Meet Tod Meisner

We recently connected with Tod Meisner and have shared our conversation below.

Tod , we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?

I wouldn’t say I’ve fully arrived when it comes to confidence and self-esteem—but I’ve come a long way. Growth in this area has been one of the most meaningful parts of my personal and professional journey.

In my 30s, a series of life events forced me to pause, recalibrate, and refocus on what truly mattered. That period pushed me to seek tools for self-awareness and intentional leadership. One of the most impactful experiences was taking the 100x Leadership course through Giant Worldwide, which helped me better understand who I am, how I lead, and how I can best serve others.

Through that framework, I’ve developed a deep sense of self-awareness. I practice the support and challenge model daily by encouraging growth while providing care and stability. As a proud ESFJ and natural Nurturer, I’m deeply invested in the relational health of my teams and students. I believe in leading with empathy, but also in challenging people (and myself) to stretch beyond comfort zones.

In both my classroom and corporate work, I strive to be what Giant calls a liberating leader. Someone who balances high support with high challenge. That mindset keeps me grounded, humble, and committed to helping others become the best versions of themselves.

Ultimately, my confidence today stems from living out those principles with consistency and purpose. I’m still growing, still learning, but I’m far more secure in who I am and how I lead.

If you’re interested in exploring these ideas, I highly recommend The 100x Leader and other resources from Giant Worldwide

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

Upon graduating from Illinois State University as a Mass Comm major, I began my career in sports communication/sports information at the collegiate level. My journey began in college athletics as a sports information director with stops at SMU, the Missouri Valley Conference and Conference USA.

While I made a strong impact within college athletics, I also created relationships early in my career with professional organizations. I worked for both the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys and the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks in the early 2000s and continue to work Maverick’s game day stat crew to this day.

I left the collegiate athletics space in 2010 and briefly worked for a boutique PR agency in Dallas before beginning a 5-year stint at Associa in Dallas. While there, I worked my way up to Digital Marketing Director and helped Associa launch its social media presence in 2010 and overall directed the company’s digital marketing strategy and day-to-day digital marketing execution.

I moved to Auburn, AL in 2011 and once again found myself in the agency space and served as Director of Client Leadership for Verge Pipe Media. I served higher education clients and helped them adopt and expand their usage of HubSpot, while also working to help land new clients.

This role was challenging in such a small market and after 18 months I moved once again from agency life to the client-side and began my tenure at Aflac. Working my way up through the brand and national advertising team, I concluded my term as Brand Manager. As brand manager, I developed and formulated the company’s social media key strategies and executional deliverables that supported the overall brand and national advertising strategy, core brand promise, program/campaigns and overall business objectives.

I spent my days leading and driving the company’s social media strategy. I rebuilt Aflac’s social media strategy from the ground up and grew Aflac’s connected community on its main social media channels, most recently launching the brand’s TikTok strategy in 2022.

In April 2023, I joined the Corporate Communications team at State Farm. In my role as Sr. Analyst, I’m responsible for identifying and improving the brand’s communications goals to drive business and communication efficiencies. I create detailed reports that are used to provide actionable insights to various business partners across the enterprise to make data-driven decisions and communications improvements.

In addition to my day-to-day duties for State Farm, I teach undergraduate and graduate level classes for Auburn University, Arizona State University, West Virginia University, the University of Florida, Southern Methodist University and New York University (NYU). The courses focus on social media campaigns and engagement for public relations as well as, branding, advertising, and digital marketing.

What does all that mean? Well, I cosplay as a data analyst at the moment. I’m a communicator and marketer mostly and my career has focused in those areas. But at State Farm I’m blending that expertise along with data capabilities to serve as an internal consultant for communicators. I try to help them use data and other metrics to “see the forest from the trees” in essence.

I’d say I am known for helping people and my way to relate with people. In the 5 voices assessment I test as a nurturer, which is defined as: Nurturers are champions of relationships, harmony, and values. They are self-giving, the relational oil inside teams, they delight in the success of others, and they intuit how people will react to change.

Nurturers account for almost half the population. They shy away from conflict, but can provide invaluable benefits to the team:

They intuitively feel how an organization will react to a new idea

They defend values; people will always come before profit

They function as the relational oil inside teams and organizations

They are pragmatic realists who ask — “has this really been thought through?”

They take genuine delight in celebrating the achievements of others and are natural team players.

This helps set me apart in certain cases. I have learned to use the above as my core strengths and play to them. I know what I am good at and what I am not and put myself in positions to succeed.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

When I look back, three core qualities have had the greatest impact on my personal and professional growth:

Know Yourself to Lead Yourself
Everything starts with self-awareness. The more you understand your tendencies, triggers, and strengths, the better you can lead yourself—and ultimately, others. This mindset, rooted in lessons from The 100x Leader, has been transformational for me. Leadership begins within.

Be Brilliant in the Basics
Consistency beats intensity. It’s not glamorous, but showing up day after day—doing the small things well—builds trust, discipline, and momentum. Progress will always matter more than perfection. The compounding effect of steady effort over time is what truly moves you forward.

Be Relational, Not Transactional
Relationships are the foundation of everything worth building. Whether it’s students, colleagues, or clients, approach each interaction with authenticity and curiosity—not as a means to an end. When you focus on connection over transaction, meaningful growth follows naturally.

Advice for Those Early in Their Journey
Start by investing in your own growth. Explore resources that help you understand yourself and live with intention—tools that have shaped my path include: The 100x Leader, Love People, Use Things, Everything That Remains, Radical Candor, Atomic Habits, Master of Change, and The Practice of Groundedness.

Confidence, leadership, and impact all begin the same way: with knowing yourself, showing up consistently, and choosing connection over transaction.

Awesome, really appreciate you opening up with us today and before we close maybe you can share a book recommendation with us. Has there been a book that’s been impactful in your growth and development?

Without question, The 100x Leader (and the leadership course I took alongside it) was transformational for me. It gave me a practical framework to better understand myself and how I show up as a leader, colleague, and educator.

The concept that continues to shape my growth is simple but powerful: “Know Yourself to Lead Yourself.”

That phrase carries two deep commitments:

A commitment to understand how you’re wired: To recognize the natural tendencies that stem from your personality, experiences, and environment, and to be aware of how those tendencies impact the people around you.

A commitment to change your negative tendencies: To intentionally work on the habits or patterns that limit your growth so you can become the best version of yourself, both personally and professionally.

What makes The 100x Leader so impactful is its balance of self-awareness and practical application. It doesn’t just teach leadership theory—it helps you build the kind of daily discipline and relational insight that create lasting influence.

This book (and the tools that come with it) completely reshaped how I view leadership. It reminded me that effective leadership starts with you: understanding who you are, leading yourself well, and modeling that growth for others.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.todmeisner.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/todmeisner
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/todmeisner
• Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/todmeisner