How Your Favorite Movies Reveal Your Leadership Style, with Bryan Coley, REEL Experiences (North Fulton Business Radio, Episode 877)
What if your favorite films could unlock insights about your leadership, communication style, and team dynamics? Bryan Coley, founder of Reel Experiences, joins North Fulton Business Radio host John Ray to explore how the movies we love are mirrors of our personal stories and powerful tools for team connections. With a background in film and a heart for helping people feel seen, Bryan explains how he’s worked with organizations like Chick-fil-A, Coca-Cola, and Mercedes-Benz to build trust, emotional intelligence, and collaboration through curated movie experiences. He also shares how this innovative method has transformed everything from corporate cultures to personal relationships.
John Ray is the host of North Fulton Business Radio. The show is produced by John Ray and North Fulton Business Radio, LLC, an affiliate of Business RadioX®, and is recorded inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta.
Key Takeaways from this Episode
Movies as Personal Fingerprints – Your favorite films reveal your unique “story thumbprint” and core desires. No two people have identical top 10 movie lists among 6,000+ participants.
Accelerated Team Formation – Traditional team-building can take 6 months; movie-based approach achieves results in one session. Teams develop trust, vulnerability, and collaboration faster through shared movie experiences.
The Science Behind Movie Connection – Movies trigger empathy and human emotions in ways that prepare us for an AI-dominated future. Neuroscience supports the connection between storytelling, personal revelation, and team bonding.
Corporate Applications – Successfully implemented at major companies: Chick-fil-A (150+ sessions), Coca-Cola, Home Depot, Mercedes-Benz. These applications have proven to be particularly effective during organizational change, new leadership transitions, and post-layoff recovery periods. Helps executive teams articulate company brand stories and cultural values
Beyond Entertainment Value – Combines fun with deep insight, avoiding the typical choice between engagement and learning. Addresses symptoms like low engagement, team disconnection, and difficulty with change management. Works for both movie enthusiasts and non-movie people through guided app-based selection process.
Topics Discussed in this Episode
00:00 Introduction and Welcome to North Fulton Business Radio
02:09 Introducing Bryan Coley and REEL Experiences
03:27 Bryan’s Journey: From NYU to REEL Experiences
09:09 The Power of Movies in Team Building
13:22 Movies as a Tool for Self-Discovery and Team Dynamics
18:43 The Future of Movies in a Digital Age
21:29 The Magic of Communal Movie Experiences
22:32 The Birth of REEL Experiences
24:48 How REEL Experiences Works
29:04 The Fun and Insight of Team Building
33:13 Success Stories and Impact
36:40 Expanding Beyond Corporate Teams
38:34 Closing Remarks and Gratitude
Bryan Coley, Founder and CEO, REEL Experiences
A graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, Bryan Coley began his career at Turner Broadcasting, where he developed and launched the first media management system for the entertainment networks.
After 12 years at Turner, he quit and started Art Within, a non-profit arts and entertainment company, where he served as the producer and artistic director of Art Within’s resident theater company, the creative team and script development process, writer/producer showcases and symposiums, and Art Within Labs, a screenwriting fellowship. Bryan has also written and directed both plays as well as a feature film, Crackerjack, which was narrated and executive produced by Jeff Foxworthy.
The creation of REEL Experiences was a fortunate result of Bryan’s 30 years of experience in storytelling. Now, Bryan is sometimes referred to as the Movie Whisperer because of his unique ability to guide Reel participants in discovering their story through their top 10 movies. To date, REEL Experiences has served leaders and teams with over 500 experiences, with such organizations as Coca-Cola, Home Depot, Mercedes-Benz, the YMCA, CDC, PepsiCo/Frito-Lay, CarMax, Georgia-Pacific, and over 145 experiences for the Chick-fil-A support center.
Bryan lives in Marietta, GA, with his wife of 30 years and has two wonderful works of art as children, Houston and Haviland.
About North Fulton Business Radio and host John Ray
With over 870 shows and having featured over 1,300 guests, North Fulton Business Radio is the longest-running podcast in the North Fulton area, covering business in our community like no one else. We are the undisputed “Voice of Business” in North Fulton!
The show invites a diverse range of business, non-profit, and community leaders to share their significant contributions to their market, community, and profession. There’s no discrimination based on company size, and there’s never any “pay to play.” North Fulton Business Radio supports and celebrates businesses by sharing positive stories that traditional media ignore. Some media lean left. Some media lean right. We lean business.
John Ray is the host of North Fulton Business Radio. John and the team at North Fulton Business Radio, LLC, an affiliate of Business RadioX®, produce the show, and it is recorded inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta.
The studio address is 275 South Main Street, Alpharetta, GA 30009.
You can find the full archive of shows by following this link. The show is available on all the major podcast apps, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, Amazon, iHeart Radio, and many others.
John Ray also operates his own business advisory practice. John’s services include advising solopreneurs and small professional services firms on their value, their positioning and business development, and their pricing. His clients are professionals who are selling their expertise, such as consultants, coaches, attorneys, CPAs, accountants, bookkeepers, marketing professionals, and other professional services practitioners.
John is the national bestselling author of The Generosity Mindset: A Journey to Business Success by Raising Your Confidence, Value, and Prices.
JEFF THOMAS & PATRICK McNALLY
