With Special Guest: Steve Bonar, EVP, Conklin Company

Most leaders coast once they earn the title. The ones who build lasting teams — and lasting results — never do.

In this episode, Meridith sits down with Steve Bonar, Executive Vice President of the Conklin Company, to talk about what it actually takes to lead, sell, and grow when the pace of change is relentless and uncertainty is the only constant.

Steve has spent 25 years developing entrepreneurs and leading large sales organizations inside one of the most relationship-driven industries in business. His perspective is practical, proven, and direct.

What you will take away from this conversation:

• Why "systems permit ordinary people to achieve extraordinary results" — and what that means for how you build your team

• The mindset shift that separates leaders who fold under pressure from those who drive performance through it

• Why obstacles are not blocking your road to success. They are the road.

• How to keep your people motivated and focused when uncertainty keeps escalating

• The rearview mirror principle — and why most leaders are looking in the wrong direction

If you are leading a team, building a business, or trying to find your footing in a marketplace that will not hold still, this episode delivers the strategies you need to stop managing uncertainty and start leveraging it.

Connect with Steve Bonar: conklin.com

With Special Guest: Jeannie Walters, Founder of Experience Investigators

Your competitors are not just disrupting your market. They are stealing your customers, one bad experience at a time.

In this episode, Meridith sits down with customer experience pioneer Jeannie Walters to break down why most organizations treat CX like fairy dust — and why that is costing them revenue they cannot see leaving.

Jeannie is the founder of Experience Investigators, creator of the Customer Experience Investigation Framework, and author of the new book Experience Is Everything. She has spent two decades helping organizations turn good intentions into measurable business results.

What you will take away from this conversation:

• Why customer experience is not a department — it is a discipline that lives across every function of your organization

• The three-part framework (mindset, strategy, discipline) that separates companies who talk about CX from the ones who profit from it

• Why your C-suite dashboards are hiding the real cost of poor customer experience

• How uncertainty in the marketplace is actually your window to build deeper customer loyalty — if you move first

If you lead a team, own a business, or sit in the C-suite, this episode will change how you see every customer interaction — and what it is actually worth.

Connect with Jeannie Walters: experienceinvestigators.com | LinkedIn: Jeannie Walters Experience Is Everything — available now at experienceiseverythingbook.com

With Special Guest: Jim Alling, Former President of Starbucks U.S. and COO of T-Mobile

What does it actually look like to lead through uncertainty at the highest levels of corporate America - and never lose yourself in the process? In this rare and candid episode of Ask for Change, Meridith sits down with Jim Alling, a C-suite veteran whose career spans Nestle, Starbucks, T-Mobile, and Tom's Shoes, for a masterclass in values-driven leadership. Jim shares the defining decisions that shaped his career - including walking away from a senior role at Starbucks because his son's health came first, and later leaving the coveted international president role because he was gone 35 weeks a year and losing his joy in the process.

But this episode isn't just personal - it's a playbook. Jim breaks down the servant leadership philosophy he learned from legendary Starbucks executive Howard Behar, including why the org chart should be flipped upside down, why your front-line employees are your most valuable intelligence source, and why trust always grows a business faster than protection. His advice for facing uncertainty is disarmingly direct: your attitude is the most determinant factor in your outcome. Leaders who are navigating pressure from shareholders, managing rapid change, and trying to hold onto their best people will find this conversation both grounding and actionable.