Smart Chickens A B2B SaaS Demand Gen Drives Innovation & Growth Podcast

SALESManago was founded in 2012 and has employed over 200 skilled IT and marketing professionals. To date, the company has expanded tremendously and has over 1000 offices across Europe, Asia, and in the US. With over 2000 customers and reference stories, SALESmanago has solidified itself as a tangible content partner for many businesses that depend on these kinds of services. Having a customer retention rate of 100% speaks for itself.Greg Blazewicz had amassed over 20 years of experience in the digital marketing realm. For 6 of those years, he was the marketing director of Comarch, which is deemed one of the largest IT solution providers in Europe. 2008 saw the inception of his entrepreneurial initiatives which involved creating software for marketing teams, eventually leading to the creation of SALESmanago. When he's not heading the day to day tasks at his company, Greg will spend his spare time educating young minds as a lecturer at various universities. He enjoys helping other startups with understanding the importance of success and utilizing the right tools to achieve these upper echelons of success.

BombBomb was founded in 2006 by Darin Dawson and Conor McCluskey. The idea came from two salesmen that knew their best client interactions came from face to face meetings, but during this time, communication had started to become faceless. Connor wanted to test the waters and sent out a video email to test out this form of communication and the results were overwhelming-essentially leading to the birth of BombBomb!Ethan Beute came onto BombBomb in 2011 as their VP of Marketing. At this point in time, Ethan had already carved a niche for himself in the B2B marketing world. Having written books such as “Rehumanize Your Business” and “Human-Centered Communication”, Ethan eventually blossomed into his current role as Chief Evangelist, to spread the good word of Bomb Bomb's mission in changing the ways in which organizations communicate with their consumers.Contact Information: Ethan Beute-Chief Evangelist of BombBombLinkedin Page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethanbeute/BombBomb Website: https://bombbomb.com/

Jay details his journey from early childhood to his current position as founder of Vyyer.Growing up in a Lebanese family, the entrepreneurial spirit is something that is heavily embedded within their culture. Jay's father was also an entrepreneur, so the influences and foundation to be successful were always there. Jay was technology oriented his entire life. Being a driving force for inciting the desire to make a difference in the B2B technology sector.While he demonstrated these passions early on, it didn't stop there. As he puts it: “I knew nothing, and wanted to learn everything.He attended the NYU Stern School Of Business, receiving his BS in Finance in 2012. Shortly after achieving this milestone, he realized that this wasn't the career path he envisioned for himself. In having this realization, he decided to pursue his passion in the technology sector as it relates to privacy and security, having been inspired from the events of identity theft happening with his sister. Jay has been the CEO of Vyyer since Feb 2017, and the CTO for Bestow App which focuses on solutions for contactless payments, since March of this year.

Guillaume's early journey was full of successes and failures, as he so vividly describes.He and his parents grew up on a farm in Southern France. His unbridled ambition is the driving force for putting him in the position he's lucky to be in, today.Before his journey brought him into the world of digital marketing, G was a chemical engineer, having received his first degree from Chimie ParisTech-PSL.Every journey starts with rock-bottom level experiences. G travelled for a year, using social networks to stay at people's homes. He would work in exchange for living accommodations, taking any job he could get his hands on to stay afloat. Once he uncovered his passion, he went back to school to study marketing at HEC Paris, launching his 1st business with his father.Unfortunately the 1st business didn't pan out in the ways he had hoped. As G states: ''When we launched our first website, we only got 6 orders.”The relationship with his father suffered, due to the failures of the business. Following this journey of trials and tribulations, he went into an agency job with his friend, starting with outbound prospecting. He was the Co-Founder of LeadGuru.ioAfter a few months, they generated thousands and thousands in revenue. This, in turn, fostered the love for the industry. Which prompted G to start Lemlist in 2018.If you're interested in keeping up with G's journey, see below for a list of the channels you can find him on:Linkedin Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/-g-/Lemlist Website: https://www.lemlist.com/

Sam Capra's journey into the world of sales was not something he had envisioned for himself.Having received his bachelor's in Communications at The University Of Montevallo, Sam slowly nestled into the world of sales, starting off as a door to door salesman. He went on to work for some corporate influences in the B2B sector such as Cintas and Career Builders, but his scope of knowledge doesn't stop here. Sam is fully aware of what it means to work for fully capable enterprise-level organizations as well as smaller scale start-ups.If you're interested in learning more about Sam & his journey, see below for his social media credentials:Linkedin Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samcapra/flexEngage website: https://www.flexengage.com/Sales Samurai Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sales-samurai/

Show Notes & Bio:Justin Keller details his extensive journey in the world of B2B & Saas marketing. He went to business school at Indiana University,receiving his BA in English and Psychology, then proceeded to work in San Francisco for Visage, Jazz, and Whil Concepts. Inc, respectively. During this time, he also went on to receive his MBA from Purdue University in General Management.During his time in San Francisco, his area of focus was primarily performance marketing. After his time in San Francisco came to an end, Justin transitioned into VP of Marketing at Sigstr, spending 3 years with them until Terminus acquired Sigstr in 2019.During his tenure at Sigstr, he had an epiphany that marketing is so much more than just performance-based operations. If you've had the immense pleasure to be a part of Justin's journey in the world of B2B/Saas marketing, then you too recognize the willingness and capabilities to leverage B2B marketing for consumers and clients. It's very easy to utilize a run-of-the-mill sales funnel or buyer persona guide to entice customers to consume your products or services. However, the ways in which we buy into these services are always changing, and Justin makes it abundantly clear that this “one size fits all” method do not work.Justin describes the B2B sector as a “noisy marketplace” and is dedicated to revamping the approach of B2B/Saas marketing, for the betterment of the digital marketing world. We are certain you will get the fundamental education on B2B Marketing with the intent of being more B2C if you follow Justin and his team at Terminus on their socials. Contact Information:Justin Keller-VP Of Marketing at TerminusLinkedin Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justindkeller/Terminus Website: https://terminus.com/Top Key Takeaways from Justin Keller:Hosting virtual events that are more like CoachellaB2B Marketing from perspective of consumer (B2C)Getting away from the traditional methods of B2B Marketing, so that it's not so linear and boringUtilizing virtual events like Break Shit to act as a driving force for the B2B/SAAS sector of Digital Marketing

Gabriel Lim really shares his 5-year journey from being accepted to the Y Combinator (YC-S16) class in San Francisco for his launch of Saleswhale.com from Singapore to the U.S. market. Fast forward to 2021 and Saleswhale.com has had incredible growth and being named by G2Crowds  top High User Adoption Best of Spring 2021, High Performer Spring 2021, and   Best Support Spring 2021. If you've been following Gabriel, as I have had the pleasure to do so over the last year or so, you'll notice an interesting pattern of high-quality, engaging, and well thoroughly planned out content execution on LinkedIn and other platforms. We deep dive into his scientific method approach and how he creates a framework of planning and reverse engineering his team's content engine to drive demand and inevitably turn followers into revenue.  He also is generous in sharing his point of view on failures, why he feels it's important to have marketing campaign failures, and how that buys trust and credibility  in terms of latitude from other C-levels and sales when you are up-front about expectations of experimenting with content campaigns. There are many nuggets and key takeaways for other SaaS founders and heads of marketing or sales in this episode.  Three key learnings you'll get are the following:How to work from a scientific method to create content that solves problems and resonatesHow to approach entering the U.S. market if you're a SaaS company from APAC or abroadHow transparency in the funnel and leveraging Saleswhale can lead to 2X more conversionsWhy it's important to keep the middle of the funnel engaged to help build pipeline sales and close velocityI'm certain you'll get even more from this episode by following Gabriel on LinkedIn, signing up for his newly minted newsletter, and  reaching out to him about Saleswhale.   

Darryl shares some of his must-do strategies to build better alignment between sales and marketing to create the revenue engine. He believes firmly in SLA, sales lead agreements to keep both teams focused on revenue and maintain transparency between marketing and sales goals.  We discuss marketing attribution to sales pipelines and what metrics are important to a CRO. Darryl shares some lessons learned on the people process of managing a revenue team and how to avoid misunderstanding and negative outcomes with your sales teams. He explains the criticalness of breaking down silos between marketing and sales, both in process, people and to build a culture of revenue team first, department or divisions second approach. We discuss some of the mar-tech that he deploys at VanillaSoft to rev up his demand-gen engine and how reverse engineering revenue goals to SQLs is key to putting a strategic demand gen plan for successful revenue attainment. As always, Darry doesn't hold back, he injects a bit of his humor but is all business about the practical and pragmatic approaches to build a world-class revenue team at VanillaSoft. He also gives us some of his favorite marketing/sales book recommendations such as Blue Ocean and some insights on what advice he would have given a younger Darryl Praill.  

Episode SummaryIn today's episode, we have a very special guest Jeff Perkins, CMO & Head of Product at ParkMobile.ioWe delve into his career journey from advertising agencies into executive marketing and product marketing roles with b2b SaaS companies. He discusses his unique career path, which started grinding it out in the NYC advertising industry. Where he worked at Euro RSCG Worldwide (now called Havas) as an Account Director where he led all digital advertising efforts for the Volvo brand. He also had the unique opportunity to develop the ad campaign that launched Howard Stern on Sirius Satellite Radio in 2005.He also worked at advertising giants Saatchi & Saatchi and worked on a diverse variety of brands including Tide, HBO, Pepsi, Michelin, Office Depot, Fruit Roll-Ups, Rockport, and Hasbro.We discuss how ParkMobile.io used its expansive parking and customer data and turned it into multiple reports which they shared the information with parking operators in order to help cities, municipalities, and venues better understand how people were moving around during the pandemic.They also managed to leverage this thought leadership content to become trusted advisors and to keep growing their footprint to over 400 locations during the 2020's pandemic and into today's current 2021 state.Jeff shares how he thinks his origins on the advertising side have made a lasting impact on the approach to product marketing and his go-to-market strategies at ParkMobile.  He also feels strongly that to get to the C-level it's not about chasing the title, but really always be focused, curious and smart about how to add value and solve problems to help achieve the business goals of an organization.He also shares how important product marketing and understanding the customer from a product marketing perspective has allowed for him to better serve as a CMO and more trusted C-Level at ParkMobile.He shares with us some of his book recommendations, which are not business books, which provide him with some inspiration for his marketing strategies.As leaders are readers, he has also authored a book that was released this year titled, "How Not to Suck at Marketing", soon to be released this year.You can get more information about his book and professional background at https://www.hownottosuckatmarketing.com/Jeff Perkins Bio & Contact Info:Prior to ParkMobile, Jeff was the CMO of QASymphony (now called Tricentis) where he helped grow revenue 500% over a three-year period, leading to a $40 million Series C. He also has held senior leadership positions at PGi and AutoTrader. Jeff started his career grinding it out in the NYC ad industry at Saatchi & Saatchi. His experiences range from traditional to digital, B2C to B2B, and agency-side to client-side. Jeff's work has earned him numerous accolades including the Atlanta Business Chronicle's MAX Award and the Technology Association of Georgia's Award for Marketing Executive of the Year. Jeff received his BA from American University and MBA from Emory University's Goizueta Business School where he is now an adjunct professor. He lives in Atlanta with his awesome wife, two adorable daughters (ages 9 and 12), and two poorly behaved dogsCMO & Head of Product Marketing at ParkMobile.iolinkedin.com/in/jeffperkins1Websitesparkmobile.io  (Company Website)singlemindedproposition.com  (Blog)Emailjperks@gmail.comTwitter Handlejeffperkins8

Christopher Lochhead Show Notes:Check out his legendary podcast at:  www.lochhead.comYou can connect to him via LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherlochhead/Follow and sometimes, if you're lucky enough to catch one of his Facebook workshops/chats you can drink some libations with Christopher and his Oddcast podcast crew on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/christopher.lochhead 

Harmonizing machine learning with human intelligence and a non-linear way of thinking is what Scott has dubbed the "augmented marketer", and as big ops move towards big ops, AI will facilitate the heavy-lifting of data points to uncovers and synthesize martech in a scalable way. However, Scott firmly believes that the human intangibles and strengths around human empathy, culture and collaboration, and human creativity are still very much part of the evolution of MarTech outside of platforms and AI software. We discuss an incredible collaboration with WPP (world-renown advertising agency) which led to a whitepaper and study on the 5 trends shaping the future decade of MarTech. The five trends he covers in more detail below:“No Code” Citizen CreatorsPlatforms, Networks & MarketplacesThe Great App ExplosionFrom Big Data to Big OpsHarmonizing Humans & MachinesIf you'd like to contact Scott to learn more about MarTech, he can be reached at the following:Scott Contact Info:LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sjbrinker/Twitter Profile: @chiefmartechPublished Books:  Hacking MarketingScott's Book Recommendation:Antifragile Things that Gain from Disorder by Nassim Nicholas Talem Chief Editor at:  www.chiefmartech.com 

Karishma Veljee bio:Founded a high-volume sales hiring recruitment firm, called Karvel Consulting  and also the co-founder and president of DigitalHire.com a video interviewing platform designed to help businesses connect better with candidates during the hiring process while saving 40% of valuable time back to focus on their business. She attended Clark University, where she graduated with a B.S. in Economics and Political Science She shares her POV from first-hand experience working in high sales hires call-centers and understands the challenges which HR recruiting teams have during the hiring process. She shares three business books for folks that want to take new knowledge and get 1% better each day. To connect with Karishma, you can reach her via LinkedIn a the following:https://www.linkedin.com/in/karishmaveljee/

Fewer flights mean more driving, the trillion-dollar automotive industry has been busy working on how to win millennials car buyers as more people pack and drive during C19.  As part of our EOY, and plan ahead focus “strategic business strategies” series, and also in reverence to Veterans this week, we wanted to share a part of a candid and insightful conversation with Ryan Leschel, content marketer at the JM&A Group, a division of the $17Billion diverse automotive parent company JM Family Enterprises.  We have a very real and candid conversation around him and the marketing team's content strategies to help dealerships across the nation better serve their customers.   ⚡Pillar Content Executed Creatively   

John Rougeux Bio and Show Notes:LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnbrougeux/B2B Growth Podcast Co-HostFlagandFrontier.com  Category Design StrategistBook Recommendations to get 1% better:Never Split the Difference by Chris VossMarketing High Technology by William H.  Davidow7 Category Design Business Strategy Criteria  & What CD is Not:Category Design Isn't Necessarily Being First to MarketCategory Design Isn't Winning Awards on Gartner, G2Crowd, or ForresterCategory Design Isn't a Gimmicky Slogan or Advertising GTM campaignDon't Vilify Something that is Good at Another Context as Nemesis to base Category DesignThere Has to Be a Significant Business Pain Identified by your ICP or Buyer PersonasYou Should Be Able to Solve a Problem in Meaningful way Not Just Surface-based, but DeeperYou Need Buy-in from CEO/Founder C-level stakeholders To Launch a Category Design Business Strategy   

Sergio Marrero, is the Managing Partner for a double-line venture capital investment firm he founded over 2 years ago, called Rebel One Ventures, www.RBL1.com. His goal is to educate via his online VC programs to both founders and investors, how to leverage VC monies to leverage their companies growth trajectory. His comprehensive programs go through the nuts and bolts of creating a fundraising pitch deck, identifying the key metrics investors look for, and how to stand out among the crowd. His programs take from his decade-plus experiences with top notch venture firms he's worked at, his own experience as a start-up founder, and research from Harvard case studies and others to help create the winning formula which entrepreneurs  can follow to secure funding.In this episode, he candidly discussed his VC journey, both as founder and investor, one which took him to Chile for the launch of an HR educational startup, back-packing through South America during this experience, and the lessons he learned from the failed start-up. Sergio Marrero has some interesting concepts of how founders of color and women should look at VC or not as a financial instrument to fund the growth of their businesses. He describes his own experiences with two failed start-ups, what he learned with Deloitte's Innovation and Growth Group, and how his collective experience gave way to his current company, Rebel Fund Ventures, RBL1.comWe discuss the generational wealth gap and lack of access to VC funding for founders and investors of color, and how his programs can change this gap. We wrap up the conversation with some of his favorite both business and fictional books that are helping to shape his mindset and his outlook of the VC community through and post C19. 

Bio and Contact information: Kathy FasanellaExpertise in Resume Writer, LinkedIn Specialist, Life Coach, Mentor, Healthcare Executive Consultant, Owner of MyHireRoads.comOutside of MyHireRoads.com, she's mentoring GWU Students by reviewing and revising their resumes as well as identifying career directions based on their skill sets. She set up a mentoring program for GWU Milken School of Public Health utilizing Smartsheet as a project management tool. She was able to work with the students to have 39 first-year students matched up with 57 alumni members who were seasoned executives in their field. She the creator of affordable resumes, LinkedIn Profiles with coaching, mentoring services for students as well as Senior individuals reentering the job market after being laid off or re-engineered.Formerly she was VP of Business Development and Insurance Compliance at Diopsys, I collaborated with the President and CEO of the company to file patents and conduct clinical trials that generated revenue of up to $60 million each year. She contributed to the commercialization of a breakthrough technology to screen for visual and hearing disorders in infants and preschool children. She additionally worked with New York legislators in Albany, NY to establish a vision-screening bill which authorized reimbursement Key Contributions:- Co-authored the business plan for Diopsys, Inc, named "Most Successful Startup Company" at the New Jersey New Venture Conference in 2001.She can be reached for a complimentary consult on her services via  LinkedIn 

A little background on Phil Schoen:Born in Los Angeles and raised in Miami, he was the kid that used to sneak my transistor radio under his pillow at bedtime, slowly turning the dial so he could listen to a game from those far-off, exciting places like St. Louis or Cleveland.He worked at his high school radio station for fun, earning a degree in broadcast journalism from Bowling Green State University. Along the way, he called his share of games and even narrated documentary videos for one of his professors. Eventually, he realized his voice was his calling.He began pursuing his career at various radio stations in New Jersey and Ohio before his love of the beautiful game led him to Texas to work for a minor league soccer team. A return to South Florida led to a return to broadcasting and the start of his television career.Today, in addition to calling soccer matches alongside the legendary Ray Hudson, he's launched his own company, VoiceGoals, Inc., providing voice-overs, voice acting, and narration around the world.Fun Facts About Phil:He was the first voice of Major League Soccer, serving as the lead announcer for the first five years of MLS's existence.He has announced games in three different World Cup tournaments, (1994, 1998 and 2006,) and three different Copa Americas, (1993, 1995 and 2015.)He provided commentary for EA Sports FIFA 2000 soccer video game.He and his family have participated in mission trips to Honduras for the past five years.He enjoys swimming, biking, golf and even kicking the ball around when I have the time.He loves to read, listen to audio dramas and old-time radio and watch British TV shows like “Sherlock” and “Doctor Who”His grandmother, Adrienne Ames has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and my grandfather has had his work exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.To learn how to get professional voice over talent and production for your organization, visit:VoiceGoals to learn more and schedule a Zoom call and to hear voice over and broadcasting samples visit, PhilSchoen.com

In today's episode, we have a very special guest Sangram Vagre, he's the Chief Evangelist and Co-founder of ABM SaaS Leader Terminus, as well 2x author of the following books: ABM is B2B and Account-Based Marketing For Dummies. He is also the host and founder of the top 50 business podcast - FlipMyFunnel and because Mr. BOOM has more energy than a pinned up hamster on a mini-treadmill, he JUST LAUNCHED a private b2b marketing and sales leader community. The Peak Community, a private community for marketers and leaders, focuses on sharing a collective knowledge from the expertise of members with the intention to get 1% better.and host of FlipMyFunnel with 100K community members in marketing and sales, We have a very real conversation around his journey from India where he obtained his B.S. in Computer Sciences at Nagpur University to obtain his Masters in Computer Science at The University of Alabama, and his career experience throughout his journey from becoming the Co-Founder, CMO and now Chief Evangelist of Terminus an ABM SaaS leader. We discuss his point of view around AMB, alignment of marketing and sales, how to leverage your superpowers to make your career more enjoyable and productive. He shares his belief in the power of letting go to watch you grow, not an easy thing for C-levels and A-Type personalities to do, but in his opinion essential for sustained career and personal growth. We get over 10 quality gems of his insights ranging from what it took to build a category, SaaS platform organization to how to intentionally create successful multiple engagement-driven content programs such as his LinkedIn Live Series, The Peak Community, FlipMyFunnel Podcast and the power that frequency and consistency have to their success. We chat about where he sees Marketing and Sales evolving in b2b SaaS and ABM's role in this "happening now" evolution. He gives us some valuable book recommendations and what he would tell a younger Sangram on a trip with Marty in his Back to The Future DeLorean.

Episode SummaryIn today's episode, we have a very special guest Bryan Smith, Co-founder of MyLeon.co, a very niche AI Employee Engagement Platform, it's a new kind of thinking for HR and C-levels looking to really empower their employees in an individualized way towards creating a super performer.Bryan shares an interesting conversation around his origin story growing up in Philadelphia, his sports science consultant career journey with a U.S. Track & Field Olympic athletes, which catapulted him to better understand the need to individualize employee engagement programs for companies who are looking to create top performers. He talks about what's wrong with the corporate culture is everything mentality currently in companies and how to better serve one employee based on their individual goals, psyche, physical, motivational and work and life skills, versus the standard HR/Talent Management status quo of one to many approach or style.  Below are just some of the takeaways from this interesting episode. 1. Culture alone won't guarantee loyalty or high performance2. Curating to an employees individual needs is where the future of EX is heading (actually it's here already)3. Never second-guess your journey, as an entrepreneur you have to believe in your mission/vision We also take the fictional trip with Michael J. Fox and his Back to the Future DeLorean to see what he would say to a younger Bryan Smith.You'll also see and hear his book recommendations during this episode to get 1% better each day! 

KK Diaz Professional Background:He helps business leaders drive digital transformation, business strategists, digital marketer, and investors. A 5x Author with knowledge of 5 South African dialect languages.  He is a life-long learner and entrepreneur (started at 9 selling candy in school with his cousin Vincent). He is CEO of A-Game Business, a consultancy that helps businesses around the world to drive digital transformation that improves business performance, customer experiences and increases brand equity.His latest book, 'Thrive', helps business leaders unlock digital transformation, remain relevant and avoid disruption. For a FREE copy go to: www.agamebusiness.com/digital-transformation-ebook/As a philanthropist, for 12 years now he devotes his spare time to E4+C (Entrepreneurs For Positive Change), a collective of entrepreneurs who donate their time and efforts to supporting disadvantaged communities and Non-Profits to grow. KK Diaz headed on an epic journey that would see him climb Mt Kilimanjaro as one of the E4+C Projects. He now helps soon-to-be-released prisoners to start businesses and learn digital skills so they can start businesses and careers when they leave prison. This is how he's helping to reduce crime and recidivism.Clients he's worked with include Iron Mountain, Sasol, Henley Business School, Anglo Zimele, MacRobert Attorneys, The Da Vinci Institute, Distinctive Group, Dell Financial Services, Oracle, The JHB Chamber, Workshop 17, BMGlobal, Sun Goddess and many others.His most recent appointment has been as Executive Chairman  at The Pangea Foundation serving in Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa. Their Purpose: To give everyone an opportunity to live a life of dignity.The Pangea Foundation drives township economic revitalization. We achieve this by supporting government, non-profits, and corporates in rolling out meaningful economic transformation and job creation initiatives within communities that need it the most.His book recommendations to get 1% better are the following:1. Blue Ocean Shift: Beyond Competing - Proven Steps to Inspire Confidence and Seize New Growth Hardcover – September 26, 2017  by W. Chan Kim  (Author), Renée Mauborgne  (Author)2. Reinventing Organizations: An Illustrated Invitation to Join the Conversation on Next-Stage Organizations Paperback – June 30, 2016by Frederic Laloux (Author), Etienne Appert (Illustrator)3. Scaling Lean: Mastering the Key Metrics for Startup Growth Hardcover – June 14, 2016by Ash Maurya (Author)KK Diaz's books and free eBook download can be found on his website here.   

Sam is currently an Administrative Resident at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, which was founded in 1773, the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, which is one of the oldest, continuous health care institutions on the East Coast. He is also a third-year student of the Masters in Healthcare Administration program at The George Washington University- Milken Institute School of Public Health. He was elected President of the MHA student association by my colleagues for the 2019 year.During his collegiate studies, he Triple Majored at Drake University in Des Moines, IA- B.S. Biology, B.S. Psychology, and B.S. Neuroscience along with an Honors Track focus on Moral Philosophy. He graduated with honors in December of 2014.After completing these degrees he attended two years of Medical School at Des Moines University School of Osteopathic Medicine before deciding to make the career change to pursue an administrative role in healthcare.During his transition, he worked as a Substitute Teacher for the School District of Clayton in St. Louis Missouri, his home town, teaching all subjects in grades K-12.We discuss what he's seeing first hand as part of the front-line in healthcare during this global pandemic and data around Covid-19 and the challenges of sharing data within our current U.S. healthcare systems.   We get some of his insights and recommendations to new healthcare entrants in the frontline, nurses, med-techs and admins, and what he sees is happening for them as they enter into the system during C19.   We get some of his must-read medical journals and websites to get better information around C19 and our healthcare systems. 

In today's episode we have a very special guest Damian Rivera he is the CEO of ALPFA ((Association of Latino Professionals For America) and former 20 plus year senior managing director at Accenture. We have a very real conversation around the critical importance of your origin story, his childhood upbringing in NY to El Paso Texas, and then back to Spanish Harlem in the '80s and how those experiences shaped and prepared him for his educational and career paths. We chat about the important role of his parents' attention to education and summer computer camps, which would come to impact his future choices for work and academics. He gives us some valuable takeaways on how to focus on leadership and the power of using your voice at all times, even when you don't think you're being heard. He gives us some of his favorite diverse book recommendations to get 1% better, and some advice he would give to recent college graduates. Then we take a fictional trip with Michael J. Fox in his Back to the Future DeLorean to speak to a younger Damian Rivera. There's a little bonus part to this episode, where we learn about Damian's Rutgers Football career and how his non-casa nova style landed him the girl of his dreams.

In today's episode, we have a very special guest Sam Hanna, Ph.D., former Chief Innovation Officer at PWC and Advisor to Alphabet, Amazon, and Executive in Residence at American University and Associate Dean. We have a very heady and interesting global perspective conversation around the critical importance of your origin story, focusing on leadership and innovation, and AI or adaptive intelligence or predictive analytics in healthcare in the midst of C19. Sam also provides us his unique upbringing experiences which have led him to understand the value of the global perspective but also where the gaps are to make our workforce regardless of the industry more diverse and innovative. He shares with us some of his book recommendations to get 1% better, and advice he would give recent college graduates looking to enter the healthcare technology sector. We also take a fictional trip with Michael J. Fox and his Back to the Future DeLorean to see what advice he would give a younger Sam.

In today's episode, we have a very special guest Morgan J. Ingram, named the top 50 Voices in Sales by LinkedIn. We delve into a powerful conversation around his background growing up in and around Atlanta, Georgia, and how his diverse background shaped his sales strategy throughout his meteoric career in sales. We unpack three valuable lessons he learned from winning two state high school basketball championships. He played with NBA's 2017 Rookie of the Year Malcolm Brogdon of the Milwaukee Bucks, and we dissect how his basketball background has shaped his art of sales strategy. He gives us pro tips that can help any salesperson to catapult their careers from an SDR to AE to sales guru by thinking differently and honing in on their sales craft. Morgan shares his secret weapon how he uses his creative mindset to develop unique sales plays somewhat inspired by fictional book recommendations and gaming. We also took a trip with Michael J. Fox “aka” Marty in his Back to the Future DeLorean to get some rear-view mirroring insights.

In today's episode, we have a very special global guest Sarah Serakalala. We have an interesting conversation around her background growing up in rural northeast South Africa in the Limpopo region. Limpopo is a South African province bordering Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique. It's known for bushveld and wildlife reserves, including part of Kruger National Park. We discuss her life growing up in South Africa, her formative years in a boarding school, and her college years which took her to the path of working on a major manufacturing global project. She describes the diversity in workforce, both in thinking and people, which was part of her journey with a major German company. She discusses how this project opened her career to Madrid, Spain, and how she's learned to leverage her unique origin story to shape her career and future. She gives us some of her favorite book recommendations to get 1% better, advice to recent college graduates, and our fictional trip with Michael J. Fox and his Back to the Future DeLorean, to get some rear-view mirroring insights.

We listen today to Natalie Born, she's a strategic corporate innovation expert consultant, she describes her career journey and points of views around the art of corporate innovation to drive organizational growth. She has been focused on creating corporate innovative strategies to drive growth and disrupt industries for almost two decades.  Natalie implements the innovation design process to make a positive impact on leadership's way of thinking about innovation to drive revenue and market share results.Natalie has an incredible career background working in senior executive management roles at leading companies within diverse industries, such as CareerBuilder, First Data, ADP, IHG and now currently as VP of Innovation at Territory.coWe have a very powerful conversation around what organizations can do to embrace and execute innovation, how to approach innovation with a team and futurist mentality, and how to be disruptive in your industry to win. Growing up in the Peach StateGrowing up in a small town of Duluth, Georgia for Natalie, she always felt that she was the only one, she didn't belong, in the '80s there wasn't too much diversity in suburban Georgia. However she took that feeling of being different through her collegiate experience from Oglethorpe University to Maryland's Global Campus for her MBA and during an overseas business education program in India during her MBA, all these experiences began to shape herself to the corporate professional executive and consultant she has become“Noticing that I was different at a young age was difficult, but as I grew older I embraced being different and how  special it is to bring your differences to the table" – Natalie Born. Challenges to break through doors, being the only women and of color at the table in companies and tech Natalie describes and shares how her childhood, collegiate experience, and early corporate experiences prepared her to have a diversity and design thinking approach  throughout her career. “Alot of people talk about luck, I personally don't believe in luck, but rather in alot of hard work, working twice as hard to get ahead” – Natalie Born.What a reverse merger at CareerBuilder taught her about having a superior work ethicNatalie describes how a week after the company she was working within HeadHunter was acquired by CareerBuilder and being fired and hired again as part of the leadership team by CareerBuilder in a span of a week.  She has always had a drive to over-deliver and do much more than the bare minimum, always striving 150%, to wanting to do more to get to the next level. Her Reason Why and Origin of Her Entrepreneurship Journey“My career reached a level after more than 15 years in corporate, where it wasn't about me and I really wanted to help others around ideation, innovation and knowing how to help people freed from their mind ” – Natalie Born. Becoming intentional  about providing diversity and inclusion towards a more equitable and innovative corporate culture."Cheryl Sandberg talks about until you have a diverse set of candidates how can you pull the trigger on hiring that person. You need to bring the elephant into the room and painting it red and having those discussions around diversity and the same opportunities for career advancement." Natalie Born. The Art of Corporate Innovation with Design Thinking and Planning for Future  Growth“Innovation is no longer individual based, it's now very team-based, so it's all about getting the best and brightest team together and then you draw, putting all the ideas on the table, bad and good ones, to let the good  ideas take shape and win.” – Natalie Born.  Most companies will be disrupted by not being disruptive proactively“Too often companies are so focused on how much money we are making today that we are not creating the future. My fear is that large organizations are not disrupting themselves, so they end up being disrupted” – Natalie Born.  Pivoting and forecasting into the future is more imperative than ever“If your a leader you have to be a futurist. Corporations struggle with leadership side or innovation and the ability to create the future."– Natalie Born. Back to the Future with Natalie Born“Don't sweat the small stuff, overempahasis the things that have long-term impact and under-emphasize the things that have short-term impact” – Natalie Born.  Book recommendations to help you get 1% better1. Scaling Up by Verne Harnish2. From Impossible to Inevitable by Aaron Ross and Jason Lemkin 3. The Art of Opportunity by Marc Sniukas, Parker Lee, and Matt Morasky Bio:Natalie Born is the VP of Innovation for Territory Global and the Founder & Host of The Innovation Meets Leadership Podcast. As an innovation consultant, Natalie helps her clients move from idea to execution. Natalie has spent the last 15+ years designing and creating products with the goal of creating customer delight. She has contributed to two approved US patents during her career and is passionate about helping organizations leverage the incredible talent they have, to create the outcomes they want.Natalie worked with organizations such as CareerBuilder, First Data, IHG, and ADP, leading major initiatives in the acquisition, integration, and international product development in over 18 countries. Throughout her career, she has authored numerous articles and speaks nationally.* Received her Masters of Business Administration  and International Business from the University of Maryland Global Campus* Received her Masters of Business Administration  and International Business from the International Management Institute, New Delhi India * Received her Bachelors of Science, Business Administration  from Oglethorpe University * She is a Scrum Alliance  ScrumMaster® (CSM®), Project Manager PMI Certified You can connect with Natalie at the following:LinkedIn Natalie BornThe Innovation Meets Leadership Podcast Facebook Innovation Meets Leadership Instagram Innovation Meets Leadership 

On today's episode, we have a very special guest Amy Pugh and have a fun chat about her decade-plus career in the music industry with big-name record labels. We jam to some 80's classics like Chaka Khan discuss her experiences living through the evolution of Napster to iTunes to everything streaming live on the cloud. She has an intensive and impressive background working in the music industry in NYC surrounded by legends. We have an interesting and candid conversation around her background growing up in Ohio, then transitioning back to her native NewJersey/New York northeastern roots to attend Fordham University to pursue her liberal arts degree and dream to enter into the music business. Her incredible journey has taken her to work with some major companies in the music biz, Sony Music, EMI and IAC, and now StingRay. She gives us some of her book recommendations to get 1% better, advice for any recent college graduates planning to enter the music biz, and then we take a trip with Michael J. Fox, aka "Marty in his Back to the Future DeLorean to speak to a younger Amy.

We listen today to a former colleague and HR and Organizational Leadership expert, as he describes his career journey and seven factors that drive exceptional work performance. Our guest, Michael Sabbag, whose entire background has been focused on creating leadership to help us become performance all-stars at work and in life.  Not only has Michael had an incredible career in senior HR and  Talent Management roles across  leading companies within diverse industries, such as PWC, Comcast, Learn.com, Sixt an Uberesque German-based global company, and now currently with one of the largest public healthcare organizations BrowardHealth.org in Florida. We have a very powerful conversation around what we can do to become a peak performer at work and in life. Boyscouts Eagle credsGrowing up Michael was in the boy scouts and worked hard to earn his Eagle badge, one which only less than 2% of all Boy Scouts achieve. The work-ethic and sense of emphatic and positive leadership developed from his experience with the Boy  Scouts at a very young age. He has carried those values with him through his career calling within talent management and organization leadership development. “Soft skills or interpersonal skills are the hardest and most important for senior leadership to hone into" – Michael SabbagLeading with strategy, not tactics to achieve better outcomesMichael describes the incorrect thought process of using the commonly used sandwich method of starting off with a positive statement, then the middle attention to the challenge and finishing it off with a positive affirmation, during our one-on-ones with your team or direct reports. This method is both outdated and ineffective according to him.  He believes that there should a direct approach, using empathy, but squarely focusing on where the skill or achievement gaps are and then focusing on how to  coach via positive reinforcements. “Healthcare leaders in our system  cannot start off with tactics, we must start with the Why, the strategy to get to our outcomes. At Broward Health our why is to have the best patient outcomes for them and also their families” – Michael SabbagWhat's the focus for remote workers  in healthcare or in general?Michael describes the critical importance of having clear expectations of goals and deliverables for remote workers.  Also being more conscious and deliberate around  communication  and touching base more often with a remote workforce.  At Broward Health their remote team is using Microsoft teams, but regardless of tech platform, err on the side of over-communication. “Ping your folks on line and ask then how they are doing, tell them what you're doing and what they think, keep the same hallway conversations, but just do them via virutal platforms” – Michael Sabbag Back to the Future with Michael Sabbag“Don't sweat the small stuff, overempahasis the things that have long-term impact and under-emphasize the things that have short-term impact” – Michael Sabbag.  Book recommendations to help you get 1% better1. The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen R. Covey 2. The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else In Business 3. Dare to Lead by Brené  Brown Bio:Michael Sabbag Michael Sabbag is an impactful HR, training, and OD strategic expert and also an author on culture, performance, strategy, and coachingHe has dedicated his career to helping organizations become more successful by creating highly engaging cultures and exemplary people processes. Working in Learning and Development, Human Resources, and Organization Development as a Vice President and consultant, he has:* Worked at the executive of organizations for over 18 years and have consulted for 16 years* Authored "Developing Exemplary Performance One Person at a Time" published by Davies-Black and ATD Press* Received South Florida Business Journal 2010 Excellence in Human Resources award* Transformed and had a significant impact on companies of all sizes in a large number of industries* Received a Masters of Arts in I/O Psychology with a focus on improving workplace performance*Been certified in executive coaching as an ECCP (Executive Coach Certified Professional)* Achieved the rank of Eagle Scout He can be reached at the following:LinkedInhttps://www. michaelsabbag.com 

We have a very open and authentic discussion around Gonz's journey from his native and beautiful Venezuela, leaving behind family, friends and his culture to seek his creative studies at the Austin School of Film. Gonz shares his real-life struggles and opportunities to break into the creative b2b space in Boston, where he experienced some creative career accelerations staring with Mass Challenge, The Grommet, and through some hyper-growth years with SaaS leader Drift. He's now looking to make the same creative brand magic happen for Alyce, an A.I. Powered Gifting/Personalization B2B SaaS platform, also headquartered in Boston. We delve into his rebel with a "cause or not", point of view around the synergies of creatives in b2b tech, with marketing and sales or lack thereof, and how he's looking to change the dynamics of brand building in b2b tech. He is both generous and vulnerable in sharing some clarity around a topic that may be more prevalent these days around "Mental Health" in the workplace. He shares what makes sense to focus on his wellness for him and some toxic examples he's seen in tech. We discuss getting into the Back to the Future DeLorean to do some rear-view mirroring to get his take on what advice he would give himself or others to make their journeys smoother.Then we get some insights into his creative mindset and what books and film he's consuming these days to help him to get better each day or inspires his career and life paths. Top 3 Books Gonz and of course a Netflix film documentary fav of his, which he recommends to young creatives and or anyone searching to improve 1% better each day are:The Power of Now by Ekhart TolleThe Creative Quest by Quest LoveAaron James Draplin DesignsChefs Table Netflix Original You can reach, connect, and follow Creatives in Tech with Gonzalo on:LinkedInCreatives In Tech YouTube