About Doug Fleener
The Daily Performance Expert
I am a sought-after retail and business advisor, coach, and keynote speaker renowned for my expertise in helping businesses and individuals achieve long-term results by maximizing single-day performance.
My concept, The Day Makes the Year, is grounded in my thirty-plus-year journey from drug addict to CEO to an international business expert. My experience has taught me to quickly remove complexity and distill organizational goals and strategies into a single-day approach for companies/employees and personal success. Read more below!
Contact Me"It was a wonderful treat to have had you come to South Africa. You have given us some simple and robust leadership tools to implement."
- Gavin B, International Jewelry Retailer
"You are an amazing speaker. I most certainly recommend you to anyone looking for a speaker who is informative, energetic, and engages the crowd.”
- Beth J, Furniture Association Director
"You were a huge hit with our folks at all your seminars. Thanks for all of your contributions and making a difference in our industry!"
- Tony E, National Association Executive
The Full Story
“What was easily the worst day ever, I would discover, was a life-changing day— the first of many.”
Most people share the things they've done and accomplished on an About page. While my experience is one of the reasons people should hire me, the fact is that my struggles and failures are a better reason. Everything I've accomplished is the outcome of what I learned in recovery and then applied to create business success. Until I was in my late 20s, I was not a good person. I wanted to be, but drug addiction and alcoholism owned me. I was a liar and a thief. When I entered someone's life, they would eventually be sorry I did.
That is until the day. The day I often talk about in my speeches. Even though it was midday, I was just waking up. That's no surprise, as I vaguely remembered a wild Super Bowl party at my house. Before I opened my eyes, I heard over a loudspeaker, "We'll be landing at Dallas-Fort Worth airport." If that wasn't startling enough, I quickly opened my eyes to discover I was in the center seat of a plane with no idea how I had gotten there!
I reached into my pocket to discover a considerable amount of cash. How did it get there? More importantly, how did I get there? I sunk deeper into my seat, trying to remember what had happened.
It all started to come back to me. Not just how I got on the plane in yet another blackout but how I ended up here, at the lowest point of my life. It was a life full of new lows. The elements of daily success are the same in recovery as they are in business. If it works for drug addicts and others in recovery, it will work for non-recovering individuals and companies. I've used this daily success approach to help so many men and women in recovery. I've also used this same approach with frontline employees.
I started my career in retail management, where it was vital to the customer experience and sales results that I have high-performing, engaged employees. Here, I first connected an employee's daily focus and success to company results.
As a director at Bose, running an organization of 1,200 people, I integrated daily employee success into the organization's fabric. At a national company, I used it as a CEO to quadruple revenue. I now speak to and work with companies worldwide to create substantially higher daily performance levels to achieve long-term results. The type of companies and audiences varies. What doesn't is how people think and act daily. What is always consistent is how The Day Makes the Year approach impacts people and results. As a matter of fact, I am writing the book on it.
If I've learned anything, better performance and more success always await us. And we can create that in a day. The day that makes the year that makes a life. I'd welcome the opportunity to work together.
What clients value most about working with Doug
A unique perspective different from other experts.
Funny, entertaining, high-energy, but most of all incredibly personal.
Casual but professional.
Challenges current thinking and approaches.
Uses personal stories and examples to connect concepts and action.
Laser focus on implementation and results.
Content rich with applicable suggestions and ideas.
Well-prepared and customized programs.
Quickly, easily implemented, and unique real world solutions.
Provides tools to use post program.
Driven to exceed their expectations.
An all-around good guy. (Okay, Doug may have added that one.)