Episode 60

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Published on:

1st Mar 2025

Unlocking Potential: Strategies for Effective Leadership and Team Alignment with Liz Weber

Episode 60  Frederick Dudek (Freddy D)

Unlocking Potential: Strategies for Effective Leadership and Team Alignment with Liz Weber

Today, we’ve got Liz Weber on Episode 60, and let me tell you, she’s a real heavyweight when it comes to leadership strategy and team alingment. As the CEO of Weber Business Services, she’s been helping boards and C-suite teams tackle leadership challenges like it’s a walk in the park. Liz isn’t just talking the talk; she’s recognized as one of the top global gurus in leadership, alongside some major names in the industry. In our chat, she breaks down the nuts and bolts of strategic leadership, the importance of having a clear vision, and how that translates into creating not just a thriving organization, but a powerhouse team. If you’re looking to up your game and transform your business culture, this episode is packed with insights you won’t want to miss.

Discover more with our detailed show notes and exclusive content by visiting: https://bit.ly/4knG7Ad

Kindly Consider Supporting Our Show: Support Business Superfans Podcast

In this episode, we dive into the world of leadership with Liz Weber, a recognized expert in the field. Liz’s professional journey is rich with insights that speak to the heart of what effective leadership entails. She discusses her transition from training individual employees to working closely with executive teams, a shift that illuminated the critical need for strategic vision within organizations. A key theme of our conversation revolves around the necessity of clarity in a company's goals and the empowering of team members through effective communication and shared vision. Liz articulates how organizations can become rudderless without a strong directional vision, and she offers actionable strategies to cultivate an environment where employees feel engaged and invested in the company’s success. Her practical advice on creating internal superfans—those who are not only committed but also advocates for the organization—highlights the interconnectedness of leadership, culture, and performance. This episode is a treasure trove for anyone looking to enrich their understanding of leadership dynamics and organizational success.

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Takeaways:

  • Liz Weber emphasizes the importance of having a clear vision for your organization, as it helps align the team and create a shared sense of purpose.
  • Successful businesses must clarify their strategic priorities each quarter to adapt to changing circumstances and maintain focus on their goals.
  • Creating a culture where employees feel empowered and recognized leads to higher morale and productivity, transforming them into internal superfans for the organization.
  • Effective leadership involves being available and responsive to your team, fostering open communication to better address challenges and improve project outcomes.

Links referenced in this episode:

Companies mentioned in this episode:

  • Weber Business Services
  • George Washington University
  • State Department
  • Microsoft


This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

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Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy
Transcript
Freddy D:

Today on the Business Superfans podcast, we're thrilled to welcome a true powerhouse in leadership strategy and succession planning, Liz Weber.

As the CEO of Weber Business Services, Liz has earned a reputation as a trusted advisor to boards, business owners and C suite teams, helping them navigate leadership challenges with clarity and precision.

Recognized as one of:

Get ready for an insightful conversation as Liz shares her expertise on strategic leadership, succession planning and building a thriving high performance organization. Let's dive in.

Freddy D:

Welcome Liz from Weber Business Services to the Business Superfans Podcast. How are you this morning, Liz?

Liz Weber:

I'm good, Frederick. I'm really happy to be here with you and with your listeners.

Freddy D:

Yeah, we're excited to have you. So tell us the backstory of how Weber Business Services came about.

Liz Weber:

Well, it's a long story, but I'll give you the shortened version in that I started my company 33 years ago, actually this year with the idea that I knew I always wanted to have my own company, but I didn't know what and I didn't know what product to sell.

I didn't really have any idea of what that business would be until one day I was attending one of those Frederick, you probably remember, like Fred Pryor seminars or national seminar group type seminars. And I remember sitting in that seminar and I was looking around the room and I believe the topic was something like business communications.

I don't exactly remember, but I remember sitting in the room and counting the people in the room thinking, $295, $295, $295. And at the time I was also an adjunct faculty member with George Washington University.

And as part of my job, I was a contractor with the State Department. I trained, I provided conferences, and I was a trainer in addition to being a program analyst. I knew I could teach, I knew I could train.

So the light bulb started going off that I could start a training company. So I did.

And I started the training company basically with supervisory management topics, everything from time and stress management to lean engineering.

And little by little, what happened over the years, Frederick, was my clients started asking me to provide not just one seminar, but really a series of training programs that could really help their leaders. And so what I started doing is really building sequential type training programs that were customized to my clients.

As a result of that, clients started asking me to get involved with projects and ultimately I was being asked to help them with strategic planning.

And as soon as I got into that realm of working with the executive teams, the ownership teams or the boards of directors and helping to clarify strategy for the organizations going forward, it's like everything clicked.

I was in my happy place because I was now in a situation where I was working with individuals who can actually make decisions to change policy, change, product change, the way the organization ran. And I simply liked the way that, that they operated, like the pace, I liked the way that they spoke. So I had kind of found my people.

So because of that, and as you and your listeners probably well know, when you're talking about clarifying strategic direction for an organization, as part of those conversations, invariably we start talking about, given where your organization needs to go in the future, how might it need to be reorganized, how might its product portfolio need to expand or shrink? And then the big question is, who's going to do that work?

And so I by default got into a lot of succession and workforce planning conversations, which I still do today, really helping to identify who's going to be sitting in which positions going forward and how do we make that happen? How do we map that out?

The third thing, the third thing then that happens is I got into leadership coaching and developing, kind of bringing my training background forward.

But really now I spend a lot of my time with executives, again, C suite people, business owners, board chairs, primarily in helping them identify how they can be stronger in their roles to be more effective for either their teams, the board or the company. So I do a lot of business advisory work, a lot of executive coaching, and I still do leadership seminars and workshops every now and then.

But a lot of it is in the advisory capacity.

Freddy D:

Wow, that's an incredible story of where you started and what you're doing now to really transform businesses, which is much needed because a lot of businesses just wing it and they don't understand why they can't scale because they have no plan. They're just, they're kind of like a boat, a sailboat that's just floating without any direction.

Liz Weber:

Absolutely.

But it's funny that you mentioned that because I just posted on LinkedIn about that this morning and it is honestly one of the most difficult things for my founder led business owners to do is to clarify where do you want to take this organization going forward? Do you simply want to create?

And I shouldn't say simply, but do you want to create a business that's going to be your retirement, basically going to generate enough money for you to either invest for your own retirement or, if you're able to sell it, provide enough of a payout that you can retire?

Or are you trying to build a business that will have a legacy after you leave something that you can maybe pass on to your second, third, fourth, fifth generations, or something that, if you sell it, will continue on without you and really have a life of its own? And to do that, to your point, Frederick, you've got to go into that business with an expectation of what your goal is for the business.

Do you simply want it to make enough money that you can retire? And if so, that's great.

But if you want it to be something else, that's a different level of focus and a different level of vision, which allows you, as you said, and I say with my clients, allow you to scale.

Freddy D:

Right? Yeah, because they're two different roads. Completely two different roads.

And the other thing that's important is you've got to get the team onto the same page. Because a lot of times I've experienced business owners, they have the vision, they have their ideas, but nobody else knows about their ideas.

And so you can't get everybody into the direction and the energy to achieve the goal if they don't know and if they're not part of that conversation.

Liz Weber:

Right, Absolutely. So here's an insight and a tip that I hope will help your listeners.

Because as you and I chatted briefly before we started, one of the things that I love about the idea of your podcast and creating super fans is when you have super fans, you can have a super business.

But in order to create super fans, from the perspective of the work that I do with my clients, one of the things that I'm very clear about with my clients, when we're creating a strategic plan where we're trying to get out either of the owner's head or ownership team's head or an executive team's head, where is this organization going? What do you want it to become? One of the things that we obviously spend a good bit of time talking about is the vision for the company.

Now, most people go, oh, here we go. Okay, vision, mission, whatever. Touchy feely. Frederick.

It's crucial and the analogy that I share with my clients to help them understand how crucial coming up with a clear, concise vision is, because without it, you can't create super fans. And those could be super fans who are external to the organization. And you can't create super employees. And let me explain why.

If you think of how many organizations create a vision, it's something fluffy and nebulous like, we will be an organization that, I don't know, you know, solves problems, and you're going, okay, that sounds great. I don't know what to do with that. But the analogy that I share with my clients is when you think of the word vision, a vision is an image.

It's a picture.

So when you create a vision for an organization, it has to be articulated so clearly that the individuals who hear it, who were not in that planning room debating what the vision should be, when they hear it, they can see basically the same thing in their mind's eye that you do. Now, why this is important. Here's the analogy, Frederick. What's the vision of any professional football team?

Freddy D:

Championship. Win the Super Bowl.

Liz Weber:

Win the super bowl, baby. Right. What does that look like? What does that look like? When you think of super bowl, what do you see in your mind's eye? It's the big ring.

It's a confetti. It's going to Disney World. It's all of that.

Who knows the vision of every professional football team, it's the coaches, it's the players, it's the cheerleaders, it's the people who are in front of the stats, everybody. It's the people that are providing the uniforms, it's the fans in the seats. Everybody knows what that team wants to accomplish.

And they want to be on that train going forward with that team because they understand the vision. They want to be a part of it. They want to be a part of that energy.

The same thing can happen for a company if the vision is clear enough to the people who are stakeholders, who care about it. If they get a sense of where this organization want to go and how can I be a part of it, they will jump on that train.

. His vision from:

Freddy D:

started computer industry in:

Liz Weber:

Yeah.

Freddy D:

So I was in that for a long time. But you bring up a good point, Liz. And that's I look at as having like a vision statement.

And one of the things that I came up with recently with the company was we created a vision statement, but not one of where we wanted to be. I changed it to we are that company. Well, now the mindset was we need to act like that company.

And then I got everybody in the company to understand that this is who we are. It's not what we're striving to be. We are this company and therefore we need to act like this company. And that transformed everybody's mindset.

And then basically I got everybody into the racing rowboat, you know, where you got everybody, the eight people. And you gotta be in synchronization.

Otherwise you're not going too fast or going anywhere because you're spinning around, because this person's rowing that way and that person's rowing this way. Everybody in synchronization.

And we grew that business, it was a service based business in language interpreting and translation, grew at a million dollars in a year. And we're talking small numbers, not large transactions. But that was because everybody was on the same page.

We started talking to prospective customers differently, existing customers differently, our contractors differently. And the energy just started to swell because that's who we were.

Liz Weber:

Yeah, no, that's huge.

And because of that, you change your vocabulary, you change your culture, and you change the way you feel about not only yourself, but about your colleagues. So, yeah, it has a true domino effect.

Freddy D:

Right.

And it starts creating superfans internally because you can't have external superfans until you have internal superfans to where the team needs to be. You know, this is a great place to work at. I love my job. The company treats me well.

They're telling all their friends and family members what a great job this company is. So cool that energy transcends to suppliers, to distributors, to prospective customers, to existing customers, and it just snowballs.

You look at some of the very successful companies, their team, their core team loves where they're at.

Liz Weber:

Yep. Yeah. I mean, it's the law of attraction. You know, you want to work with people who want to work with you and then have the right attitudes.

So, yeah, it's a great culture to create. And the predecessor, the foundation to all of that is in the work that I do.

It's working with the leadership team and the ownership team to make sure that what you have in place as far as policies, procedures, benefits, workplace environment, all those types of things, tools, systems, are going to support the company that you are and that you want to be so that others want to be a part of you. So it's a whole series of steps.

Freddy D:

Yep.

So share a story of how you helped transform a company that was kind of rudderless and you helped them get some Direction, get a vision, get the team on board. And what was the results of that transformation?

Liz Weber:

Sure.

So one of the examples I can share is I worked with a, with a community bank and the newly appointed president CEO had reached out to me because she had been tasked by the board of directors directors to implement performance reviews because they had hadn't had them ever and the bank's numbers were trending downward rapidly. She had taken over from a previous President CEO who had been there for 30 years and had basically been on autopilot.

And so she had been given my name. She reached out to me and asked if I would help by providing training program on how to do performance reviews.

And in my own way, I started asking questions of what's driving this, what is the issue? And as we talked, I basically said, I won't help you. And she said, why not?

And they said, because if you do a training program right now to teach managers how to do performance reviews, you will further tank morale and this whole thing's going to backfire on you. Your problem isn't that your managers need to learn how to do performance reviews so they can spike performance.

The problem you have is there is no direction for the bank. You haven't created a clear vision for where this bank needs to go and what needs to happen to turn these numbers around.

Once you create that clarity and that roadmap, then we can develop a training program for managers to not only help them understand how to do performance reviews and help staff understand what performance management is. And it's not retroactive, it's going to be forward looking.

We can do a whole series of training programs to develop the leadership skills of the team that you have and the teams you're building. But more importantly, we can change the culture of a proactive organization instead of one that has been reactive.

And so, long story short, Frederic, that's what we did. It took about five years with all the different initiatives that had to go in place. But I am so grateful to that president CEO. She understood it.

She got it right away. She went to the board and lobbied and got the board approval that we would do this.

They were skeptical, but I'm happy to say for their sake, for four years in a row, they went from being nowhere on the map to being a top 200 performing community bank in the US so it not only transformed culture internally, develop skill sets, broke down silos.

Frederick it got to a point where when I was doing some of the last work sessions I was doing with them, I would walk into the training room and people from different branch offices are sitting together, laughing and talking. That had not even been a consideration when I first started that project with them. They had been so isolated.

There had been internal cliques, there had been people that were adamant they weren't going to change how they did business because they'd been there for 20 years or 30 years. So, as you all know and you alluded to, you got to create superfans internally.

But in order to do that, you've got to help them understand why and what it is that they're actually working towards and how they actually impact that vision being a reality every day, given the work that they do. And once that happens, you can really leverage the super fans you already have externally and just exponentially grow them.

Freddy D:

Oh, absolutely. A great story, because that's exactly it. I can't really say anything different because that's what really needed to be done in that scenario.

This really, the approach that you went was the right approach because one, the results that you got. But two, you've got super fans yourself of everybody at that bank. So now they're your sales force.

Liz Weber:

Right.

Freddy D:

Talking and getting you more business for the skills that you bring to the table because you just transformed that whole bank. And for them to be one of the top 200, that's amazing.

Liz Weber:

Yeah, yeah.

Again, I give the bank president and CEO and the team that she created and how she worked with them internally the credit because she did a phenomenal job.

But she had the desire and she had the vision and she was willing to get the additional guidance and support to help walk her along the way, and it transformed the relationship she has with the board. So it was a win for everybody involved. It really was. And it was simply being open to the idea of how do we get better? How do we get better?

Freddy D:

Well, we talked about a sports team earlier, and if you think about a sports team you got in football, you've got strength training coaches, you've got the defense coach, you got offense coach, you've got receiver coach, you got quarterback coach, you got the punting coach. Same thing in baseball. So, you know, the top players have coaches.

And so it's important for businesses to sometimes get themselves out of their own way and get themselves a coach. Like the things that you provide to help them see things that they not necessarily see themselves.

Liz Weber:

Right.

Freddy D:

And then help them put together a plan because of the fact that by yourself, you're.

You can only ask yourself so many things so many times and get the same answers or different answers, and it makes even you More confused and frustrated.

Liz Weber:

Right.

Freddy D:

So you need to have somebody to bounce stuff off of the most successful businesses and the most successful individuals in the world have somebody that they can talk to.

Liz Weber:

Yeah.

It's interesting that you say that, because as you're speaking, I'm reflecting upon, and I apologize, because I cannot remember this doctor's name, but there is a TED Talk given by a surgeon, and he speaks to exactly that, Frederick.

He speaks to the fact that as a surgeon, I don't remember exactly why, but he asked a mentor or someone that he respected to observe him during one of his surgeries. And thinking, I'm going to wow him with my skills and my finesse and how well I run the operating room.

And he shares the story then that obviously, after the procedure which was successful, he and the mentor sat down and he asked for, so what do you think? Thinking he was going to get praise and glory and honor.

And the mentor said, well, it was nice, but you might want to consider this, and then you might want to try that, and you might want to do this a little bit differently. And he was shocked because this person initially he thought, has the audacity to provide feedback on how I can improve.

But then he said, luckily I started listening because he was right. I could get better.

And to exactly your point is, the challenge that, you know, many of us have is that we still have this twisted mindset that if we're getting coaching, there's something wrong with us. It's like some form of bad therapy or whatever, and somehow we need to be fixed.

Instead of looking at it as, how can I bounce ideas off of someone to get an alternative perspective, to share an outside opinion, hear from someone who is talking to a multitude of other individuals in my position that I don't have access to that I could learn from. And so it's really understanding what executive coaching or business advisory services are really all about. It's not therapy.

It's providing insights that maybe you hadn't thought of.

Freddy D:

Oh, absolutely. 100%.

Because when I was working with this interpreting and translation company, there was a business coach that I was working with, and he was my sounding board, and sometimes he was my therapist because of the fact that the company had so many challenges that sometimes I was so frustrated and I needed to just have somebody venture to. And sometimes we'd have breakfast, and he says, all right, get it off your chest.

And he just listened and goes, couldn't say anything because it was just. He just let it roll. And he goes, I feel you. You'll get through it and that was it. But I needed to just have somebody listen.

Liz Weber:

Yeah.

Freddy D:

And I was like, am I nuts? No, you're not. You are dealing with the situation.

Liz Weber:

Yeah. No, I've had the same thing and in fact it's happened a couple times with family owned businesses where and maybe you've had this experience.

But I hear and know about things before anybody else inside the company. I hear and know about things before the spouse does quite often.

It's happened a couple times where I've had some family members say if we've had a meeting and it's the leadership team, many of them are family and a family member will say so Liz, what do you know that we don't know? It's like I don't know a whole lot, but I'm not going to tell Keela.

But to your point, it's just I need an outside perspective or I need to talk to somebody who is not here. I just need an objective third party to listen and maybe tell me I'm not crazy or listen.

I've had one CEO where quite often he would call and he just needed to vent about general counsel or CFO or something like that.

And I'd just start laughing because the situations that he was dealing with at that time, it sounded like he was dealing with two 13 year olds and these are two individuals that are making well into the mid six figures and it's like dealing with two 13 year olds. And I just started laughing and he said, okay, so I'm not crazy.

Freddy D:

No, it's the same thing with the coach I was dealing with. It was this exact.

It's funny you bring up the teenagers because that's what we related to is I'm dealing with a bunch of 13 year olds that are got attitude problems and don't get along with one another because they think they're better than everybody. And it was, it was like, God, can I just put everybody in a timeout? Kind of funny.

Liz Weber:

Yep. Yeah.

Freddy D:

So what's an action item that one of our listeners can actually look and do to assess where they're at in business to help them get a direction because we're in the beginning of the year here so that they can help them plan out for 20, 25 and beyond?

Liz Weber:

You know, it's actually, it's a really good question. And so my first point would be don't make this more complicated than it needs to be.

And my second point would be get clear on what your top three priorities for your company are for Q1 and what will they be for Q2? What do you think they're going to be for Q3? And what would you like to accomplish by Q4?

The reason I say that, Frederick, is, is I am finding more often with my client base that when the exec team or the leader owner is very clear, here is what we're going to focus on. Quarter by quarter. It has made life so much easier for the rest of the company simply because things change so quickly.

We can have a strategic plan that may be 3, 4, 5, 10, 20 years into the future, which is basically a line of sight. And it's a guess, but it's a line of sight. Having a one year operational plan for most of my client base is too long of a timeline.

Again, we can have a line of sight and we will work towards it, but we've got to be very flexible.

And if we plan for at least quarter by quarter, it gives enough focus, it gives enough direction and it's just about long enough that we're able to track, implement and assess and then reassess, implement and assess. So it starts a different type of cadence for us.

Freddy D:

Oh, absolutely. That's what I did with the interpreting company. It's exactly what we did.

The thing that you also want to add into that is that when you do hit those milestones for that quarter, you want to celebrate, you want to acknowledge everybody that help make that happen. That needs to be a big event because then it gives everybody the energy that says, okay, wow, we pulled it off, team.

All right, now we know our number and our goals for the second quarter. Now everybody's already in a high five mindset that we can do this. It's just going back to sports.

You start winning some games, you want to celebrate those wins and gets the energy going. And everybody else, because you look at a sports team, the team that's having fun kicks the living butt of the other team.

The guys that are stressed out on the field and you can see it visually. Yeah, always lose.

Liz Weber:

Right. Well, and the other thing to your point also, it's you're always tracking the numbers. Human beings like to keep score.

That's one of the many reasons they like sports. Human beings like to keep score.

And the more meaningful metrics that you can track that are understood by people that can influence those numbers, the better impact you're going to have.

And so that's also something as far as a piece of advice for your listeners, is look at the metrics that you're tracking and have a really objective heart to heart conversation with Your team downstream and metric by metric identify. Is this metric really important and if so, to whom and why? How does this help our customers externally? How does this help a team member internally?

And do. Does everybody understand what makes that metric go up or down? Because identifying metrics is a challenge. It's a difficult challenge.

And a lot of people just track obvious things or quote unquote what they think are obvious things and have no real idea what it means. And the people that are working with them and for them don't know what the numbers mean.

Freddy D:

Yes, it's important. Everybody's got to be on the same page and understand where they're going. And additionally, you still need to.

I look at it as you need to recognize those individuals that helped contribute to those numbers and help those metrics become what they need to be. Because now that gives everybody else the understanding that the company appreciates the extra effort.

Because one of my quotes in my book is people will crawl through broken glass for appreciation and recognition. We don't give enough of it. I think that one of the things I talk to businesses is you need to recognize those that contributed in front of everybody.

Because now that elevates everybody else's game that says I want to be that person that gets recognized, that gets the award and everything else. Because now that metrics make sense because we're all part of it and now everybody is going in the same direction, right?

Liz Weber:

Absolutely. Absolutely.

Freddy D:

Very cool. So as we kind of come towards the end here, give another story that you can share with our audience of some of the things that you've done.

Liz Weber:

I think I'll just circle back to this idea of sharing metrics and getting clear on metrics. A group that been working with late had some big challenges in front of them as far as project work to get done.

Big revenue generating projects, big capital intensive projects. So we're talking high numbers, big dollars, multi, multi million dollar initiatives that could produce huge revenue.

The challenge they had, Frederic, was morale was really low, bad and employee retention was really low.

And, and working with them again, helping them with the strategic plan in trying to now shift things around to incorporate some of these initiatives that had come out of the blue but could not be ignored.

I talked with the CEO and he said I don't think we're going to be able to do it because a couple of these deadlines were due at the end of last calendar year in order to hit release. And he said, I don't think we're going to be able to do it if we don't we're done.

And I asked him, I said, would it be of value if I talked with every one of your leaders to find out what they need from you or what they need from this company outside of additional resources, because it's virtually impossible to find additional people. What do they need to allow them to and their teams to do the best work they can do to hit the targets to get this thing done?

And he said, do whatever you need to do, but we gotta come up with a game plan.

So I interviewed everyone on their leadership team, and time and again, Frederick, the main thing that they were asking for was give us the priorities, Give us the priorities, and then take the other things and push them off to the side and hold them off for us until we can get some of these critical things done. Because everything can't be a priority. That overarching message for clear direction, clear priorities, have our back.

And then the CEO also started meeting with every single one of his leaders every week for 10 to 30 minutes, just getting an update of how's your part of the project going? Where do you have issues coming up? What do you need from me? What do you need from anybody else that I can help wrestle for you?

Make it happen, Frederick.

That cadence of weekly meetings, of open, candid conversations, face to face, really focusing on aligned initiatives, priorities transform that organization in about seven months. They hit the targets, they hit the deadlines. Now, morale is not 180 degrees, but I would say it's about 170, 165, 170. And it was just incredible.

Just was able to be with them again last week.

The tenor in the room, the confidence of the leadership team, the depth of knowledge that is apparent with people that are not just in the C suite, but are one level and two levels down is dramatically different.

And so in that situation, we've got individuals that are not just super fans of the projects that they're leading, but they're the owners, and they take ownership of the projects that they're leading. They're no longer trying to push that responsibility up. They're actually holding onto it and wanting to carry it across the goal line themselves.

So it's been a really cool experience to observe that, to be a small part of it. But again, it goes back to what we were talking about. It's the clarity and vision. It's the clarity of priorities. It's having your team members backs.

It's listening to what they need to play their part to do their role. It's cheering them on when they need it. It's also course correcting when they're not doing what they need to be doing.

And it's being much more candid and open and honest with them.

Freddy D:

And I'm going to add one more word to that, and that's empowerment.

Liz Weber:

Yeah, absolutely.

Freddy D:

They're empowered. They're empowered to make the decisions. They're empowered to do what they need to do. Because you said the key thing, they have ownership.

Liz Weber:

Yep.

Freddy D:

And so when you have ownership of something, it changes everything.

Liz Weber:

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. It works.

Freddy D:

It works. Yep. And so that's how you start creating superfans internally and then that transcends externally.

Liz Weber:

Yeah. And again, I'll just go back to. It starts with whoever is the person or the people at the top.

They've got to get the vision of how they need to behave differently and how they need to behave differently. And it's a cool process. It's a cool process when I'm able to work with people who get it and want to do it, and we'll see it through.

Freddy D:

So this has been an excellent conversation, enjoyed our talk, A lot of great information for our listeners. Some great action items in there, and we thank you very much for being a guest on a business superfans podcast.

Liz Weber:

Well, thank you, Frederik. This has been fun. I've enjoyed talking with you.

Freddy D:

So how can people find you?

Liz Weber:

A couple ways. The easiest way is I'm on LinkedIn. Liz Weber, CMC Weber has one B.

I post regularly on LinkedIn, but also my website is W as in William, B as in boy, s as in samllc.com that's Weber Business Services, llc.com.

Freddy D:

And do you have something for our listeners?

Liz Weber:

Sure.

If your listeners are interested in leadership and interested in understanding how they might currently be leading their teams and are interested in possibly being even a better leader, they are welcome to go to my website, wbsllc.com when they get there, they will see on the top right, an orange triangle. It's a free leadership assessment, Frederick. They can go there. Click on that.

They can answer 10 questions and they'll find out which of my five stages of leadership they are currently demonstrating and which stage of leadership they might need to move to next and what skills they need to develop to do just that.

Freddy D:

Oh, that's an excellent offer. That's really helpful.

Liz Weber:

Great. I hope they take advantage.

Freddy D:

Yep. All right, Liz, thank you very much for being on the show and we definitely look forward to having you on the show down the road.

Liz Weber:

Great. Thank you so much.

Support the Business Superfans Podcast

Thank you for considering a contribution to the Business Superfans Podcast! Your generosity fuels our mission to inspire and empower entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, and business owners like you. Every dollar helps us bring on incredible guests who share not only actionable strategies for creating superfans through Total Experience (TX) but also insights to accelerate business growth and achieve sustainable success.

By supporting our show, you’re not just helping us produce meaningful content—you’re investing in a community-driven to thrive. Your contribution enables us to continue delivering impactful episodes packed with tools and inspiration for building businesses that flourish.

Together, we’re transforming challenges into opportunities, sparking innovation, and creating a network of superfans championing your success. We’re incredibly grateful for your generosity and excited to have you with us on this journey.

Thank you for helping us make a lasting impact. Your support means everything! 💡✨

L. Frederick Dudek (Freddy D)
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About the Podcast

Business Superfans Podcast
Struggling to grow your business? Attract the right employees, customers, and partners—then turn them into superfans with the BSA³ System™ (Attract, Advocate, Accelerate) to fuel brand advocacy, boost referrals, scale faster with proven strategies and AI!
Business Superfans® Podcast: Turn Stakeholders into Raving Advocates & Scale Faster

Are you ready to attract the right people, turn them into passionate superfans, and accelerate your business growth? Welcome to the Business Superfans® Podcast, where we reveal how to build a thriving brand fueled by loyalty, advocacy, and AI-powered engagement using the BSA³ System™—Attract, Advocate, Accelerate.

Why Listen?

Most businesses focus only on customers or employees—we go further. We help you turn EVERY stakeholder (leaders, employees, contractors, customers, suppliers, distributors, complimentary partners, and ancillary businesses) into superfans who drive long-term growth.

What You’ll Learn:

🎯 Attract – Proven Superfan Strategies to magnetize the right stakeholders.
📢 Advocate – Turn stakeholders into loyal brand champions who spread the word.
🚀 Accelerate – AI-powered automation, time-tested business growth strategies, and the Superfan effect to amplify results and scale faster.
📈 AI & SaaS Tools for Growth – Leverage cutting-edge technology for stakeholder engagement.
🔥 Real-World Success Stories – Learn from top business leaders, disruptors, and game-changers.
🧠 The Psychology of Advocacy – Master influence, trust-building, and long-term loyalty.

Meet Your Host: Freddy D

🎙️ Hosted by Frederick Dudek (aka Freddy D), an international sales and marketing leader, keynote speaker, and bestselling author of Creating Business Superfans®. With 35+ years of experience, he has successfully sold to industry giants like Bosch, Ingersoll Rand, Banner Health, and the State of Arizona, while also navigating global SaaS distribution channels to drive scalable growth.

👉 If you love podcasts like EOFIRE (Entrepreneurs on Fire), Smart Passive Income (SPI), James Schramko’s SuperFastBusiness, Dan Martell’s SaaS Academy, and GaryVee’s Marketing Strategies, you’ll find actionable insights here to build a brand that people don’t just buy from—they believe in.

🔊 Subscribe now and start transforming everyday connections into lifelong superfans who fuel your unstoppable business momentum!
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About your host

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Frederick Dudek

Frederick Dudek, author of the book "Creating Business Superfans," and host of the Business Superfans Podcast. He is an accomplished sales and marketing executive with over 30 years of experience in achieving remarkable sales performance results in global business markets. With a successful track record in the software-as-a-service industry and others. Frederick brings expertise and insight to help businesses thrive., he shares invaluable knowledge and strategies to create brand advocates, which he calls business superfans, who propel organizations toward long-term success.


Born in rural France, Frederick spent summers on his grandfather’s vineyard in France, where he developed a love for French wine. As a youth, he showed a strong aptitude for engineering and competed in drafting and design competitions. After winning numerous engineering awards, he became a draftsman working on numerous automotive projects. He was selected to design the spot weld guns for the 1982 Ford Escort car. That led to Frederick joining the emerging computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) industry, in which he quickly climbed the ranks.

While working for a CAD/CAM company as an application engineer, an opportunity presented itself that enabled Frederick to transition into sales. It was the right decision, and he never looked back. In the thirty-plus years Frederick has been selling, he has earned a reputation as the go-to guy for small companies that want to expand their business domestically or internationally. This role has allowed him to travel to over thirty countries and counting. When abroad, Frederick’s favorite pastime is to go exploring for hours, not to mention enjoying some of the local cuisine and fine wines.

Frederick is a former runner and athlete. Today, you can find him hiking various trails with his significant other, Kiley Kaplan. When not writing, selling, speaking, or exploring, he is cooking or building things. The next thing on Frederick’s bucket list is learning to sail and to continue the exploration of countries and their unique cultures.