eric breaks down how a pre-med student from LA ended up on one of network television's fastest-growing shows.  He explains why he built a rum brand instead of chasing the celebrity tequila wave.  We discuss how patience and rejection prepared him for entrepreneurship better than any business school could.  We explore his ambition for the brand and where he wants to take Palm Republic next.

Jamie Siminoff had bet everything; his savings, his family's security, and his reputation, on reinventing a device from the 1800s. At the time, he had no salary, almost no cash, and a company on the edge of bankruptcy. He had been rejected on Shark Tank with only days of runway left, not to mention a court-enforced restraining order from ADT effectively halting sales. He had $187,000 in the bank to barely cover operating expenses and needed just short of $1Million dollars to secure a four-letter domain name that could carry the brand. He was certain he was making one of the biggest mistakes in entrepreneurial history. And yet, Ring survived, and what followed became one of the most unfiltered, hard-earned comeback stories in modern entrepreneurship, ending with an acquisition by Amazon for over $1 billion with more than 100 million cameras deployed in homes worldwide.

On this episode of The Reboot Chronicles Podcast, we sit down with Jamie Siminoff, inventor, and founder of Ring, to unpack one of the most unfiltered founder stories in modern tech. From the sleepless nights and bold bets to the mission-driven stubbornness that turned a simple doorbell into a global security platform. Jamie shares how he survived rejection, lawsuits, and the edge of bankruptcy. Why mission consistently outweighs money as his core motivator, and how Ring is positioning itself at the center of the AI economy by transforming more than 100 million cameras into an intelligent home platform. He opens up about his new book, Ding Dong, describing it as part business memoir and part therapy session, and one of the most honest accounts of what building a consequential, mission-based company is all about. 

Listen and subscribe wherever you get podcasts or at RebootChronicles.com

Jamie Siminoff had bet everything; his savings, his family's security, and his reputation, on reinventing a device from the 1800s. At the time, he had no salary, almost no cash, and a company on the edge of bankruptcy. He had been rejected on Shark Tank with only days of runway left, not to mention a court-enforced restraining order from ADT effectively halting sales. He had $187,000 in the bank to barely cover operating expenses and needed just short of $1Million dollars to secure a four-letter domain name that could carry the brand. He was certain he was making one of the biggest mistakes in entrepreneurial history. And yet, Ring survived, and what followed became one of the most unfiltered, hard-earned comeback stories in modern entrepreneurship, ending with an acquisition by Amazon for over $1 billion with more than 100 million cameras deployed in homes worldwide.

On this episode of The Reboot Chronicles Podcast, we sit down with Jamie Siminoff, inventor, and founder of Ring, to unpack one of the most unfiltered founder stories in modern tech. From the sleepless nights and bold bets to the mission-driven stubbornness that turned a simple doorbell into a global security platform. Jamie shares how he survived rejection, lawsuits, and the edge of bankruptcy. Why mission consistently outweighs money as his core motivator, and how Ring is positioning itself at the center of the AI economy by transforming more than 100 million cameras into an intelligent home platform. He opens up about his new book, Ding Dong, describing it as part business memoir and part therapy session, and one of the most honest accounts of what building a consequential, mission-based company is all about. 

Listen and subscribe wherever you get podcasts or at RebootChronicles.com

The warning signs were there, but the fall was still dramatic. A telecom powerhouse that once traded at $50 had slipped to nearly a dollar, burdened by debt, declining revenue, and a legacy architecture that couldn’t keep pace with the data-driven world emerging around it. Internally, the mission narrowed to survival — renew contracts, slow the erosion, hold the line. But survival mode doesn’t win in an AI-accelerated market.

So Lumen hit reset. It shed non-core assets, restructured its balance sheet, and made the hard pivot from preserving the old to building for what’s next.

On this episode of The Reboot Chronicles, Kate Johnson, CEO of Lumen Technologies, joins us to break down how she’s leading one of the boldest reinventions in modern infrastructure. We explore the cultural reboot she prioritized on day one, the shift from telecom to platform, and how Lumen is rebuilding itself to power the AI economy for the long haul.

https://youtu.be/wgHoZWKKnP8

Most global technology companies start as tight-knit engineering teams, but only a few manage to scale into organizations of tens of thousands without facing moments that fundamentally reshape how they operate. Growth at that level is about navigating inflection points that test a company’s identity, resilience, and ability to adapt. Rapid expansion, unexpected crises, and shifting market forces all play a role, and in today’s landscape those pressures are accelerating as AI, geopolitical uncertainty, and enterprise-wide transformation redefine how companies build technology and compete.

On this episode of The Reboot Chronicles, we speak with Balazs Fejes, CEO of EPAM Systems, to explore how the company transformed from a small Eastern European engineering shop into a $5.5 billion global leader in digital engineering and consulting. We unpack the leadership lessons that come from scaling through crises, the operational discipline required to build engineering organizations at global scale, and why companies that successfully industrialize AI—not just experiment with it—will define the next decade of enterprise transformation.

As AI adoption accelerates, the industry is gaining speed—but so is the challenge of separating substantive innovation from the surrounding noise. While today’s language models excel at generating text, many still fall short when the work requires scientific accuracy, computational rigor, or decisions with material business impact. That performance gap is where enterprise value—and competitive advantage—will be defined.

On this episode of The Reboot Chronicles, Dean DeBiase speaks with Andrew McLaughlin, COO of Sandbox AQ,, about what it takes to build AI systems that operate beyond conversational use cases. Their discussion focuses on AI applied to molecular modeling, post-quantum cybersecurity, advanced medical diagnostics, and resilient navigation technologies—areas where precision, verification, and real-world reliability matter as much as innovation.

At the center of the conversation is a strategic question for leaders and operators: Can AI evolve from producing fluent language to generating scientifically grounded, decision-ready insight? Andrew outlines why that shift is essential for enterprises preparing for quantum disruption, modernizing critical infrastructure, and accelerating R&D cycles.

When one of the world’s largest antimony mines went offline, the world didn’t just lose a mineral source—it exposed a geopolitical fault line. China, which controlled the mine and most of the global supply, began restricting exports as reserves tightened. Suddenly, the materials behind ammunition, advanced optics, semiconductor manufacturing, and even renewable energy systems were in question. A mineral most people had never heard of became a pressure point for national security and global industry.

On this episode of The Reboot Chronicles we sit down with someone at the center of the solution: Gary C. Evans of U.S. Antimony. We explore how antimony became a strategic flashpoint, why the U.S. is racing to rebuild domestic capacity, and how Evans is steering the company into a pivotal leadership role in the critical-minerals landscape.