What does it take to carry on a family legacy while building your own path? In this episode, we sit down with Joe Lane, owner and operator of 12 McDonald's franchises across Kansas.

Joe's story starts in 1974, when his uncle opened the very first Lane Enterprises McDonald's in Arkansas City. Joe grew up immersed in the family business, watching it grow further when his father became an Owner/Operator in 2000. After college, Joe branched out to build his own path in the industry — and today he leads a team across 12 McDonald's locations.

In this conversation, we talk about what it's like to grow up in a family business, the lessons Joe learned from watching his father and uncle lead, and what it takes to run a large franchise operation while staying true to the values that built it. Whether you're leading a team of 5 or 500, this episode is packed with practical leadership lessons from someone who's been on the front lines for years.

Tune in to hear Joe's story of legacy, leadership, and building something of your own.

Samantha Card spent her college years as a Division I softball player before building a career that took her through an MBA and into the Fortune 100 — and today she coaches athletes through one of the hardest transitions in their lives: figuring out who they are after the game ends.

In this conversation, we talk about what it actually takes to build leaders — not just motivate them — and why so many high-performing athletes struggle to translate their skills into a professional identity once competition isn't structuring their day. We dig into working under pressure: what separates people who perform when it matters from people who fold, and how that skill is built long before the moment it's tested. We also explore the athlete-to-professional pipeline directly — the mindset shifts, the identity questions, and the practical steps that make that transition work instead of stall.

If you've ever wondered what happens when the scoreboard goes away, or how the discipline built in competition can carry into a career, this episode is for you.

What separates companies that scale from companies that stall? On this episode of Front Lines of Leadership, we sit down with Brandon Fish, Chief People Officer & Capital Strategist at VIAM, to talk about the thing too many leaders treat as an afterthought: culture.

Brandon has spent more than 20 years building the people side of high-growth organizations — Domo, Entrata, LiveView Technologies, and now VIAM — and he's seen firsthand how talent strategy and culture can make or break a company's trajectory. He was part of the leadership team that helped LVT grow from $17 million to over $200 million in revenue, a 500%+ expansion fueled as much by people decisions as by product or market timing.

We dig into what it actually looks like to build a values-driven culture at scale, why relationships are the foundation of every high-performing team, and how leaders can align people strategy with business objectives instead of treating the two as separate conversations. Brandon also opens up about the personal side of leadership — investing in marriage, family, and faith — and why the same principles that build strong organizations build strong homes.

If you're a leader trying to figure out how to grow your people alongside your business, this one's for you.