What happens when a military-trained leader learns that authority alone doesn't build great teams? Gabe Disbrow, President and CEO of Lever Supermarkets, shares his journey from top-down command in the military to connection-driven leadership in a 100% employee-owned company.
From Command to Connection: Leading with the Umbrella ModelIn this episode, Gabe reveals his "umbrella leadership model"—a framework for protecting your team while empowering them to take risks and grow. He also opens up about the mistakes he made early in his career (the "fixer trap"), how he navigated COVID-era burnout, and why he measures success by whether employees would bring their grandma to see where they work.
If you're an emerging leader struggling to balance speed with empowerment, or a seasoned executive rethinking what truly drives performance, this conversation will challenge how you think about accountability, failure, and what it means to lead with credibility.
What You'll Learn
- The transition challenge: Why military leadership doesn't translate directly to civilian workplaces (and what to do instead)
- The umbrella model: How to take responsibility for your team's first mistakes while building their decision-making confidence
- Behavioral baselines: The subtle art of noticing when someone's "off" and turning it into meaningful connection
- The fixer trap: Why doing everything yourself creates short-term wins but long-term organizational failure
- Crisis leadership lessons: What COVID taught Gabe about resource management, burnout, and widening your KPI lens
- The grandma test: Gabe's definition of workplace success (and it's not what you think)
- Employee ownership dynamics: How peer-to-peer accountability creates an "extra gear" most companies never access