Leadership: Superpowered

Caleb Gardner is the CEO and Founder of a consulting group, 18 Coffees. He is also the author of a new book, "No Point B". The book touches base on a lot of the work Caleb has been doing in his career, over the last 10 years, including political organizing with President Obama and having run part of his digital infrastructure in the 2nd administration. In this podcast Caleb and Mike discuss many different topics related to things like the importance of building a more connected work culture in this new and ever-changing hybrid world. They also blend their ideas together regarding growth mindset, fixed mindset and the effectiveness of employee engagement and constant communication. This podcast is a great one to start the new year with; "If you believe you can change, anything is possible".Michael LaVista is the CEO and Founder of Caxy Interactive, a custom software development company in Chicago. Caxy helps companies double in half the time they could on their own by creating custom software. He is also a guitar player, singer and songwriter. His book, Superpowered: 7 Leadership Superpowers Technology Executives Can Use to Grow a More Engaged, Tech-driven and Profitable Organization, is available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Superpowered-Essential-Leadership-Technology-Executives/dp/1735504904https://www.caxy.com

Stephen Kohler is the Founder and CEO of Audira Labs LLC, a boutique leadership development firm offering one-on-one coaching and team development, but with a bit of a twist, by using music as a lens. Stephen is also a lifelong musician who started playing the trumpet and later discovered electric guitar. He is now also a singer and songwriter, even featuring a newly released album. In this podcast, Stephen and Mike discuss all the skills & traits used in both music and business and how Audira is helping business leaders become more present in this incredibly "noisy" world.Michael LaVista is the CEO and Founder of Caxy Interactive, a custom software development company in Chicago. Caxy helps companies double in half the time they could on their own by creating custom software. He is also a guitar player, singer and songwriter. His new book, Superpowered: 7 Leadership Superpowers Technology Executives Can Use to Grow a More Engaged, Tech-driven and Profitable Organization, is available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Superpowered-Essential-Leadership-Technology-Executives/dp/1735504904https://www.caxy.com

Ted Novak is the CEO and Managing Partner of Clique Studios, a digital transformation business helping organizations going through a change or looking for inspiration to help them grow. Here we discuss Ted's love of music and how he's even learned to make his own instruments! He also explains how teamwork, hard work and dedication go hand in hand in both business and music playing. In this video Ted shows us his custom and handmade bass guitar which he made from a tree that had to be removed from his parent's yard.Michael LaVista is the CEO and Founder of Caxy Interactive, a custom software development company in Chicago. Caxy helps companies double in half the time they could on their own by creating custom software. He is also a guitar player, singer and songwriter. His new book, Superpowered: 7 Leadership Superpowers Technology Executives Can Use to Grow a More Engaged, Tech-driven and Profitable Organization, is available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Superpowered-Essential-Leadership-Technology-Executives/dp/1735504904https://www.caxy.com

Steven Horwitz is the Founder and Managing Partner of Orchid Black, a management consulting company focusing on helping companies scale and grow. We discuss his passion for music and how it gets pulled into his business life. One of my favorite quotes from Steven, during this podcast is, "If you're going to be a good musician, you need to have big ears." In other words,  you have to be a really great listener to be successful in both music and business too.Michael LaVista is the CEO and Founder of Caxy Interactive, a custom software development company in Chicago. Caxy helps companies double in half the time they could on their own by creating custom software. He is also a guitar player, singer and songwriter. His new book, Superpowered: 7 Leadership Superpowers Technology Executives Can Use to Grow a More Engaged, Tech-driven and Profitable Organization, is available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Superpowered-Essential-Leadership-Technology-Executives/dp/1735504904https://www.caxy.com

Steve Wild is the founder and CEO of LifeSport Athletic Clubs and the guitarist in Class of '68. He talks about lessons learned growing a sports club franchise, and what it meant to pick up a guitar again after a 32 year hiatus. Michael LaVista is the CEO and Founder of Caxy Interactive, a custom software development company in Chicago. Caxy helps companies double in half the time they could on their own by creating custom software. He is also a guitar player, singer and songwriter. His new book, Superpowered: 7 Leadership Superpowers Technology Executives Can Use to Grow a More Engaged, Tech-driven and Profitable Organization, is available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Superpowered-Essential-Leadership-Technology-Executives/dp/1735504904https://www.caxy.com

Jon Harris is Senior Vice President and Chief Communications Officer for ConAgra Brands. He's alos a terrific singer and guitar player. What has that brought to his career?Michael LaVista is the CEO and Founder of Caxy Interactive, a custom software development company in Chicago. Caxy helps companies double in half the time they could on their own by creating custom software. He's also a guitar player and performer. His new book, Superpowered: 7 Leadership Superpowers Technology Executives Can Use to Grow a More Engaged, Tech-driven and Profitable Organization, is available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Superpowered-Essential-Leadership-Technology-Executives/dp/1735504904https://www.caxy.com

Dan Horwich and Michael LaVista talk about the superpower of creating connections and how it can power your business and make your life richer as well. Dan is the CEO of Camp IT, a company that creates events designed to help IT professionals understand new technologies and make the critical, strategic and tactical decisions for their enterprises.Michael LaVista is the CEO and Founder of Caxy Interactive, a custom software development company in Chicago. Caxy helps companies double in half the time they could on their own by creating custom software. His new book, Superpowered: 7 Leadership Superpowers Technology Executives Can Use to Grow a More Engaged, Tech-driven and Profitable Organization, is available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Superpowered-Essential-Leadership-Technology-Executives/dp/1735504904https://www.caxy.com

Tom Panos and Mike LaVista talk about the psychology of engagement and how to have more meaningful conversations. Tom has over 10 years of sales & marketing experience, leading business development for consulting firms, agencies, and most recently as an entrepreneur whose founded two companies. As a former comedian and expert in influence and persuasion, Tom has a unique perspective on sales & marketing.SmartSources  https://smartsources.work Personal/Portfolio Site  https://tompanos.super.site Michael LaVista is the CEO and Founder of Caxy Interactive, a custom software development company in Chicago. Caxy helps companies double in half the time they could on their own by creating custom software. His new book, Superpowered: 7 Leadership Superpowers Technology Executives Can Use to Grow a More Engaged, Tech-driven and Profitable Organization, is available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Superpowered-Essential-Leadership-Technology-Executives/dp/1735504904https://www.caxy.com

Greg Taylor is the VP of Sales for the SaaS platform casestatus.com. The platform allows law firms to communicate more easily with their clients. His superpower is figuring out how to manage a omnichannel approach from social to in-person to stay relevant for his customers. https://www.casestatus.comMichael LaVista is the CEO and Founder of Caxy Interactive, a custom software development company in Chicago. Caxy helps companies double in half the time they could on their own by creating custom software. His new book, Superpowered: 7 Leadership Superpowers Technology Executives Can Use to Grow a More Engaged, Tech-driven and Profitable Organization, is available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Superpowered-Essential-Leadership-Technology-Executives/dp/1735504904https://www.caxy.com

Cindy Miller is an LGPA pro who takes what she learned on the golf course and teaches leaders and teams how to get, do and be better. Her story of how she got to the LPGA is an incredible journey with myriad challenges and pitfalls along the way. https://cindymillergolf.com/Michael LaVista is the CEO and Founder of Caxy Interactive, a custom software development company in Chicago. Caxy helps companies double in half the time they could on their own by creating custom software. His new book, Superpowered: 7 Leadership Superpowers Technology Executives Can Use to Grow a More Engaged, Tech-driven and Profitable Organization, is available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Superpowered-Essential-Leadership-Technology-Executives/dp/1735504904

Mike LaVista talks to Becka Bates of Bates Meron Sweet Design about the things brands need to stop doing. It's also about how to prioritize and make better choices. https://batesmeron.comMichael LaVista is the CEO and Founder of Caxy Interactive, a custom software development company in Chicago. His new book, Superpowered: 7 Leadership Superpowers Technology Executives Can Use to Grow a More Engaged, Tech-driven and Profitable Organization, is available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Superpowered-Essential-Leadership-Technology-Executives/dp/1735504904

Karen Faith and Mike LaVista talk value of understanding and practicing real empathy in business.Karen Faith is the CEO and Founder of Others Unlimited. https://www.othersunlimited.com/. Empathy training for research collaboration and citizenship.Michael LaVista is the CEO and Founder of Caxy Interactive, a custom software development company in Chicago. His new book, Superpowered: 7 Leadership Superpowers Technology Executives Can Use to Grow a More Engaged, Tech-driven and Profitable Organization, is available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Superpowered-Essential-Leadership-Technology-Executives/dp/1735504904

Mana Ionescu and Mike LaVista talk about how to be successful with influencer marketing.Mana runs Lightspan Digital and has years of experience helping brands reach their audiences. Digital Marketing for the Boldhttps://lightspandigital.com/Mike runs Caxy Interactive, a custom software development firm in Chicago. His upcoming book, Superpowered: 7 leadership strategies for technology executives who want to grow a more tech-driven, engaged, and profitable organization, will be available on Amazon Summer 2021. https://caxy.com

Ben Swartz and Mike LaVista talk about ideas for a more engaging employee engagement meeting.Ben Swartz is the CEO of Marcel Digital in Chicago. https://www.marceldigital.com/Mike LaVista is the CEO of Caxy Interactive, a software development agency in Chicago. His new book, Superpowered: 7 leadership strategies for technology executives who want to grow a more tech-driven, engaged, and profitable organization, is available on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Superpowered-Essential-Leadership-Technology-Executives/dp/1735504904https://www.caxy.com

Tim Van Mieghem and Mike LaVista talk about the 10 ways your company is leaking EBITDATim's company ProAction group helps manufacturers fix their operational problems. Tim's top 10 list list can be found here:Mike's new book “Superpowered: TThe 7 leadership secrets for technology executives to unleash their inner superhero, get exponentially better results from your team, and grow a more profitable, tech-driven company” is available on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Superpowered-Essential-Leadership-Technology-Executives/dp/1735504904https://www.caxy.com

Josh Schroeder and Mike LaVista talk about the phenomenon of "getting stuck" and ideas to change the pattern.While this is a conversation mostly about programming or development, the ideas apply to any creative or problem-solving endeavor. Josh is the Managing Director of Technology at Caxy Interactive. Mike is the CEO.https://caxy.com

Dave Giordano, TSG CEO and Mike LaVista talk about ways to maximize success with new college hires in technology.Dave has a long history of running a process to find and train new technology employees from colleges. His secret is to give new hires a great, inclusive experience that translates to happier employees who stick around and have a sense of place. Dave sold TSG in 2020.Mike LaVista's new book, Superpowered: The 7 essential leadership skills technology executives cannot afford to ignore is available on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Superpowered-Essential-Leadership-Technology-Executives/dp/1735504904https://caxy.com

Alex Moss and Mike LaVista talk about the major flaw in how organizations value security.Cybersecurity is as hot as ever and getting hotter. But the way organization value and prioritize how to combat the threats puts them at risk while giving a false sense of security. https://northstar.iohttps://caxy.com

Mark Baldino and Mike LaVista talk about the risks and costs of legacy software and how to fix it. The focus should be on going after a specific business outcome. Don't just do it to do it, or because you don't like what you have. Further, a progressive approach that takes over the app piece by piece is the way to be the most successful. Mark Baldino is a user experience expert and one of the founders of Fuzzy Math, a UX firm in Chicago. https://www.fuzzymath.comMike LaVista is a software development expert and founder of Caxy Interactive as well author of the upcoming book Superpowered: The 7 essential leadership skills technology executives cannot afford to ignorehttps://www.caxy.com

Irfan Jafrey from Roosterly and Mike LaVista discuss what's not working right now in marketing and some ideas on how to fix it. https://www.roosterly.com/https://www.caxy.com

Katie Palmer with Grand Studio talks to Mike LaVista about strategies for finding and attracting more diverse talent. http://grandstudio.comhttps://caxy.comhttps://youtu.be/6gDqFj5zi1o

What are the 3 most important things leaders are avoiding right now?Vince Racioppo, Dave Massello, and Michael LaVista talk about the 3 things leaders seem to avoid with frequency. Diverting their time, learning new things, creating apprentices. https://www.expertperformance.comhttps://www.caxy.com

Zack DeLisa and Mike LaVisa talk about a dirty secret many businesses have in common: month end is a manual, messy process.Zack has 3 ideas for making it faster, cleaner and provide more timely data to the business. What would you do if your financial data was no more than 5 days old?Zack DeLisahttps://www.level10cfo.comMichael LaVistahttps://www.caxy.com

Gartner data shows that a huge percentage of technology projects fail. While there is a long list of reasons why, one stands out to me. Most technology projects start without an outcome in mind. Worse, they are bought based on what they cost. My idea: they should be bought based on what they cost to NOT do them. This ideas forces organizations to prioritize real problems and come up with real outcomes that the business cases about. Michael LaVista is the CEO and Founder of Caxy Interactive, a custom software development firm. https://www.caxy.com

Mike talks with Tom “Tommy” Schaff of Major League Sales about the value of going after few deals and making the ones you do go after bigger. Tommy also gets into the mindset and strategy for changing your approach to these kinds of opportunities.Tom “Tommy” Schaffhttps://www.majorleaguesales.comMike LaVista is the CEO and Founder of Caxy Interactive, ranked in the top 1% of software development companies worldwide by Clutch.co. https://www.caxy.com

Michael Shmarak is a PR and Communications expert who has some thoughts about how brands can be more successful this year with their Black Friday efforts.

Ben Swartz (CEO of Marcel Digital) and Chairman of the Board of Streetwise and Mike LaVista talk about his role with Streetwise.Ben is the CEO of a digital company by day but took on doing something about homelessness in Chicago.https://www.marceldigital.comhttps://www.caxy.com

Tim Van Mieghem is an expert with ProAction Group who specializes in helping manufacturers optimize their operations. He put together a list of 10 things you can do right now to improve that don't involve a big capital spend. ProAction Grouphttps://www.proactiongroup.comMike LaVistaCEO and Founder Caxy Interactive, a custom software development company. https://www.caxy.com

Scott Case CEO of Position Global and Mike LaVista talk about supply chain changes during COVID.Scott has years of experience looking at the supply chain and talks about how we can use what's happening there to make predictions about the rest of the economy.https://www.positionglobal.comhttps://www.caxy.com

Mark Baldino is a UX expert from FuzzyMath. He stopped by to see what the fuss was all about with the new suite of Google icons being rolled out. https://fuzzymath.com/https://caxy.com

Dan Golden and Mike LaVista talk about the current state of marketing tech, what's changing, and what to do now. Oh and velour sweatsuits.Dan Golden is a digital marketing expert and co-founder and Chief Technologist of Be Found Online, a Digital Marketing agency in Chicago.Mike LaVista is the Founder and CEO of Caxy Interactive, a custom software development agency in Chicago. https://befoundonline.comhttps://www.caxy.com

Andy Crestodina is the Founder and Chief Marketing Officer of Orbit Media Studios, an award winning web design firm in Chicago. He recently published “26 Ways to Get Ready for the Rebound: A Playbook for What to Do Right Now” https://www.orbitmedia.com/blog/get-ready-for-the-rebound/. We talk about the top 5. We also touch on what it means to look forward and rebound from 2020.Mike LaVista is the Founder and CEO of Caxy Interactive, a custom software development firm in Chicago.https://www.orbitmedia.com/https://www.caxy.com/