Most leaders spend their careers solving today's problems. Daniel Feiman believes the best leaders start somewhere entirely different—they begin with the future they want to create and work backwards from there.
Daniel Feiman, MBA, CMC®, is the Founder and Managing Director of Build It Backwards, an internationally recognized consulting and training firm specializing in strategy, leadership development, finance, and succession planning. Over the course of his career, he has advised organizations in 31 countries, taught leadership and business strategy for more than two decades, and worked with companies ranging from startups to global brands including Apple, Dell, Hilton Hotels, Mattel, and Credit Suisse. His work has helped leaders build stronger organizations by focusing not only on today's challenges, but on the systems that ensure long-term success.
In this thoughtful conversation with host Laura Ezzell, Daniel shares the defining moments that shaped his leadership philosophy—from leaving a successful banking career to build a business around serving clients differently, to navigating business failures, global consulting, and three decades of helping organizations prepare for the future. He explains why sustainable success is rarely accidental, why leadership must be intentionally developed, and why organizations that fail to plan for tomorrow often struggle today.
This episode explores the questions every founder, executive, and business owner eventually faces: How do you build a company that succeeds beyond your own leadership? What separates managers from true leaders? Why do so many organizations struggle to replace key talent? How do you make confident decisions when information is incomplete? And what kind of legacy will your leadership leave behind?
In this conversation, Daniel shares:
- Why the most successful organizations start with the future and build backwards
- The philosophy behind the Build It Backwards framework
- How proper planning creates better leadership and better business outcomes
- The difference between managing people and developing leaders
- Why succession planning is about the future of the organization—not just replacing the CEO
- How to identify and develop future leaders before you need them
- Why hiring for culture and long-term potential often matters more than hiring for technical skills alone
- The leadership lessons Daniel learned through business failures, entrepreneurship, and thirty years of consulting
- A practical decision-making framework for leading through uncertainty and crisis
- Why preparation creates confidence when pressure is highest
- How mentoring others becomes one of the greatest responsibilities of leadership
Why the leaders people remember most are the ones who leave organizations stronger than they found them
What makes this episode different is Daniel's long-term perspective. While many leadership conversations focus on growth, performance, or short-term results, Daniel challenges leaders to think decades ahead. His philosophy is built around one central idea: if you know where you're going, every decision you make today becomes more intentional. Rather than reacting to change, leaders can design organizations capable of thriving long after they are gone.
This conversation is for founders, executives, entrepreneurs, managers, and anyone responsible for leading people or building organizations. It is a conversation about leadership, resilience, succession, strategy, and creating a legacy that extends beyond individual success. Whether you're leading a startup, a growing business, or an established organization, Daniel offers a practical reminder that the strongest companies aren't built by chance—they're built with intention.
