Become The Leader

About Become The Leader

Become The Leader is all about finding your pathway to the skills needed to inspire others to follow. There is a whole new generation of leaders rising up, ready to lead and inspire greatness in their teams. Join us to learn what it means to truly become the leader others want to follow.

Publisher

Jody Holland & Meghan Slaughter

Category

business · business · education

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

26 Jul 2021

Latest episode

21 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

80 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   21 Oct 2026

   42-Serve, Solve, and Thrive

   Serve, Solve, and Thrive In this episode of Become the Leader, Jody Holland is joined by Mike Grigsby, Meghan Slaughter, and Maleah Berens to explore how customer service shapes business success. Through stories from hospitality, retail, banking, healthcare, and public safety, the group shows how small moments of care can build loyalty—and how dismissive experiences can drive customers away. Key takeaways Customers are more likely to return when they feel valued as people, not treated as transactions. Remembering names, preferences, and personal details can make service feel genuine rather than scripted. A poor interaction can affect how customers view an entire organization, not just one employee or department. Complaints are useful signals: listening without defensiveness can reveal problems in policies, processes, or delivery. Customer loyalty starts with leadership and workplace culture. Employees who feel respected are better positioned to serve customers well. Stellar service gives people a reason to talk about—and return to—a business. What you’ll hear Mike’s hotel story about personalized service that inspired him to leave a positive review. Meghan’s perspective on making customers feel welcome, including a framing-store story where a customer chose the more expensive option because of the care she received. Maleah’s example of a local restaurant remembering her regular order. Jody’s contrasting banking experiences—and how a small gesture helped turn a prospective customer into a loyal one. The group’s discussion of “United Breaks Guitars” and the cost of ignoring customer concerns. Mike’s story about how respect and communication helped de-escalate a tense situation. Practical advice for creating customer loyalty, including greeting people warmly, asking thoughtful questions, and treating feedback as an opportunity to improve. Timestamps 00:00 — Introducing the customer service conversation 00:36 — Mike’s hotel story: personal attention that stood out 01:57 — Meghan on making customers feel valued 03:27 — Why small gestures, like smiling and making eye contact, matter 04:55 — Service culture and the value of treating people with respect 06:52 — Maleah’s local restaurant story about remembering a customer’s order 08:01 — Remembering names and preferences 09:01 — A frustrating banking experience and its effect on trust 10:46 — A more welcoming bank experience 12:14 — How personalized cruise service creates lasting memories 14:36 — The connection between emotional experiences and business results 15:05 — Asking better questions during a sales conversation 16:02 — Feeling cared for versus feeling dismissed in healthcare 16:38 — Handling difficult customer interactions 18:32 — How a welcoming experience earned a customer’s business 19:45 — Treating every person with the same care and respect 20:58 — The “United Breaks Guitars” story and the impact of indifference 23:23 — Why unusually bad—and unusually great—service gets talked about 25:01 — Respect and communication in a high-stakes situation 26:27 — Silent customer exits and the value of listening to complaints 28:10 — The business cost of leaving service problems unresolved 29:07 — Why leadership and employee experience influence customer service 30:34 — The guests’ best advice for building customer loyalty 32:33 — Closing thoughts on feedback, leadership, and service Guest advice Meghan: Greet people warmly, see them as individuals, and take a moment to connect before moving into the transaction. Maleah: Ask more thoughtful questions that invite people to share something meaningful. Mike: Treat customers as people with their own hopes and challenges, and recognize that they chose to do business with you. Jody: Listen to feedback, examine the underlying issue, and start with leadership when improving customer service.

2. 

   14 Oct 2026

   41-How to Retain Top Performers

   How to Retain Top Performers Become the Leader Podcast Episode Summary Why do great employees stay, and what finally pushes them to leave? Jody Holland joins Mike Grigsby, Meghan Slaughter, and Maleah Berens to explore the experiences that shape employee loyalty. Through personal stories and practical leadership insights, they examine why autonomy, appreciation, clear expectations, meaningful work, and opportunities to grow matter so much to high performers. They also discuss the hidden costs of overloading dependable employees, tolerating poor performance, and adding unnecessary workplace friction. The central message: keeping your best people requires leaders who coach, recognize, and develop them—not simply manage their output. Key Points Give top performers autonomy and room to grow. Micromanagement and artificial limits can drive talented people away. Build a culture of appreciation. Specific recognition, strong relationships, and a sense of belonging make demanding work more rewarding. Set honest, clear expectations. When roles or responsibilities change without communication, frustration and disengagement can build gradually. Stop rewarding great work with everyone else's work. Unequal workloads, weak accountability, and lack of recognition can exhaust the people you most want to keep. Protect meaningful work. Employees want to contribute to a purpose that aligns with their values, not just collect a paycheck. Reduce bureaucracy and unnecessary technology friction. Added administrative demands can drain the energy and effectiveness of strong performers. Pay attention to six psychological drivers discussed in the episode: certainty, autonomy, relationship, significance, growth, and purpose. Develop leaders who coach instead of control. The quality of day-to-day leadership shapes whether top performers thrive or start looking elsewhere. Quotable Moments "Your job as a leader is to show the compass, not a map." — Mike Grigsby "Lead with humility and spend time intentionally learning what people's work is and not just what you're paying them to do." — Maleah Berens "You want to try to make sure that they get to do their area of brilliance, not just everything you can throw at them." — Jody Holland "Lead with intention and respect because you have to earn your position just as much as they do." — Meghan Slaughter "If you ever believe that you're done learning the skills of leadership, you are going backwards." — Jody Holland The Takeaway Top performers don't simply want more work—they want meaningful work, trust, recognition, and a future worth staying for. The best retention strategy starts with leaders who keep growing themselves and create the conditions for others to do their best work. Explore leadership development resources at www.jodyholland.com.

3. 

   7 Oct 2026

   40-The Quarterly Review

   EPISODE SUMMARY Most annual plans fall apart quietly. Goals get set in January, and by November the team says it "ran out of time." Jody Holland and Meghan Slaughter explain why that happens and how a disciplined quarterly review fixes it. They cover breaking annual goals into quarterly, monthly, weekly, and daily targets, putting facts before causes, scoring every quarter on two measures, and making progress visible so the whole team stays accountable. KEY TAKEAWAYS Break the year down. Know where you need to be at the end of each quarter, month, and week. Jody says that once he started tracking revenue by the week, he hit his annual targets almost every year. Busy is not the same as productive. Celebrate the outcomes you achieved, not how hard you worked. Look at the gain before the gap. Start each review with what you accomplished and learned. Then look honestly at what you missed. Facts first, then causes. Compare what you said you'd do with what you actually did, and leave blame out of it. Then check which assumptions turned out to be wrong. Score every quarter twice. First ask whether you got the results. Then ask whether you executed the way you said you would. Executed well but missed the results = your strategy needs to change. Got the results without executing = you got lucky, and you can't count on that again. Executed well and got the results = keep doing it. Change the behavior, not the label. Ask for specific, measurable changes, like "arrive 15 minutes earlier," not "fix your personality." Keep a scoreboard. A whiteboard, paper, or a tool like Monday.com all work. If you can't see the score, you can't change your strategy at halftime. Do your 20 Mile March. Make steady progress every day in good conditions and bad. That beats bursts of effort. Make your work visible. When the team shares daily actions and wins, nobody wants to let anyone else down. Leaders set the pace. QUOTABLE MOMENTS "We didn't run out of time. We just didn't have the right priorities." – Jody "Without something measurable, you don't know if you're actually going to be successful." – Meghan "Am I really committed to getting better results this next quarter? If the answer is no, then I like my excuses better." – Jody "Celebrating our wins together gives us a reason to not let each other down." – Jody RESOURCES MENTIONED - The 12 Week Year by Brian P. Moran - The Gap and The Gain by Dan Sullivan - Good to Great and Great by Choice by Jim Collins - Monday.com, Goodreads, and Fable - Previous episode: The Habits for Success CONNECT Enjoyed the episode? Share it with a friend and leave a rating. Do you have an idea for a future show? Send it through the contact form at jodyholland.com. Become The Leader You Would Follow.

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Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

8 ratings

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