GDA Podcast

Ari Weinzweig founded Zingerman’s was founded as a small corner delicatessen in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Since then, Ari has been a serial social entrepreneur lending credence to the voice of generosity.

Abi Ferrin has a passion for empowering women and has been doing so through her eponymous clothing line for 14 years. As a fashion designer, she has had a perfect platform to inspire women, and as a philanthropist she created her company to support women while dressing them.

Mike Maddock is an entrepreneur, an inventor, a writer and a keynote speaker. Mike calls himself an Idea Monkey because he loves to solve problems with disruptive ideas. This passion for problem-solving led him to establish Maddock Douglas, Inc. in 1991. Maddock Douglas has become an internationally recognized innovation agency that helps leading corporations invent and launch new products, services, and business models. It is the perfect place for Idea Monkeys and the (Ring) Leaders who keep them on track.

Juliet Funt is the founder and owner of WhiteSpace at Work, a training and consulting firm that helps organizations, their leaders and employees flip the norms of business in order to reclaim their creativity, productivity and engagement.

Michelle Gielan, a national CBS News anchor turned UPenn positive psychology researcher, is the bestselling author of Broadcasting Happiness. She is partnered with Arianna Huffington to research how transformative stories fuel success.

Dr. Jennifer Goldman-Wetzler is a recognized global leader on how to optimize organizational vitality by solving the unsolvable in organizational life. Her presentations leave audiences highly motivated and equipped with practical tools for taking action and achieving the results they desire.

Mike Rayburn’s personal, business and career mission is simple: Transform communities. Whether that community is a business audience, an association, enrollees in his “What If…?” keynote experience, impoverished people worldwide, or the lost in his hometown of Las Vegas, Mike’s daily efforts and life work are dedicated to transforming communities. Mike does this most often with his “What If…?” keynote presentations and breakouts, where he uses world-class guitar and hilarious comedy to teach the three simple, powerful tools which took him from playing empty bars, to headlining Carnegie Hall (eight times!). They work for anyone. And everyone. Always.

Diana Kander is a successful entrepreneur, having founded and sold a number of ventures; a Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Missouri; a Senior Fellow at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the largest non-profit in the world dedicated to entrepreneurship and education; & author of 'All In Startup', a New York Times Best-selling novel.

Christopher Bishop is passionate about the power of emerging technologies to deliver positive transformation at the intersection of business and culture. He is especially excited about the potential of artificial intelligence to provide solutions to problems once considered the realm of science fiction. As a futurist, David Houle has always had keen insights into how new and future technologies will affect and change society and business. His high degree of accuracy in his forecasts led him to become known as “the CEO’s Futurist” having spoken to or advised more than 3,500 CEOs and business owners during the last 10 years.

A young entrepreneur, industry pioneer and highly regarded marketing expert, as well as a man who has surpassed new heights of commercial and financial success, are just a few ways people have described Daymond John. Over the last 20 years, Daymond John (The Shark) has evolved from one of the most successful fashion icons of his generation to a highly sought-after branding expert, author, consultant, and as a speaker in business and motivational genres. In this podcast, we discuss his life, outlook, an upcoming book - "Rise and Grind HOW TO OUT-PERFORM, OUT-WORK, AND OUT-HUSTLE THE COMPETITION"

For two decades Polly LaBarre has used her writing and speaking to help make organizations more resilient, innovative and inspiring - and to embolden and equip leaders at every level to make a meaningful impact. Polly’s work is driven by three core questions: How can organizations change the way they change in order to become endlessly adaptable and gain an advantage over time? How do you embed innovation as a DNA level capability inside an organization? How do we unleash and organize human potential in ever more powerful ways? With her partners (including Gary Hamel) at the Management Lab (MLab), Polly works with leading organizations to make real progress on those ideas and accelerate the development and adoption of a post-bureaucratic, 21st century management model.

Carey Lohrenz, was the 1st Female F-14 Tomcat Fighter Pilot, flying Missions Worldwide as a Combat-Mission-Ready United States Aircraft Carrier Navy Pilot. She has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, NBC, CBS, ABC, NPR, TIME Magazine, Huffington Post, and is author of 'Fearless Leadership: High-Performance Lessons from the Flight Deck'.

The world is changing and human beings are evolving rapidly. Business-as-usual will no longer work. Raj’s inspiring and original research shows that companies rooted in higher purpose and built on love and care outperform dramatically financially while creating many kinds of value for all stakeholders, including society and the planet.

As the founder and CEO of five tech companies, Josh Linkner built his businesses from a blank page into a combined value of over $200 million. As a hyper-growth CEO of over 20 years, he’s used innovative approaches to topple competitors, fight through adversity, and achieve at the highest levels. In addition to his own startups, Linkner has been involved with the launch, growth, or financing of over 100 other companies. He has helped raise over $150 million of venture capital, and has mentored leaders and entrepreneurs through the struggles of explosive growth. He is the founding partner of Detroit Venture Partners, investing in tech startups as a platform to help rebuild his beloved hometown of Detroit, Michigan.

Lisa Ford is best known for her work in the areas of customer service. She is the author of the #1 best-selling training series, How to Give Exceptional Customer Service.

Chip Eichelberger spent five years with Tony Robbins as his international point man. Today, Chip has worked with 1,000+ clients to get them “switched on’, including: Hyatt, Harley Davidson, & Campbell Soup Company. He's a proven pro that does his homework to customize a high-energy, interactive message EVERY TIME. For booking info contact GDA Speakers at 214.420.1999 or visit gdaspeakers.com

Dr. Elizabeth Lombardo is a Licensed Practicing Psychologist with a Master’s degree in Physical Therapy and a Ph.D. in Psychology. She authored the bestselling book, "Better Than Perfect: 7 Strategies to Crush Your Inner Critic and Create a Life you Love," which helps anyone suffering from conditional self-worth or perfectionism turn down their critic’s voice, turn up their self-confidence and gain essential skills to flourish in work, health, relationships and life.

Seth Mattison is an International expert on workforce trends and generational dynamics. He is the founder and CEO of Futuresight Labs and a Strategic Partner at BridgeWorks, LLC., which allows him to advise many of the world’s leading brands and corporations on the key shifts happening around talent management, change, leadership, and the future of work.

Mike Walsh is the CEO of Tomorrow, a global consultancy on designing companies for the 21st century. He advises leaders on how to thrive in the current era of disruptive technological change. Rather than focusing on the distant future, Mike takes an anthropological approach - scanning the near horizon for emerging technologies and disruptive shifts in human behavior, and then translating these into pragmatic plans for digital transformation.

This is our second podcast with Ridgely Goldsborough. He is the co-author of the newly released Wealth Kryptonite, which sets you on the path to discovering your Wealthy Avatar and paves the way for your journey to wealth. When you understand your Avatar and can incorporate the three-pillar approach of blending emotional, financial and tax intelligence, you move from being an Average Avatar to a Wealthy Avatar. Ridgely gives a compelling message on building family wealth and provides a path to get it done. Discovering your Avatar is challenging and highly emotional.

A former CEO of three successful tech startup companies and principal at consulting firm Future Point of View, Scott Klososky specializes in seeing beyond the horizon of how technology is changing the world.

Todd Whitthorne is the President of ACAP Health, a company committed to dramatically improving the healthcare trends of individuals and employers nationally. He is a member of the American College of Sports Medicine, the International Association for Worksite Health Promotion, and Vistage International.

Greg McKeown is emerging as one of the most refreshing and transformative business thought leaders and speakers on leadership, peak performance, and business growth. He is a NYT and WSJ best-selling author of 'Essentialism', founder and CEO of THIS Inc.—a leadership and strategy design agency in Silicon Valley—and one of the most popular writers for Harvard Business Review and LinkedIn’s Influencer Group.

Lying on a bed paralyzed, with a bullet hole in his chest, Mike promised that if he survived, he would share his unique story all over the world and help as many people as he could. This is happening!

Vinh Gian is first and foremost a businessperson and entrepreneur. While in his 20s, he started an online business with two good friends; all of them had decided to leave their careers in accounting and pharmacy, to pursue their dream of building a successful business. Their online platform, Encyclopedia of Magic, now teaches magic to almost 50,000 students around the world. For this innovative and successful business idea, Vinh and his friends were awarded Young Entrepreneur of the Year.

Peter Warren Singer is Strategist and Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation, founder of NeoLuddite, a technology advisory firm, the author of multiple award-winning books, and a contributing editor at Popular Science. He has been named by the Smithsonian Institution-National Portrait Gallery as one of the 100 "leading innovators in the nation," by Defense News as one of the 100 most influential people in defense issues, by Onalytica social media data analysis as one of the ten most influential voices in the world on cybersecurity, and by Foreign Policy to their Top 100 Global Thinkers List, of the people whose ideas most influenced the world that year. Described in the Wall Street Journal as "the premier futurist in the national-security environment," Dr. Singer is considered one of the world's leading experts on changes in 21st century warfare. He has consulted for the US Military, Defense Intelligence Agency, and FBI, as well as advised a range of entertainment programs, including for Warner Brothers, Dreamworks, Universal, HBO, Discovery, History Channel, and the video game series Call of Duty, the best-selling entertainment project in history. He served as coordinator of the Obama-08 campaign's defense policy task force and was named by the President to the US Military's Transformation Advisory Group. He has provided commentary on security issues for nearly every major TV and radio outlet, including ABC, Al Jazeera, BBC, CBS, CNN, FOX, NPR, and the NBC Today Show. In addition to his work on conflict issues, Singer is a member of the State Department's Advisory Committee on International Communications and Information Policy.

Peter Warren Singer is Strategist and Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation, founder of NeoLuddite, a technology advisory firm, the author of multiple award-winning books, and a contributing editor at Popular Science. He has been named by the Smithsonian Institution-National Portrait Gallery as one of the 100 "leading innovators in the nation," by Defense News as one of the 100 most influential people in defense issues, by Onalytica social media data analysis as one of the ten most influential voices in the world on cybersecurity, and by Foreign Policy to their Top 100 Global Thinkers List, of the people whose ideas most influenced the world that year. Described in the Wall Street Journal as "the premier futurist in the national-security environment," Dr. Singer is considered one of the world's leading experts on changes in 21st century warfare. He has consulted for the US Military, Defense Intelligence Agency, and FBI, as well as advised a range of entertainment programs, including for Warner Brothers, Dreamworks, Universal, HBO, Discovery, History Channel, and the video game series Call of Duty, the best-selling entertainment project in history. He served as coordinator of the Obama-08 campaign's defense policy task force and was named by the President to the US Military's Transformation Advisory Group. He has provided commentary on security issues for nearly every major TV and radio outlet, including ABC, Al Jazeera, BBC, CBS, CNN, FOX, NPR, and the NBC Today Show. In addition to his work on conflict issues, Singer is a member of the State Department's Advisory Committee on International Communications and Information Policy.

BONUS EPISODE w/ Dave Crenshaw by GDA Speakers

Dave Crenshaw is the master of building productive leaders. He has appeared in Time magazine, USA Today, FastCompany, and the BBC News. He has written four books including The Myth of Multitasking which was published in six languages. His courses on LinkedIn Learning have received millions of views.

Anders Sorman-Nilsson is a global futurist and innovation strategist who helps leaders decode trends, decipher what’s next and turn provocative questions into proactive strategies. With an average of 240 international travel days a year, Anders’ view is that the future and the now are converging in a city or start-up near you, giving the curious, the creative and the courageous a competitive and sustainable edge. At the same time, that same future contains fearsome forecasts for futurephobes.

Market domination is about two things: grabbing market share and holding onto it despite attacks by the competition. To achieve it, you need leadership and you need weapons that give you an edge. There are however weapons that your competition has never seen. It’s time for the WHY Advantage.

Larry Winget is a five-times New York Times/Wall Street Journal bestselling author. He is a member of the International Speaker Hall Of Fame. He has starred in his own television series and appeared in national television commercials. Larry is a regular contributor on many news shows on the topics of money, personal success and business. He is the best combination of credible content as backed up with his five bestselling books and over twenty years of experience speaking to nearly 400 of the Fortune 500 companies. Larry is unique. No one does what he does from the platform. No one says what he says and no one looks like he looks. He is the trademarked Pitbull of Personal Development® and The World's Only Irritational Speaker®. He is caustic, straight-forward, hilarious and never minces words. He offers solid advice for improving your life and your business. There is no other speaker working today with these credentials.

Traci is a body language expert specializing in fraud prevention. She teaches the signs of deception that result in costly losses. She's a master of persuasion and got a deal with a Shark from Shark Tank. She'll teach your team to use these tools to increase sales up to 20%

Professor Margaret A. Neale is the Adams Distinguished Professor of Management & recipient of the Robert T. Davis Award for Lifetime Achievement at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Neale’s research focuses primarily on negotiation and team performance. Her work has extended judgment and decision-making research from cognitive psychology to the field of negotiation. In particular, she studies cognitive and social processes that produce departures from effective negotiating behavior. Within the context of teams, her work explores aspects of team composition and group process that enhance the ability of teams to share the information necessary for learning and problem-solving in both face-to-face and virtual team environments.

Kelly McDonald is a marketing and advertising specialist and considered one of the nation’s top experts in consumer trends, generational differences and leveraging the customer experience.  She is the founder of McDonald Marketing, which has twice been named one of the “Top Ad Agencies in the U.S.” by Advertising Age magazine and ranked as one of the fastest-growing independently-owned companies in the U.S. by Inc. Magazine. In this podcast, we discuss Kelly's new book: How To Work With & Lead People Not Like You

Jon Steinberg is the founder and CEO of Cheddar, a new video media company sitting at the intersection of business news and culture. He was the former COO of Buzzfeed, growing it from 15 to over 500 employees, and was named to Ad Age’s 2015 40 under 40. He currently sits on the board of Bustle and is an advisor to TheSkimm and Taboola.

Anders Sorman-Nilsson is a global futurist and innovation strategist who helps leaders decode trends, decipher what’s next and turn provocative questions into proactive strategies. With an average of 240 international travel days a year, Anders’ view is that the future and the now are converging in a city or start-up near you, giving the curious, the creative and the courageous a competitive and sustainable edge. At the same time, that same future contains fearsome forecasts for futurephobes.

Jeff Lanza was head of operations security for the Kansas City FBI and a graduate of the world renowned John E. Reid School of Interviewing and Interrogation. He is a certified FBI instructor and has trained numerous government agencies and corporate clients on how to handle the media tricks that the national television personalities such as Connie Chung and Chris Hansen used on him during his near two decades as a crisis communicator with the FBI. Jeff speaks on several timely topics, including; cyber security, terrorism, organized crime, and identity theft prevention.

During Susan Ershler's 23-year corporate career, she held a series of executive positions in the sales divisions of Fortune 500 companies; led teams to sales records, growing sales from $1 million to $600 million; and ultimately as a Vice President. Along the way, she earned 11 annual President’s Club awards – for leading teams to top performance. During that era of corporate achievement, she, and her husband Phil, were climbing the Seven Summits – the highest mountain on each of the world’s the seven continents. That remarkable journey culminated at the top of Mount Everest on May 16, 2002. With that climb, she and Phil became the first couple in history to climb the Seven Summits.

ep. 78 - Vince Poscente by GDA Speakers

Mike Abrashoff took command of USS Benfold - nearly the worst performing ship in the Navy and 12 months later it was the best ship in the fleet, using the very same crew. How? Mike changed his leadership style and the ship’s culture.

ep. 76 - Dan Raviv by GDA Speakers

Market domination is about two things: grabbing market share and holding onto it despite attacks by the competition. To achieve it, you need leadership and you need weapons that give you an edge. There are however weapons that your competition has never seen. It’s time for the WHY Advantage.

Larry Winget is a five-times New York Times/Wall Street Journal bestselling author. He is a member of the International Speaker Hall Of Fame. He has starred in his own television series and appeared in national television commercials. Larry is a regular contributor on many news shows on the topics of money, personal success and business. He is the best combination of credible content as backed up with his five bestselling books and over twenty years of experience speaking to nearly 400 of the Fortune 500 companies. Larry is unique. No one does what he does from the platform. No one says what he says and no one looks like he looks. He is the trademarked Pitbull of Personal Development® and The World's Only Irritational Speaker®. He is caustic, straight-forward, hilarious and never minces words. He offers solid advice for improving your life and your business. There is no other speaker working today with these credentials.

Dr. Joseph Michelli is an internationally sought-after public speaker, organizational consultant, and a #1 New York Times bestselling business author who has worked with and written about customer-centric organizations such as Starbucks, Zappos, UCLA Health System, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company and Mercedes-Benz USA.

ep. 72 - Greg Schwem by GDA Speakers

Dewitt Jones is one of America’s top professional photographers. A master of the platform, he combines stories from his years with NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC with his extraordinary photographs to teach both creativity and vision. Each year his words and images inspire thousands to ‘Celebrate What’s Right With the World’!

BONUS EPISODE w/ Peter Buffett by GDA Speakers

Peter Buffett has an acclaimed career that spans more than 30 years as an Emmy Award winning musician, composer, philanthropist and author. He began his career as the musical mind behind many of the early MTV bumpers of the '80s, and the climactic crescendo in the memorable "Fire Dance" scene in 1990's Oscar winning film Dances with Wolves. Peter is the co-president of the NoVo Foundation and co-chair of its Board of Directors. In partnership with his wife, Jennifer, he helps to guide NoVo’s vision, strategic mission, and program development. The NoVo Foundation focuses it's efforts in four key areas: Working sysetmically, they invest in the world's largest under-valued asset by Advancing Adolescent Girls' Rights; Ending Violence Against Girls and Women; Advancing Social and Emotional Learning; and Promoting Local Living Economies. Buffett's inspiring book, Life Is What You Make It, has been translated in over 15 languages and has sold nearly half a million copies worldwide. Described by former President Bill Clinton as "a wise and inspiring book that should be required reading for every young person seeking to find his or her place in the world" Life Is What You Make It is about following one's passions over conventions, taking up the reins of your destiny, and living life to the fullest.

BONUS EPISODE w/ Troy Hazard by GDA Speakers

ep. 69 - Troy Hazard by GDA Speakers