The Corporate Couch: Work Stories I Only Tell My Friends

From Tornado Chasing to Strategy-First Marketing with Lori Wiles

Jeff welcomes his friend, former Sprint PCS colleague, and fractional CMO Lori Wiles (see bio below) to The Corporate Couch for a conversation about career pivots, marketing strategy, leadership, AI, and finding new energy in the next chapter. Lori’s career started in broadcast news, where she was a 10 o’clock news anchor and reporter in Garden City, Kansas. That chapter included chasing tornadoes, interviewing a self-professed witch with an FCC problem, shooting video from a helicopter during an orchestrated wheat harvest, and learning that TV lighting matters when you want viewers to know you have teeth. From there, Lori moved into marketing and became part of the early Sprint PCS adventure, where the job description was basically: “Whatever it takes to launch Sacramento by December.” She and Jeff revisit the wild startup energy of those early days, the Grand Street Café diet plan, creative briefs, brand tracking, and what it felt like to help build something big before it became corporate. Lori also shares lessons from her time at the NAIA, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City, Cerner, Lockton, and GEHA, including what she learned about culture, servant leadership, layoffs, mentorship, and knowing when it is time to move on. Today, Lori helps small and mid-sized businesses build stronger marketing foundations as a fractional CMO. Her approach is strategy-first and AI-assisted, helping companies clarify their ideal customers, positioning, messaging, and marketing priorities before they start hanging social media pictures on a wall with no basement. This is a conversation about reinvention, resilience, marketing that actually works, and the strange magic of a career that keeps giving you new classrooms. And yes, Lori and Jeff will probably still be having coffee when they are both retired, whenever that mythical event actually happens.   This episode is brought to you by... Ever wish your company updates could be less "quarterly earnings report" and more "late-night talk show"? At Pelaccio & Partners, we're revolutionizing internal communications with podcasts that employees actually want to listen to. Imagine podcast episodes that make your employees laugh while keeping them informed. Our founder, Jeff Pelaccio, doesn't just create podcasts; he creates conversations that break through the noise. Whether you're a growing startup or a massive corporation, we turn your company's story into audio gold. Leadership becomes human. Remote teams feel connected. Your message cuts through the clutter. Jeff is happy to share his insights on improving your culture, increasing employee engagement, and improving retention. You can contact him via LinkedIn or schedule a Zoom call via this link - 15-minute call with Jeff [https://calendly.com/jeffpelaccio/zoom-15-minute-call-with-jeff].   About Lori: Lori Wiles is a fractional Chief Marketing Officer, speaker, trainer, and brand strategist with experience spanning startups, nonprofits, and Fortune 100 companies. Over her career, she has helped lead major brand and product launches across organizations including Sprint, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City, Cerner, Lockton, and GEHA.  As VP of Marketing at GEHA, Lori led the team behind the naming rights launch for GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, including the organization’s sponsorship of the Kansas City Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes, helping drive major increases in brand awareness and membership growth. Today, Lori supports small businesses across multiple industries as a fractional marketing leader, with a focus on strategy-first, AI-forward marketing planning and execution. She is also a guest lecturer at the University of Kansas and a coach and trainer for Small Business Development Centers in Kansas City and northern Colorado.  A University of Kansas journalism graduate and former TV news director and anchor, Lori brings a rare mix of storytelling, strategy, leadership, and real-world marketing firepower to every room she enters.

Back on the Couch: Marketing Isn’t a Magic Wand with Dave Patrick

Dave Patrick was one of the earliest guests on The Corporate Couch, appearing way back on episode seven. More than 200 episodes later, he returns to the couch to go deeper on one of the topics that made our first conversation so memorable: why CEOs often struggle to understand marketing, and why that disconnect can lead to a lot of expensive activity that looks productive but does not actually drive the business. Dave brings the perspective of someone who has lived on both sides: iconic agency experience, CMO roles, marketing strategy, teaching MBA students, and now helping companies through Wise Strategy. We talk about: • Why CEOs confuse marketing activity with marketing strategy • The words that make CEOs nervous, starting with “brand” • The CMO trap and why companies keep looking for a magic wand • Why sales and marketing should be joined at the hip • How to work backward from the customer, the sale, or the business outcome • What Home Depot and Coca-Cola get right • How the agency world has changed since the Mad Men era • Where AI may help marketers and where it is still mostly creating beige oatmeal with keywords Dave also explains why marketers need to speak the language of the CEO: revenue, ROI, EBITDA, causality, cost, and growth. In other words, stop walking into the boardroom with fog machines and brand poetry when the CEO is asking, “How does this help us sell more?” This is a conversation about marketing that actually drives business, strategy that gets to better, and why companies are not one ad campaign away from success. And yes, we also cover Super Bowl ads, Dunkin’, JCPenney, Subway franchisees, McDonald’s chairs, movie launches, Home Depot end caps, and why the best marketers are really in the business of creating want. To learn more about Dave, please visit WizeStrategy [https://wizestrategy.com/about-us/#our-team].   This episode is brought to you by... Ever wish your company updates could be less "quarterly earnings report" and more "late-night talk show"? At Pelaccio & Partners, we're revolutionizing internal communications with podcasts that employees actually want to listen to. Imagine podcast episodes that make your employees laugh while staying informed. Our founder, Jeff Pelaccio, doesn't just create podcasts; he creates conversations that break through the noise. Whether you're a growing startup or a massive corporation, we turn your company's story into audio gold. Leadership becomes human. Remote teams feel connected. Your message cuts through the clutter. Jeff is happy to share his insights on improving your culture, increasing employee engagement, and improving retention. You can contact him via LinkedIn or schedule a Zoom call via this link - 15-minute call with Jeff [https://calendly.com/jeffpelaccio/zoom-15-minute-call-with-jeff].

Dossiers, Dragons, and the Long Game with Kendall Schoenrock

What happens when your podcast guest hands you a 15-page dossier about himself before the interview starts? You know you’re in for a different kind of conversation. Jeff recorded this episode in person at Kendall Schoenrock’s (see bio below) podcast studio in Lenexa, Kansas, where they talked about entrepreneurship, AI, family, fear, legacy, and what it means to build things that last. Kendall also hosts his own podcast, Hidden Foundations, making this part conversation, part podcast crossover, and part “two guys with microphones trying to figure out life before the coffee wears off.” Kendall’s story starts in Junction City, Kansas, where he launched a tech consulting business at 15. From there, he went to Villanova, helped build and sell a technology company, explored oversized wall graphics, took a life-shaping service trip to Peru, and eventually returned to Kansas to help grow his family’s government-focused real estate business. We talk about startup risk, getting paid to drink beer in college, AI-powered thinking tools, “boring compounding,” fatherhood, legacy, and why relationships may matter even more in the age of AI. This is a conversation about technology, entrepreneurship, family, discomfort, reinvention, and the long game of becoming a better version of yourself. And yes, we also cover Anheuser-Busch bar psychology, unused Vietnam visas, Claude, Obsidian, Villanova, and why sometimes the best business advice comes from your spouse reminding you that life is happening now.   This episode is brought to you by... Ever wish your company updates could be less "quarterly earnings report" and more "late-night talk show"? At Pelaccio & Partners, we're revolutionizing internal communications with podcasts that employees actually want to listen to. Imagine podcast episodes that make your employees laugh while keeping them informed. Our founder, Jeff Pelaccio, doesn't just create podcasts; he creates conversations that break through the noise. Whether you're a growing startup or a massive corporation, we turn your company's story into audio gold. Leadership becomes human. Remote teams feel connected. Your message cuts through the clutter. Jeff is happy to share his insights on improving your culture, increasing employee engagement, and retention. You can contact him via LinkedIn or schedule a Zoom call via this link - 15-minute call with Jeff [https://calendly.com/jeffpelaccio/zoom-15-minute-call-with-jeff].   About Kendall: Kendall Schoenrock is an operator, investor, and the host of Hidden Foundations. A Junction City, Kansas native, Kendall started his first tech consulting company at age 15 before going on to become employee #3 at TurnTide, which was later acquired by Symantec for $28 million. His career has taken him across technology, e-commerce, and real estate, including building RockPetz/Larger Than Life Prints to nearly $3 million in annual recurring revenue before selling the company in 2012. Today, Kendall leads SilverRock Ventures and Gov Leases, where his work focuses on durable real estate investments, government leases, and long-term community impact. Kendall is also deeply involved in giving back through board service, teaching, and community projects, including efforts connected to PlayJC and the Moran Center Advisory Council at Villanova. His new podcast, Hidden Foundations, explores the less visible stories, decisions, and structures that shape meaningful lives and lasting work.

Special Edition: My Bagger Vance - Golf, Habits, and Life Lessons with Ed LeBeau

In this Special Edition episode, Jeff reconnects with Ed LeBeau, founder of Heartland Golf Schools (Website [https://heartlandgolfschools.com/]) and one of the most influential teachers in Jeff’s own golf journey. Jeff first met Ed in 2003 while attending Heartland Golf School, and over the years Ed has become a bit like Jeff’s own Bagger Vance: part golf instructor, part philosopher, part calm voice on the lesson tee reminding you that maybe the problem is not your left elbow, your hips, or the seven swing thoughts currently fighting in your head. Ed shares how his background in business, logistics, sociology, and corporate life eventually led him to build a golf school focused not just on mechanics, but on behavior change. As Ed explains, golf is difficult because players are not just learning a motion. They are trying to change habits, manage expectations, and simplify a game that most people accidentally make way too complicated. We talk about: • Why most golf instruction is too focused on body parts • The difference between being “body-focused” and “club-focused” • What Ed learned from legendary instructor Manuel de la Torre • Why golfers struggle with repeatability • How unrealistic expectations quietly wreck your scorecard and your mood • Why “par” does not mean normal • How choosing the wrong tee box can make golf unfair • What business golf can teach us about rapport, humility, and leadership • The surprising parallels between golf, vision, goals, and corporate leadership Ed also shares three golf book recommendations and explains why the game can teach us more than how to hit a better shot. It can teach us how to think, how to focus, how to manage frustration, and how to stop making a hard game even harder. This is a conversation about golf, habits, business, leadership, expectations, and the beautiful madness of chasing a little white ball around a very large field. And yes, if you have ever told yourself to “keep your head down,” Ed may gently ask you to stop giving yourself terrible advice.   This episode is brought to you by... Ever wish your company updates could be less "quarterly earnings report" and more "late-night talk show"? At Pelaccio & Partners, we're revolutionizing internal communications with podcasts that employees actually want to listen to. Imagine podcast episodes that make your employees laugh while staying informed. Our founder, Jeff Pelaccio, doesn't just create podcasts; he creates conversations that break through the noise. Whether you're a growing startup or a massive corporation, we turn your company's story into audio gold. Leadership becomes human. Remote teams feel connected. Your message cuts through the clutter. Jeff is happy to share his insights on improving your culture, increasing employee engagement, and retention. You can contact him via LinkedIn or schedule a Zoom call via this link - 15-minute call with Jeff [https://calendly.com/jeffpelaccio/zoom-15-minute-call-with-jeff].

Back on the Couch: When Success Stops Working with Maki Moussavi

Maki Moussavi is back, and she officially becomes the first guest to return for a full-length episode. No pressure, Maki. Just podcast history :-) In her first conversation, Maki talked about career journeys, leadership, and the idea of success conditioning, the way high-achieving professionals are trained to chase goals, promotions, validation, and the next “big thing,” often without stopping to ask whether any of it is actually working for them. In this return episode, she goes deeper. Much deeper. Maki and Jeff talk about what happens when the corporate script stops making sense, whether it is after a layoff, a career pivot, burnout, entrepreneurship, or that sneaky little voice asking, “Why am I still doing this?” We talk about: • Why success can look impressive on the outside and still feel empty on the inside • The trap of validation-seeking and proving your value over and over again • Why getting promoted does not magically fix a broken career experience • What corporate systems reward, punish, and quietly train people to tolerate • How layoffs can force a reckoning with identity, stability, and what comes next • Why ambition is not the problem, but unconscious ambition can be • The power of asking one brutally honest question: What are you tolerating? Maki also shares why leaving corporate life is not always the glamorous “be your own boss” fantasy people sell online. Sometimes it is freeing. Sometimes it is disorienting. Sometimes it is both before lunch. This is a conversation about work, identity, ambition, burnout, self-awareness, and the uncomfortable freedom that comes when you finally stop outsourcing your definition of success. And yes, we also cover corporate vampires, universe throat punches, toxic coworkers, mediocre performers, and why asking better questions might be the first small rebellion. To learn more about Maki, please visit her website [https://www.makimoussavi.com/].   This episode is brought to you by... Ever wish your company updates could be less "quarterly earnings report" and more "late-night talk show"? At Pelaccio & Partners, we're revolutionizing internal communications with podcasts that employees actually want to listen to. Imagine podcast episodes that make your employees laugh while staying informed. Our founder, Jeff Pelaccio, doesn't just create podcasts; he creates conversations that break through the noise. Whether you're a growing startup or a massive corporation, we turn your company's story into audio gold. Leadership becomes human. Remote teams feel connected. Your message cuts through the clutter. Jeff is happy to share his insights on improving your culture, increasing employee engagement, and improving retention. You can contact him via LinkedIn or schedule a Zoom call via this link - 15-minute call with Jeff [https://calendly.com/jeffpelaccio/zoom-15-minute-call-with-jeff].