{"podcast":{"title":"Lead the Team (Top 2% of Podcasts)","slug":"lead-the-team-top-2-of-podcasts-1064768","podcast_index_feed_id":1064768,"rss_url":"https://feeds.captivate.fm/leadtheteam/","website_url":"HTTPS://benfanning.com/blog","image_url":"https://artwork.captivate.fm/10af0b95-04e6-42cc-b03d-73690ea3bb8a/QKJ4Hxs4kaKpd554m1ArvK6B.jpg","author":"Ben Fanning","episode_count":465,"summary":"Real CEOs. Real Stories. Hosted by Ben Fanning—2025 Gold Stevie Award winner for Best Business Podcast and ranked in the Top 2% globally—Lead the Team draws on over 600 CEO interviews to take you inside the minds of leaders from brands like Honeywell, HP, IBM, Dunkin’, and L’Oréal. In each episode, you’ll hear raw, unfiltered stories of leading through rapid growth, high-stakes decisions, and make-or-break moments—plus the CEO-tested tools and strategies they use to build high-performing teams. From turning around billion-dollar brands to sparking innovation at scale, these leaders share lessons you can put into action right now to lead your own team better. Subscribe now. ------------- https://www.benfanning.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/benfanning/","last_synced_at":"2026-07-23T04:21:29.253817+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/lead-the-team-top-2-of-podcasts-1064768"},"episode":{"title":"BNI COO: The Networking Mistake Costing Leaders Millions (Dave Collins)","slug":"bni-coo-the-networking-mistake-costing-leaders-millions-dave-collins","published_at":"2026-06-22T19:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/lead-the-team-top-2-of-podcasts-1064768/bni-coo-the-networking-mistake-costing-leaders-millions-dave-collins","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/lead-the-team-top-2-of-podcasts-1064768","url":"http://www.benfanning.com/theceosessions/dave-collins","audio_url":"https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/5e01670e-be3a-4783-b4a4-e129892707c3.mp3","summary":"Most business leaders approach networking completely wrong—and it is costing them real revenue. They show up to events, hand out business cards, and try to sell directly to the room, wondering why nothing ever converts into sustainable growth. In this episode of Lead The Team , host Ben Fanning sits down with Dave Collins, the Chief Operating Officer of BNI. Dave oversees a staggering global network of 355,000 members across 76 countries that generated over $27 Billion in self-reported closed business over the last 12 months alone. Dave shares the exact structural behaviors and core mindset shifts required to transform casual interactions into a relentless, highly profitable referral machine. If you are relying purely on automated digital outreach or cold algorithms to scale your pipeline, this conversation will completely reframe your approach to modern leadership and business development. The \"Selling Through\" Mindset: Why you should never go to a room to sell to your network, but rather to teach them how to sell through them. The VCP Framework: A definitive breakdown of how deep Visibility leads to executive Credibility, which directly unlocks compounding Profitability. The Power of the Specific Ask: Why broad pitches fail and how targeting hyper-specific niche market seats transforms your sales pipeline. Human Networks vs. AI Disruption: Why face-to-face accountability is becoming a leader's ultimate defense against synthetic content, deep fakes, and automation fatigue. The 30-Day New City Playbook: Dave's exact operational strategy for leveraging an established network to seamlessly break into an entirely new market. [ABOUT THE GUEST] Dave Collins is the Chief Operating Officer of BNI, the world’s largest business networking and referral organization. With over 41…","meta_description":"Most business leaders approach networking completely wrong—and it is costing them real revenue. They show up to events, hand out business cards, and try t…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3010,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/lead-the-team-top-2-of-podcasts-1064768/episodes/bni-coo-the-networking-mistake-costing-leaders-millions-dave-collins/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/lead-the-team-top-2-of-podcasts-1064768/bni-coo-the-networking-mistake-costing-leaders-millions-dave-collins.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}