Podcast

S2 Ep 10 | Entrepreneurial Problem Solving: How Jeff Calibaba Turned Every Industry He Touched Into a Movement

Tune in to our latest episode as Jeff Calibaba, serial entrepreneur and CEO of Game Plan HR, shares a career story that most people would struggle to fit into three lifetimes. From small-town Saskatchewan to becoming the first licensed paramedic in the province, Jeff has never approached a challenge the way everyone else does.

Stop Selling. Start Solving.

The thread that runs through every chapter of Jeff’s story is entrepreneurial problem solving at its most creative. When he entered the AED market, he did not compete on price. He built the HeartSave Awareness Program, a complete solution that handled funding, liability, and public awareness for municipalities, licensed by Medtronic and taken globally. When he became CEO of a traffic sign company with 350 staff and five locations, he applied the same thinking to create the Vision Zero Advocate Institute. In both cases, the product was never the product. The solution was.

The Power of Naming Your Process

Jeff credits the Strategic Coach Program with teaching him the single most important business lesson he knows: name your process and escape the commoditization trap. When you walk in with a program, a system, a named solution, the conversation changes entirely. People stop asking about price and start asking how they can get in. Jeff currently coaches 43 CEOs through Vistage peer groups, bringing this same philosophy to every leader he works with.

Show Notes:

In this episode, Mark sits down with Jeff Calibaba, serial entrepreneur, CEO coach, and CEO of Game Plan HR. This is Part 1 of a two-part series. Jeff shares the career story behind his problem-solving philosophy, from becoming Saskatchewan’s first licensed paramedic, to building a 250,000-copy EMS reference guide, to taking an AED awareness program global with Medtronic, to leading a traffic sign company with 350 staff, to now coaching 43 CEOs through Vistage peer groups. The lesson woven through every chapter: stop competing on price and start solving every problem your customer has.

What You’ll Learn

Why entrepreneurial problem solving always beats competing on price or features
How the HeartSave Awareness Program solved three problems municipalities had and wiped out the competition
What the Strategic Coach program teaches about naming your process and escaping the commoditization trap
How the DOS worksheet (Dangers, Opportunities, Strengths) drives a 75% close rate
Why Gino Wickman (EOS) and Dan Sullivan (Strategic Coach) both credit the same philosophy
What it means to run CEO peer groups and why it matters that it is lonely at the top
How Jeff went from paramedic to book author to AED distributor to sign company CEO to CEO coach

Key Moments

00:04:15 — Jeff’s origin story: small-town Saskatchewan and his entrepreneur father
00:05:57 — Becoming Saskatchewan’s first licensed full-time paramedic
00:09:36 — The EMS Pocket Reference Guide: 14 editions, 250,000 copies sold worldwide
00:11:19 — Getting into AEDs and partnering with Medtronic
00:13:46 — The HeartSave Awareness Program: solving funding, liability, and public awareness
00:19:32 — The Vision Zero Advocate Institute and speaking to 900 people in Saudi Arabia
00:21:50 — How Jeff became CEO of a traffic sign company with 350 staff
00:23:10 — The Strategic Coach Program and Dan Sullivan as a key mentor
00:28:34 — The DOS worksheet and the 75% close rate
00:31:37 — Vistage peer groups: coaching 43 CEOs across non-competing industries
00:34:04 — How to connect with Jeff

About Jeff Calibaba

Jeff Calibaba is a serial entrepreneur, CEO coach, and the CEO of Game Plan HR. Originally from Radville, Saskatchewan, Jeff became the first licensed full-time paramedic in the province before building a career that spanned medical equipment distribution, AED awareness programs, traffic safety, and executive leadership coaching. He sold 250,000 copies of his EMS Pocket Reference Guide worldwide, took the HeartSave Awareness Program global through Medtronic, and served as CEO of a Western Canadian traffic sign company with 350 staff across five locations. Today Jeff coaches 43 CEOs through Vistage peer groups and runs Line Strategic Consulting alongside Game Plan HR. He is a long-time member of the Strategic Coach Program.

Connect with Jeff: