Confessions of an Implementer

Podcast: Confessions of an Implementer
Host: Ryan Hogan (Talent Harbor)
Episode: S2E27 | Military Style Leadership: Trust And Clear Communication In Business with Chris Hallberg
Date: December 17, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode explores how military-style leadership principles—trust, commitment, healthy conflict, and clear communication—can transform business teams. Ryan Hogan interviews Chris Hallberg, a seasoned EOS implementer with a background in military police and corrections, about his journey from hard-knocks law enforcement into high-impact business coaching. They dig into how Chris uses lessons from his military experience to foster high-trust, high-performance cultures in civilian organizations, accelerate team cohesion, and build dynamic, accountable leadership.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Chris Hallberg’s Background and Path to EOS Implementation

• Early years: Grew up with a "gift of the gab", was always told talking wouldn't lead to a career (01:37).

  “My teachers said, hey Chris, no one’s ever going to like, pay you to talk all day, so just be quiet… Now I get to be, you know, an EOS implementer and a leadership team coach. And basically we talk all day.”

• Military and law enforcement: Joined the Army National Guard at 17, corrections officer at 20. Learned to handle conflict and manage tense negotiations (01:37–05:22).
• Transition to business: Used his negotiating and people skills to succeed in sales, then shifted to leadership coaching. “A tough day at the office… no big deal, we’re fine. Snow, blood on the floor, everyone’s going to be okay…” (04:30).
• Military's impact: The structure, discipline, and tangible rewards for performance provided clear frameworks that the civilian workplace often lacks (05:43–09:24).

Lessons from Military Leadership

• Craving structure and recognition: The military appealed to Chris for its order and explicit recognition of achievements. He sees business as often lacking in celebrating effort and results (05:43).
• Learning from bad leadership: Noted that most military leaders are not great, but the poor examples are as instructive as the good (08:26).

  “It’s probably three to one from bad bosses to good bosses in the military. But you get so much from those really talented leaders, and you learn what not to do from the really bad leaders.” (08:50)

• Formative responsibility: Entrusted with significant responsibility at a young age, sometimes managing people older than himself (10:53–13:44).

Core Lessons for Civilian Business

• Trust and healthy conflict: The cornerstone of high-functioning teams, borrowing heavily from Patrick Lencioni's Five Dysfunctions of a Team (00:00, 15:00).

  “Most people are taught, if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all. If we can have that healthy conflict and we can get that level of military-like commitment in the civilian business world, well, accountability is right after that.” (15:00)

• Accountability and culture fit: The importance of making hard calls—quickly identifying and liberating people who are not committed or misaligned to core values (15:00–22:56).
  • Memorable Analogy: “If we have terrorists inside your organization, actively looking like they’re activists but secretly doing things to break down those things that we’re building culture-wise—that’s a problem.” (19:43)
• Speed in team evolution: Chris pushes for rapid change, aiming for an “all-star” team within the first year of EOS implementation (20:30–22:56).

Chris’s Style: “Full Contact EOS”

• Directness and candor: Calls out poor behavior or resistance in real time about 80% of the time; sometimes, it’s better saved for a private conversation (32:44).

  “If someone is not behaving well, I’ve certainly been fired by 10am more than once… I’m not gonna watch someone abuse people or be a corporate douchebag. So yeah, I basically call out that behavior…” (32:44)

• Binary thinking and clarity: Pushes teams to make clear decisions, avoid gray areas, and set up unambiguous agreements and expectations (23:41–28:13).

  “I’m in the black and white business. Gray is the middle part, right? … You can’t scale complexity.” (24:10)

Middle Management: The “Sergeant” Layer

• Critical role of mid-level managers: Advocates for clear empowerment of managers to hire, fire, reward, and recognize—drawing on the military model of strong sergeant leadership (28:13–30:32).
• Alignment between leadership and management: Ensuring information is cascaded clearly, and avoiding missteps like surprising employees and managers at the same time with big changes (23:41, 29:03).

  “Middle managers often take broken … what the officers, the brass think is really clear, like, go do that… and then you talk to that sergeant—they’re like, none of that was discussed… It’s the accountability chart. That’s their team.” (29:03)

New Developments: The GoExpand Platform

• All-in-one, AI-powered business platform: Chris introduces goexpand.com—an EOS-compatible tech platform aggregating key tools, automating accountability and performance tracking, and using AI to streamline business operations (35:08–44:18).
  • Sandbox preview: Prospective users can test the platform in a preloaded, real-data environment.
  • Focus on metrics and transparency: Visualization tools for performance and cultural fit.

  “If you’re lucky to have a unicorn on your team, I want to build a high fence and put all the Skittles they can eat in there and keep them happy…” (41:35)

  • Payroll accountability insight:

    “The speed of payroll is if you’re a business owner… you make a mistake on the payroll, about 13 minutes later there could be three calls… But what about the return loop? Or an employee could just not do their metrics for three or four weeks and no one notices, but they would expect 100% of that paycheck.” (42:30)

What Makes a Good Client

• Ideal clients: Committed to greatness, willing to do the real work, and not afraid to face the ugly truths (46:57).

  “The more broken it is, the more challenging it is, the more I like it. So I like to take really, really rough things and make them smooth…” (46:57)

• Coaching with humor and transparency: Uses self-effacing humor and storytelling to create psychological safety around conflict, and normalizes tough conversations (47:45–49:41).

  "Humor is a great way to disarm conflict. So you gotta be self-effacing and make fun of myself… and then you can tell the story.” (47:59)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On business recognition vs. military:

  “The civilian business world is horrible at recognizing effort. And what I really liked about the military is if I put in the extra work… I was recognized and to get that little badge or to gain rank quickly. Right. And to rise, it was tangible. If I do this, I get this.” (06:33)

• On bad leadership lessons:

  “It’s probably three to one from bad bosses to good bosses in the military. But you get so much from those really talented leaders, and you learn what not to do from the really bad leaders.” (08:50)

• On conflict as healthy:

  “That’s where the greatness lives in people and companies and conversations.” (04:55)

• On team fit:

  “When we hang on to the wrong people, they lose, the team loses, the company loses, and again that person we haven’t met yet, who’s going to come here and take us to the next level… there’s no opportunity for them to come in.” (19:55)

• On candor and courage:

  “I’m not gonna watch someone abuse people or, you know, be a corporate douchebag… so yeah, I basically call out that behavior…” (33:05)

• On team speed and clarity:

  “You can’t scale complexity… The black and white stuff is just all the color, none of the color. So, like, my, my coaching style is we’re going to push to one side or the other.” (24:10)

Timestamps by Segment

• 00:00 — Introduction: Military vs. business team dysfunctions
• 01:37 — Chris’s path: Guard, law enforcement, commercial sales, and EOS implementation
• 05:22 — Why choose the military? Searching for discipline, structure, and purpose
• 09:24 — Key takeaways from military leadership
• 15:00 — Organizational commitment, trust, and accountability
• 19:43 — “Terrorists” vs. activists in workplace culture
• 22:56 — "Full contact" EOS and driving speed in team transformation
• 23:41 — Black and white thinking: Candor, clarity, and eliminating gray areas
• 28:13 — Middle management empowerment: The “sergeant” analogy
• 32:44 — Calling out issues in real time, leadership ego, root cause ownership
• 35:08 — The GoExpand platform: Features and vision
• 41:35 — Recognizing high performers
• 42:30 — The “speed of payroll” lesson
• 46:57 — What Chris looks for in an ideal client; using humor to tackle conflict

Relevant Links & How to Learn More

• Chris Hallberg’s new platform: goexpand.com
• EOS Implementer profile: usrowide.com (search for Chris Hallberg, EOS)
• Business Sergeant leadership workshops & materials: bizsgt.com

Episode Takeaway

Chris Hallberg’s military-derived leadership philosophy boils down to radical candor, clarity in expectations, and celebrating both vulnerability and healthy conflict. His approach short-circuits dysfunctional behaviors and speeds team evolution, challenging organizations to operate with integrity, courage, and mutual accountability—just as any great unit (military or business) must do to win.