CEOs and ABCs

About CEOs and ABCs

CEOs & ABCs is the podcast for high performers who lead at work and show up at home. Hosted by Kevin Rice, this show features candid conversations with executives, founders, and rising leaders about how they’ve advanced their careers while staying present for the moments that matter most... raising kids, building strong partnerships, and prioritizing their health. Each episode dives into executive career advice, leadership development, work-life balance, and the realities of parenting while managing demanding professional lives. Whether you’re navigating promotions, team growth, toddler tantrums, or time management, you’ll find insights and inspiration to lead with intention - both at work and at home. ️ New episodes weekly Topics: Career growth, executive mindset, parenting, burnout prevention, productivity, and more For working parents, driven professionals, and leaders building meaningful lives Subscribe now and join the journey from "boardrooms to bedtime stories."

Publisher

Kevin Rice

Category

business · kids & family

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

19 Jul 2025

Latest episode

9 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

53 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   9 Oct 2026

   Stacey Pool (Ziggi's Coffee, Vail Resorts, Noodles & Company) won't apologize for her ambition, but she won't sugar coat what it cost her either #053

   In this episode of CEOs & ABCs, Kevin sits down with Stacey Pool, Chief Growth Officer at Ziggi's Coffee and former Chief Marketing Officer at Noodles & Company, to explore what it takes to be unapologetically ambitious and still show up for the people who need you most. They get into why the question "Am I doing the very best I can in this moment?" matters just as much at the kitchen table as it does in the C-suite. Stacey started her career in IT and moved to Vail Resorts in digital product, where a CMO who believed in her handed her the Epic Pass business to learn the commercial side. A stint as chief of staff to the CEO gave her the full view of the company and set up more than nine years in senior marketing leadership. She joined Noodles & Company as CMO two months before COVID and now leads growth at Ziggi's, with her sights openly set on becoming a CEO. Through every chapter, her reason for climbing has stayed the same: she wants her legacy to be the impact she has on people. The turning point came at Vail. After a ski season where her results fell short, she received the first truly hard feedback of her career, went home, and updated her resume that same night. Twenty-four hours later she could see what had happened. The feedback had hit a core value, and the work in front of her was learning to recognize that trigger and come down from it faster. That same regulation is what she now brings home to two teenagers. As she puts it, leading people at work is no different than leading your children. They will trigger you, and what counts is how you show up during and after.Stacey is candid about what that costs. She has missed baseball games, tennis matches, and parent-teacher conferences, and she has been asked by colleagues how her family feels that she's still at the office. Kevin shares that in his years as a single father, no one ever asked him that question. Last week Stacey skipped an important strategy meeting because her daughter showed up at work needing to talk, and she'd make the same call again. This is a conversation about ambition and guilt, and about why doing the very best you can in a given season is a more honest standard than trying to be great at everything at once. In this episode, you'll learn: Why Stacey talks openly about wanting to be a CEO, and the "why" that sits underneath it How a move into chief of staff to the CEO accelerated her path into marketing leadership What happened the night she received the hardest feedback of her career, and what she did 24 hours later How to spot when feedback is hitting a core value, and how to come down from it faster Why leading a team and raising teenagers call for the same emotional regulation The double standard ambitious mothers face when they work past 5 PM The weekend boundary her family has planned vacations around for nearly two decades Top takeaways: Ask for help early. A coach at Outward Bound told Stacey she'd never grow as a leader without it, and that line reshaped how she works at the office and at home. Defensiveness points to a value. When feedback hits hard, find the core value it touched before you react. Regulation is a leadership skill in both places. Kids and teams will both test you, and the recovery is what builds trust. Own your ambition. Stacey's career took off once she stopped trying to fight who she is. About Stacey Pool: Stacey Pool is Chief Growth Officer at Ziggi's Coffee, where she leads franchise expansion and guest traffic growth. She previously served as Chief Marketing Officer at Noodles & Company and at FullSpeed Automotive, and spent more than nine years in senior marketing leadership at Vail Resorts, including running the Epic Pass business and serving as chief of staff to the CEO. She lives in Colorado with her hu...

2. 

   29 Sept 2026

   Executive Perspectives On Letting Go of Perfect #52

   In this episode of CEOs & ABCs, Kevin pulls together seven conversations with executives who learned what it costs to expect perfection from yourself at work and at home at the same time. It starts with a phrase most leaders grew up on, good is the enemy of great, and asks what happens when a high-pressure job and kids flip it around, so that chasing great becomes the thing that keeps you from being good at either.The first half is the cost. Anncy Rowe, Chief Commercial Officer at Rodan + Fields, looks back on flying red-eyes between London and Paris to be home for her son's birthday, and what she'd tell herself now. Jeff Jenkins was leading a private equity turnaround as a CMO when his five-year-old assumed Dad would just work all weekend. Cameron Herold, founder of COO Alliance, describes breaking down in an elevator and going back to work the next morning, still convinced he was fine.The second half is what changed. Jennie Magiera of Google explains how accepting that she couldn't be 100% everywhere made her better in every arena. Melissa Grady Dias, former CMO of Cadillac, trades a rigid plan for a clear outcome and one question: how much do you care? Doug Zarkin, former CMO of Pearle Vision and Take 5 Oil Change, shares the 80/20 rule he uses for creative work and for his kids. And Brent Cooke, CMO of Driven Brands, recalls the question his therapist asked about his daughter that changed how he talks to himself.Kevin closes with a challenge for the week: pick one thing at work and one thing at home where you're asking yourself to get everything right. What would actually be enough?Chapters00:00 Great can become the enemy of good01:01 Anncy Rowe: carrying every role at once03:14 Jeff Jenkins: the question from his five-year-old04:24 Cameron Herold: "In my head, I thought I was fine"05:47 Jennie Magiera: why letting go made her better at both07:40 Melissa Grady Dias: focus on the outcome, not the process09:29 Doug Zarkin: the 80/20 rule at work and at home11:09 Brent Cooke: the compassion you'd give your kids12:22 What would be enough?Full episoded features:Anncy Rowe: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anncy-rowe?utm_source=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=member_ios Jeff Jenkins: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffmjenkins?utm_source=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=member_ios Cameron Herold: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cameronherold?utm_source=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=member_ios Jennie Magiera: https://www.linkedin.com/in/magiera?utm_source=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=member_ios Melissa Grady Dias: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gradymelissa?utm_source=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=member_ios Doug Zarkin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dougzarkin?utm_source=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=member_ios Brent Cooke: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brent-cooke-mktg?utm_source=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_mediu...

3. 

   23 Sept 2026

   Amber Wendover (Ex-Microsoft & Amazon Leader) A Conversation on: The Line Between Ambition and Self-Sacrifice

   In this episode of CEOs & ABCs, Kevin sits down with Amber Wendover, Founder & President of Thinking People, to explore why capable, high-performing people keep sacrificing themselves for work long after the cost outweighs the reward, and why that pattern shows up in a boardroom exactly the same way it shows up at the dinner table.Before starting her own coaching practice, Amber held leadership roles at Microsoft and Whole Foods and was part of the team that helped launch Amazon Go. She now works with executives and leadership teams at Fortune 100 companies and startups pushing toward an IPO. The thread that connects all of it is simple: she doesn't coach from theory, she coaches from having lived the exact tradeoffs she now asks her clients to examine.Nine days before she went to the ER, Amber noticed blood in her stool and told her husband she'd make a doctor's appointment. That appointment came after a three-day business trip to San Jose, three holiday parties, and a flight to New York to deliver a keynote. She collapsed in her kitchen in front of her 17-year-old daughter before she ever made it to the doctor. The same math plays out at a smaller scale every night a parent logs back online after dinner instead of closing the laptop.Amber's most useful reframe isn't a productivity trick, it's a question: what's the cost? She asks it of every executive she coaches, and she's direct about the fact that it took her three years and a hospital visit to ask it of herself. It's the same question behind her "five is an A" exercise: rating every role in your life, from mother to HOA committee member, on a scale where a five, not a ten, is the passing grade.This is a conversation about identity, burnout, and the cost of being indispensable, and why the version of success that actually holds up at home starts with deciding what "enough" looks like before anyone else gets to weigh in.IN THIS EPISODE, YOU'LL LEARN:- Why Amber waited nine days to see a doctor after noticing a symptom she now says she can't believe she ignored- The real story behind the Amazon executive offer she turned down, and why she still keeps the framed offer letter- Why Amber asks every executive she coaches "what's the cost of this decision" before anything else- How to tell whether a 6 a.m. email response is a real emergency or a habit built on feeling needed- The "five is an A" exercise Amber uses to stop leaders from grading every role in their life against a 10- Why her 23-year-old son's approach to fitting in a workout after work is the legacy she actually wanted to leave- The five-second pause one Microsoft executive built into his pocket, literally, to interrupt a spiral before a meeting- Why Amber believes most people don't need an ER visit to reprioritize, just a clear line for their own "enough"TOP TAKEAWAYS:- Burnout doesn't always look like a collapse. Amber's was physical. Kevin's was an emotional disconnect his kids could sense long before his colleagues ever noticed anything was wrong.- "I don't have time" is usually a habit, not a fact. Amber's own 6 a.m. inbox routine was built on the feeling of being needed, not on any actual emergency.- A five out of ten is a passing grade. Amber's coaching exercise argues that chasing a ten in every role in your life is the fastest way to lose all of them.- The biggest decisions rarely come with a framework. Amber turned down a life-changing Amazon offer on instinct, and only built her "facts versus assumptions" tool for clients afterward.- Small physical rituals interrupt a spiral faster than a vacation can. One executive sewed corduroy fabric into his pocket. Amber engraved "it starts with you" onto a bracelet.ABOUT AMBE...

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Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

8 ratings

Spotify

2.3 / 5

6 ratings

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Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.