Podcast 558: Shareology-How Sharing is Powering the Human Economy with Bryan Kramer

I had the pleasure of interviewing Bryan Kramer about his newest book, “Shareology-How Sharing is Powering the Human Economy.”  In his book, Bryan talks about how to figure out what kind of sharer you are and how you can connect with others like you.  He also tells us that you need to speak “human” to become a better sharer.

Bryan Kramer is a renowned global speaker, consultant and trainer.  He is also one of the world’s foremost leaders in the art and science of sharing, with over 300,ooo social fans and followers.

Find out more about Bryan Kramer and his book “Shareology-How Sharing is Powering the Human Economy” here.  You can also follow Bryan on Twitter and Facebook.

 

Podcast 539: The Fear Free Organization with Joan Kingsley

Every organization today is attempting to get the greatest engagement and productivity from their employees.  In my recent interview with author Joan Kingsley the author of ” The Fear-Free Organization” we discuss the important characteristics required to create a fear free organization.

Leadership and trust are obviously a key characteristics that that help to build confidence in the employees, but  neuroscience shows that individuals and organizations are more successful when people are encouraged to take risks, to explore new ideas, and to channel their energies in ways that work for them.  In my interview with author Joan Kingsley we explore how to make your organization less fear driven and more fearless.

I hope you enjoy this wonderful interview with Joan Kingsley about her new book entitled ” The Fear-Free Organization”  You can learn more about Joan and the book by clicking here to be taken to her consulting organization website.

Podcast 534: Business Storytelling for Dummies with Karen Dietz

How many of you have had an opportunity to speak before a group of people and wished you could have conveyed your message in a more compelling way?  I know that this has happened to my several times, and while I have known about the impact a good storyteller can make on an audience I never felt that I was very proficient at the storytelling process.

In my interview with my friend and author Karen Dietz, we discuss her new book entitled “Business Storytelling for Dummies“.   We explore some of the mistakes that many of us make in developing our story as well as practices for organizing a great story.  So just what is a story as defined by the authors : ” A story provides packets of sensory language presented in a particular way that allows the listeners to quickly and easily internalize the material, comprehend it, and create meaning from it.”   Easier said than done, right!!

I must say that “Business Storytelling for Dummies”  is very well organized, and provides the reader with an opportunity to explore, understand and practice new skills in storytelling.   It takes the reader through a step by step process in developing their story no matter what the circumstance.  If you are interested in developing new business opportunities, working on sales and meeting presentations or improving customer service within your organization, then learning how to organize and tell a great story will improve your odds of getting your point across and with excitement, engagement and interest by your audience.

If you want to learn more about business storytelling then I would recommend that you read “Business Storytelling for Dummies” and listen to this podcast.  You can also check out Karen’s website Just Story It by clicking the link, or the Facebook page by clicking here, and Twitter by clicking here.   I hope you enjoy this great interview with author Karen Dietz about her new book “Business Storytelling for Dummies”

 

Podcast 527: Captivology: The Science of Capturing People’s Attention with Ben Parr

Have you tried to capture someone’s attention these days? Do feel like to have to set off a flair in front of their face just to get a few minutes of their focused attention? That is the way that I feel sometimes.

I am certain that in our world today many of us has a bad case of Attention Deficit Disorder, and it is not all the fault of the individuals.  Our world and the things in it that require our attention has increased exponentially.  As a matter of fact we use to speak about Moore’s Law and that the computing power would double every two years, now who know how frequently it is doubling today?

Google receives 4,000,000 searches every minute.  For more fun stats on the amount of data we deal with daily,  just click here to be directed to Data Never Sleeps 2.0 graphic and article. 

Ben Parr the author of Captivology: The Science of Capturing People’s Attention has been studying how to capture people’s attention.  He has come up with some very interesting facts, there are three types of attention-immediate, short and long term attention.  He also states that you can capture all three of these types of attention with what Ben refers to as the “seven captivation triggers.  In my interview with Ben we explore the captivation triggers and the research behind them.

I recommend that you listen to and get a copy of Ben’s book if you are in the business trying to capture the attention of your customers, or just your fellow workers.

I hope you enjoy this wonderful interview with Ben Parr on his new book “Captivology“.   You can learn more by visiting his website by clicking here, or Facebook or Twitter.

Podcast 486: Value Proposition Design with Alan Smith

You might be familiar with all the buzz around something called the “Business Model Canvas”.  There are currently three books in the series which started with “Business Model Generation” then “Business Model You” now a new book ” Value Proposition Design“.  So why the interest from the business communities in this interesting way of developing a business model.  Simply put, it is engaging, inclusive ,compelling and it works.

Authors Alex Osterwalder, Yves Pingeur, Greg Bernarda and Alan Smith are the dynamic team behind the business model canvas.  I recently had the pleasure of having a dialogue with Alex Smith the brains behind the book designs, which I might add are a big reason for the success of the books.

During our dialogue we discuss the key elements in creating a great value for customers, we also get into the steps necessary to create the value proposition canvas: Customer Profile, Value Map and Fit all  extremely important considerations in the developing a any new product design.  Alan and his colleagues refer to gain creators, and pain relievers as one of the most important elements in developing great designs.

While this all might sound simple it is daunting to create a new product, test it and know that you are creating something that is really needed and wanted by your customers.  Developing something in a vacuum is crazy,  where your perception of what will relieve your customers pains is exactly that a perception and not the reality of the situation.  Developing then testing your product is so important, I speak from experience I have developed a few products and testing is so important so you can gain feedback.

Alan and his team have recently released a cloud based software system allowing teams to collaborate on developing a business model canvases, it is called Strategyzer.  In my humble opinion I have never seen software as simple as Strategyzer, providing results in minutes.  If you work with a team and you are in the process of developing a new product or service I would highly recommend checking out this amazing new cloud based software.

I encourage you to listen closely to Alan Smith as he guides the listener to a better understanding of Business Model Canvas and Value Proposition Design.  If you want to just click on the links provided below that will take you to the related websites associated with Value Proposition Design.

Value Proposition Design

Strategyzer

Podcast 485: Lead with Humility-12 Leadership Lessons from Pope Francis with Jeffrey Krames

I am certain that the talk around the water cooler doesn’t default to leadership in this country, but I am certain that it is a topic of discussion more than we think.  It seems like everywhere we turn we see leaders falling from grace due to improprieties in their judgement and or just not doing an adequate job.  What is happening?  Is there a lack of competent leaders with great skills and strong emotional intelligence.

In my recent interview with author Jeffrey Krames we discuss his new book entitled ” Lead with Humility-12 Leadership Lessons from Pope Francis”.   What is it about the new Pope that is attracting lost Catholics back to the church, and his acceptance by the congregation at one of the highest in history.  According to Jeffrey Krames Pope Francis possess amazing leadership skills such as  1) Leading with Humility, he states that authentic humility empowers leaders like no other leadership quality.  How this translates for business leaders is never use you position of leadership for selfish reasons, and make yourself accessible to your employees.   2) Smell Like Your Flock: which means to immerse yourself deeply into whatever group you lead to aspire to lead, in a meaningful way.

I know you are going to thoroughly enjoy my interview with author Jeffrey Krames, you will also learn more about the traits and qualities that Pope Francis possess that make him one of the greatest leaders in modern history of the Catholic Church.

To learn more about Jeffrey Krames and his other books please click here to learn more, you can also learn more about the book by clicking here to be directed to the Facebook landing page.

Podcast 481: The Mindful Marketer with Lisa Nirell

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing author Lisa Nirell.  She has another new book that has just been released entitled ” The Mindful Marketer.”  

In Lisa’s new book she questions traditional marketing methodology, and provides the reader with alternative ways to implement effective marketing strategies.   Lisa states that the traditional chief marketing officers are facing extinction because of the use of big data, and how it is transforming the way we work as marketers.  She states that that modern marketing leaders are expected to be tech savvy, data driven brand ambassadors on the vanguard of change.

I appreciate Lisa’s approach to this book.  She exposes how our always-on mindset and the consistent need for speed and innovation has created an environment of mindlessness.  She states we need to stop, breathe and reflect mindfully on future opportunities and daily decisions if we are to effectively make deep meaningful connections with our customers.    Lisa recommend a “middle path”, a nexus between data-fueled, analytical thinking and creativity to a humanistic approach to marketing.

I hope you enjoy this wonderful interview with a leader in the marketing industry.  If you want to learn more about Lisa you can click here to be directed to her website.

 

Podcast 469: Capital Campaigns Strategies That Work with Andrea Kihlstedt

I have been working on a capital campaign project with a local nonprofit, and while I have done this kind of work before I wanted to reach out to the experts and get their advice and guidance.

I had the pleasure of speaking with Andrea Kihlstedt the author of “Capital Campaigns Strategies that Work.”  She has consulted and run numerous campaigns for nonprofits and with tremendous success.  In our interview together we speak about her book and the strategies that have worked for her and other so successfully.   As Andrea states capital campaigns grow out of a “big idea” and help to springboard and organization and breath life back into the donors.

If you are in the middle of a capital campaign or about to embark upon a big campaign project, then I highly recommend that you listen to the words of wisdom from author and consultant Andrea Kihlstedt.  If you want to learn more about her consulting business please click here to be directed to her website.   

Podcast 389: Practice Perfect-42 Rules for Getting Better at Getting Better with Erica Woolway

Erica WoolwayIn my interview with co-author Erika Woolway we discuss her new book entitled ” Practice Perfect-43 Rules for Getting Better at Getting Better“.  We have all heard the old adage “practice makes perfect”, and Erika and her other co-authors Doug Lemov and Katie Yezzi have studied and observed some of the best in the educational fields, authors, lawyers and surgeons in ascertaining  what makes people pros in their respective fields.

The “how to” rules are outlined in “Practice Perfect”, such as the counterintuitive rule that says: don’t concentrate on your weakness, practice what you are good at.   The authors state that effective practice requires a systematic attentiveness to participants rate of success.  “You haven’t taught it until they’ve learned it.” Coach Wooden like to say, and the best teachers test to see how much student have learned–a process called “checking for understanding”–every few seconds. They realize that lack of understanding builds on itself and get harder to fix the longer you wait, so they are always asking themselves, “Are students getting it?”

The authors borrow a term that is utilized in Dan and Chip Heath’s book entitled “Switch” and this concept is called Bright Spots.  This concept refers to the often overlooked and under-leveraged power of  what works.  It’s easy, they note to bewail what’s wrong rather than see the power of what’s right.  The authors utilize this term to remind us that in a practice setting, immense value can be realized by focusing on things participants are already good at– and making them even better.

If you are interested in learning all of the rules of getting better I encourage you to click here to be directed to the author website, or click here to watch to a wonderful Youtube video with author Doug Lemov, Erica Woolway and Katie Yezzi discussing the rules.

Enjoy this wonderful interview with co-author Erica Woolway.