I only got a few minutes with Ryan Leak before he went up on the Forward 2026 stage, but it turned into one of my favorite conversations of the whole event. Ryan coaches some of the top leaders and Fortune 500 companies in the country, and he got real about what it actually takes to build a team that stays, and why so many of us lose touch with our people without even realizing it.

No script, no plan, just a raw moment we caught at our exclusive VIP lunch. It was too good not to share.

🚨 BIGGEST TAKEAWAYS:

→ Why "everyone's showing up and doing the work" is exactly when you start losing your best people

→ The truth test: saying you can handle feedback vs. your face when you actually get it

→ Why you're always communicating your values, whether you mean to or not

→ The leader who fired his own sister to protect the culture

→ How a one-minute voice memo (or just saying someone's name) can change everything

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 Intro

00:52 Why your best people quietly leave

01:36 The truth test: your face vs. your words

04:00 Protecting culture no one told them to

07:38 The leader who fired his own sister

09:40 The 5-min move + honest feedback

13:27 The voice memo that makes someone's year

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