STAND OUT 50 | Leader Spotlight| Insider July

An exclusive Q&A with Stand Out 50 leader Brian Gallipeau — on AI in service, the power of Gemba, what it means to listen to understand, and why family keeps him grounded above all else.

Brian Gallipeau is SVP Americas Service at Diebold Nixdorf, a global leader in connected commerce solutions serving financial institutions and retailers around the world. As a recognized Stand Out 50 leader, Brian brings a grounded, people-first approach to service leadership — rooted in direct engagement with frontline teams, a commitment to continuous learning, and a clear-eyed view of what AI can and should do for service organizations.

We sat down with Brian to hear his perspective on the challenges shaping service today, what being recognized as a Stand Out 50 leader meant to him, and the principles that guide his leadership.

What trend or challenge is top of mind for you at the moment and why?

AI is certainly a major topic in service. How to effectively utilize it and what it means for our future is key to understand. Most importantly, how it can lead technicians to a solution faster and more consistently is where we are focused. As a secondary vector, we are looking at ways to automate background tasks that are more transactional so our support teams can focus more on engaging with our customers.

Describe what being named a Stand Out 50 leader meant to you.

I am certainly humbled by the nomination.  My ethos is simply work hard and be effective, accolades and rewards will take care of themselves.  However, receiving an award from outside of your company certainly make you feel that you are making a difference in a larger sense than just the results we look at internally every day, week and month.

Please share one tangible action you feel creates a positive culture for your team.

Engaging with our people.  Since we have our America’s service center joined to our training facility, we do lunches with our technicians to get candid feedback on how things are going and what obstacles are in their way.  We also practice Gemba by riding along with technicians at every level of our organization from CEO on down.  It is easy to think you know what is happening but it is enlightening to see it firsthand.   

Pick one: how do ensure you have time to think strategically about the future OR how do you stay motivated when you’ve hit a rough patch?

I like to read and this gives me time to reflect and apply circumstances or practices from others.   It could be service related, general business knowledge or even general life experiences. 

Name one thing you can’t live without. (could be a gadget, book, quote, daily practice, skill, event, mentor, etc. – anything that comes to mind!)

My Family!  In the end I am a father and husband above all else.  They keep me grounded and busy (LOL). 

Please share a quote or person that inspires you.

I do not know if this is from a famous person or not but I heard it from a church service.  “Listen to understand not to respond”

What’s a regular source of information/insight you find valuable? (website, magazine, podcast, event, etc.)

As I mentioned above, books are very important to me but I do also find articles on the web informative.  Strangely, as an engineer originally and maybe still, I find research articles very interesting.  The more detailed and technical the better.