With more than 250 episodes of Corporate Competitor in the archive, we’re stepping back to study the biggest themes that drive winning organizations.
On this episode of The Film Room, we hear from Lumen CEO Kate Johnson, Ritz-Carlton co-founder Horst Schulze, Perspire Sauna Studios CMO Caroline Linton, T-Mobile Executive Vice President Cameron Janes and Aflac President Virgil Miller. Each offers a different angle on the same idea: Great performance is built through intentional, repeatable process.
For Horst Schulze, process starts with a question every business ought to ask: How do I make sure I do not lose the customer? “It should be the question in any business,” Horst told me, “how to make sure I don’t lose a guest.”
That mindset changes everything. At Ritz-Carlton, the moment a guest arrives is not merely transactional. “You’re not checking them in,” Schulze explained. “You’re convincing them to want to come back in that moment.” In other words, process is not about moving people through a system. It is about shaping an experience that earns loyalty.
Virgil Miller sees it much the same way, though he says it in a more direct fashion. “People say, ‘Don’t sweat the small stuff,’” he told me. “But I say, ‘Sweat the small stuff!’”
That is not nitpicking. That is leadership.
For Miller, process improvement begins when leaders stop assuming everything is working and start experiencing it for themselves. “Have you called a call center yourself?” he asked. “Call it. Did you have to wait long? Did it answer your question? Become a customer of your own process.”
That’s what The Film Room is all about. Slowing things down. Studying what works. Learning from leaders who understand that excellence is not magic. It is built, refined and repeated.
And in business, just like in sports, that work usually happens long before anyone sees the final score.
"Don is one of the best storytellers I’ve ever met. I’ve known him for a long time and every time we talk I walk away wiser and more inspired. He is the best in the business at teaching you a skill – storytelling – that will last you a lifetime.”
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We speak the same language. I am inspired by the stories you tell, the people you have met, and the things you’ve done. Those of us that are competitors like to follow others that have been down that journey, so it is always fun talking to you!”
“Many of the leaders I have worked with were excellent athletes, and I think there is a direct correlation. You’re one of the few people that really has pursued this study, Don. Keep up the great work. What you are doing really makes a difference.”
“Don, you have mastered the skill of interviewing and asking great questions. That is a great skill all leaders need in order to understand their team members’ thought processes.”
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