Some comeback stories are easy to celebrate because the ending is already written.
But this episode is about what leadership looks like before the win, when the revenue is gone, the future is unclear, and there’s no roadmap telling you what to do next.
In “The Comeback Nobody Saw Coming, Including Me,” we sit with a real-time leadership collapse and rebuild, one that demanded radical decisions, relentless execution, and the courage to keep going when nobody (not even the leader) was sure it would work.
Christine Hopkins joined a small supply chain company in Alaska in 2013, climbed through operations, and stepped into the CEO role in 2020, right as COVID wiped out nearly 90% of the company’s revenue.
What happened next wasn’t just survival.
Christine restructured the business, pivoted into federal contracting, and won the company’s first prime contract within two years, without prior experience in that space.
This conversation unpacks what it takes to:
- lead through collapse,
- rebuild from the ground up,
- and come out stronger when the crisis tries to write your ending.
Meet Our Host
Dr. Kim R. Grimes is an emotional literacy coach, life-changing speaker, author, and ordained minister, and the host of You Are You, Unapologetically. Her mission is to help people stop shrinking under pressure, reclaim their identity, and show up fully, without apology. Through honest conversations, practical tools, and mindset-shifting guidance, Dr. Kim empowers listeners to uncover their greatness, live abundantly, and pursue purpose with confidence. Her message is shaped by lived resilience, including a transformative season of loss and rebuilding that deepened her passion to serve others, especially young people, through faith, emotional growth, and personal development.
Why This Matters?
Most leadership stories are told in hindsight, when the dust has settled and the outcome is safe to share. But Christine’s story highlights what leadership looks like in the middle, when the money is gone, the pressure is high, and every decision feels like it carries weight for people’s livelihoods. matters because too many leaders do one of two things when everything falls apart:
- freeze, or
- abandon ship.
Christine did neither. She made hard calls, rebuilt the team’s confidence, and opened a completely new line of business with no prior track record in federal contracting. If you’re navigating a collapse in business or life, you’ll hear something here you won’t find in a leadership book.
Host Reflection: The Real You Shows Up in the Breakdown
There’s something deeply human about facing a moment when everything you’ve built seems to be falling apart. These moments strip away the title, the plan, the image, and what’s left is either the real you or the fear. Christine’s story resonates because she didn’t have a safety net or a guaranteed path forward. She had to decide what kind of leader, and what kind of person, she was going to be when it mattered most. Not the polished version. The real one.
Meet the Guest: Christine Hopkins
Christine Hopkins is the President, CEO, and Managing Owner of Advanced Supply Chain International and ASCI Federal Services, two affiliated supply chain and logistics companies headquartered in Anchorage, Alaska.
She joined ASCI in 2013, led operations for years, and became CEO in 2020, right as the pandemic erased nearly 90% of revenue. Instead of retreating, she led a full restructuring, expanded into federal contracting, and secured the company’s first prime contract within two years. Her leadership is grounded in people-centered decision-making, shared accountability, and building systems that hold under pressure.
What We Unpack in This Episode
1) The moment the revenue disappears
Christine takes us inside what it was actually like stepping into the CEO role and immediately facing a near-total revenue collapse, what was happening inside the business, and what was happening inside of her.
2) Leading the people side of the crisis
Rebuilding after that kind of hit requires decisions under pressure, often without complete information. We talk about how she led the team, especially the human side, through uncertainty.
3) The pivot into federal contracting with no track record
Federal contracting was a completely new direction. Christine breaks down why it was the right move, and what it took to win that first prime contract with no prior credibility in that space.
4) People-centered leadership under pressure
Her philosophy is centered on shared accountability and judging decisions by their impact on the people doing the work. We talk about what that looks like day-to-day, not just as a slogan.
5) The difference between survival and collapse
Looking back, we explore what separated the businesses that made it through that season from those that didn’t, and what Christine wishes she knew going in.
Key Takeaways
- Crisis doesn’t just test strategy, it tests identity.
- Leadership in collapse requires clarity without certainty.
- People-centered leadership isn’t soft, it’s the structure that keeps teams stable when pressure hits.
- A pivot can be the difference between survival and stagnation, but it requires disciplined execution.
- Your comeback may be the one nobody saw coming, including you.
Action Steps for Leaders in Their “Collapse Season”
- Name what’s true right now.
What exactly is collapsing, revenue, confidence, team stability, clarity, or direction? - Make one stabilizing decision first.
Before the big pivot, stabilize the foundation: cash flow, roles, priorities, communication cadence. - Choose the next strategic lane (and commit).
A pivot isn’t a vibe. It’s a plan: capability-building, credibility, systems, and consistent execution. - Lead people like the outcome depends on them, because it does.
Fear spreads fast. So does calm leadership. Your tone becomes the team’s temperature.