What happens when your best performer becomes a supervisor or leader?

They may be excellent at the work, but that does not automatically mean they know how to coach, manage, delegate, or develop the people around them.

In this episode of Business Growth Spotlight, Heidi Schalk sits down with Jack Shade, founder of Infinite CXO, to talk about what really happens when businesses promote high performers into leadership without giving them the tools to lead.

Jack shares a practical approach built around four leadership hats: doer, manager, leader, and coach. The goal is not to eliminate any one of these roles, but to help leaders recognize which hat they need to wear and when.

The conversation also explores why founders and executives can become bottlenecks when they stay in fix it mode, how frontline employees often hold the answers leadership needs, and why coaching should become part of the culture rather than something reserved for executives.

Jack shares a powerful client example where a company discovered that what looked like a revenue problem was actually an organizational alignment and communication problem. Employees were spending 60 to 75 percent of their time redoing work because information was not moving effectively between departments. After addressing the underlying issues, the company quadrupled revenue in two years and nearly tripled its margin.

He also explains how capturing the knowledge of high performers can transform training and processes, why mindset, skill set, and process need to be evaluated separately, and how peer to peer coaching can change relationships across an organization.

The conversation goes beyond traditional consulting and asks a bigger question: What happens when you stop telling people what to do and start helping them discover how to make the business better?

Bio:

He is the Founder of Infinite CXO, a Business Transformation Firm based in Denver, NC, that merges consulting, executive experience, and true coaching to help leaders, teams, and organizations unlock their full potential and drive sustainable growth. Since founding the firm in 2023, his team has worked alongside companies in a do-it-together model, creating strategic focus, aligning people, and building repeatable paths to lasting impact on the business and their people.

It has been said that good leaders fix problems but great leaders resolve the underlying issues that cause the problems. The Infinite Coach methodology helps leaders stay out of "Fix-it-mode" and empowers the team to resolve the underlying issues.

Beyond Infinite CXO, he is CEO of Life's Thoughts, a webapp that provides subscribers a platform to create video memories that will be shared on key dates beyond their passing. He also serves as Assistant Coach and Recruiting Coordinator for Belmont Abbey College Women's Basketball.

Rooted in service, integrity, and the belief that investing in people multiplies outcomes, he is passionate about helping leaders move from chaos to clarity and build organizations that thrive with purpose and enduring impact.

To connect with our guest, click on the links below:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackshadecxo/

Website: www.infinitecxo.com

Connect with me:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heidischalkcoaching/

Website: https://hlhgrowthsolutions.com

🎁Spotlight to Scale Blueprint: https://spotlighttoscale.com/blueprint

Why do good companies stop growing? Host Heidi Schalk talks with Craig Apatov, founder and managing partner of Ascension Growth and Innovation Strategies, a 25 year old consulting firm focused entirely on top line growth for middle market companies and divisions of global corporations.

Craig explains war gaming, where leaders study their own business through a competitor's eyes, and why growth strategies so often stall during execution. He walks through Ascension's AIMS framework (Analytics, Insight mining, Marketing optimization, Sales enablement) and shares how market research helped Midwest Can launch the Flame Shield Safety System and become the first fuel container brand to own safety. He also reveals what drives his own firm's visibility, the costly lesson of buying an email list, and his parting truth: when executives say everything is fine, it never is.

Bio:

Craig Apatov is an accomplished senior level executive with over 30 years of experience working for several of the world’s leading Fortune 100 organizations.

In 2003 after a long and decorated career of strategic marketing and business development accomplishment, he founded Ascension Growth & Innovation Strategies (management consulting) and Ascension Studios (agency) both Atlanta-based firms focused on helping companies accelerate organic growth and improve business performance.

Ascension works extensively with growth focused, middle market companies and private equity organizations in the industrial manufacturing, financial services, consumer products, business services, and healthcare industries.

Prior to starting Ascension, Apatov worked in general management, strategic marketing, and business development roles at Foote Cone & Belding Advertising, ConAgra Brands, Walt Disney, Time Warner, Citibank, General Motors, Miller Zell Retail Solutions and Mattel Toys.

He is known for his significant accomplishments in the areas of growth strategy, new product/service development, and business model transformation. Apatov served as Chief Marketing Officer in three different organizations. Among his most noted professional accomplishments were:

-The creation of $150 million in marketing partnerships for Walt Disney animated television programming

-The successful development and launch of the GMAC/Ally Bank – now the nation’s largest and most successful online financial services provider with assets over $180 billion.

-Spearheading Citigroup’s move into ecommerce with the development of the first virtual credit card, digital wallet, and online shopping portals as part of a massive project called “Click Citi”

-The development of the original go-to-market strategy for AutoTrader.com – now the world’s dominant online automotive marketplace

-At Con Agra, led the strategic reformulation and aggressive national ad campaign for Hunt’s Ketchup focused on the brand’s superior taste doubling market share vs. category leader Heinz

-Repositioning of Mattel Hot Wheels business leveraging core brand “racing” equity to expand into race sets, battery operated vehicles, and radio-controlled cars thereby doubling brand revenue

Apatov holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Florida and has done graduate work at the University of Southern California. He has lived and worked in Los Angeles, New York, Atlanta and conducted business around the globe.

He guest lectures on progressive strategic growth and advanced marketing/sales enablement topics at the undergraduate and graduate levels for Georgia State University, University of West Georgia, Georgia Tech, Kennesaw State, Emory University and the University of Georgia as well as many professional organizations. He also teaches “growth strategy” for the Herndon Directors Institute targeting minority executives in Fortune 500 firms seeking board roles.

Craig is married and lives in the Douglasville, Georgia and Chattanooga, TN. His wife is a senior executive for Paramount/CBS Television, and they have two grown children, both married.

To connect with our guest, click on the links below:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigapatov/

Website: https://ascensionstrategy.com/

Connect with me:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heidischalkcoaching/

Website: https://hlhgrowthsolutions.com

🎁Spotlight to Scale Blueprint: https://spotlighttoscale.com/blueprint

Ben Cooper, founder of Amplify, joins Heidi Schalk to talk about what really happens when a business grows beyond the point where the owner can rely on gut instinct alone.

They discuss using financial forecasting to make better growth decisions, why business owners often avoid their numbers, how AI can support financial strategy without replacing human judgment, and why growth should ultimately support the life you want to live.

Ben also shares how Amplify uses relationships, education, and practical tools like Cash Flow Mountain to help business owners see their options more clearly and move forward with confidence.

Bio:

Ben launched Amplify to give founder-led businesses a real Finance Seat — forward-looking finance without the full-time CFO price tag. He's happiest making the complex simple so others can build their business in a way they can enjoy a life of meaning.

To connect with our guest, click on the links below:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-cooper-amplify/

Website: https://amplify.business/

Connect with me:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heidischalkcoaching/

Website: https://hlhgrowthsolutions.com

🎁Spotlight to Scale Blueprint: https://spotlighttoscale.com/blueprint