Podcast appearances and mentions of anderson consulting

Shiv is in conversation with Allen Cooper, President and CEO of Ancilla Ventures. Their focusis in providing tools to healthcare support staff to improve patient outcomes.In this conversation, Allen talks about:Allen's Origin Story: Transitioning from accounting to computer science, and entering the consulting world at Anderson Consulting (now Accenture).Consulting to Startups: The transition from corporate consulting to entrepreneurship.Building Ancilla: How Allen became a partner and eventually the sole proprietor.Choosing Healthcare Tech: The path to focusing on healthcare IT solutions.Finding Industry Problems: How products like WriteList and VR-90 were born.User Adoption Challenges: Strategies for getting hospital staff to engage with software solutions.Managing Development Team Motivation: Keeping engineers engaged despite stable enterprise tech.Scrum & Agile Benefits: How these methodologies helped balance planned work and incoming client requests.AI & Coding: How AI might change development roles, but won't replace programmers entirely.Advice for IT Careers: Guidance for both new entrants and mid-career professionals wondering about their next steps.Personal Productivity & Balance: Allen's tips for staying organized, healthy, and grounded while running a company.Allen Cooper is the Co-Founder and CEO of ReadyList, Inc., a mobile-friendly software that transforms how hospital ancillary and support service teams operate. Allen co-founded ReadyList with a deep passion for helping the behind-the-scenes workers who keep hospitals running smoothly. ReadyList's software modules guide them through best-practice cleaning and room prep protocols, resulting in cleaner, safer facilities for both patients and staff. Allen believes the right kind of software can save hospital systems money, time, and even lives. https://www.linkedin.com/in/allen-cooper-4a07598

In this episode, Bill Donlan, CEO of Astound Digital, discusses his journey from Anderson Consulting to leading digital commerce and AI integration at Astound Digital. He shares insights on how Astound Digital is revolutionizing customer interactions through AI and Salesforce Commerce Cloud, focusing on balancing speed and trust in deploying AI agents.  The conversation covers the potential of AI-driven agents in enhancing customer service across industries like manufacturing and aerospace defense, and the opportunities for improving customer satisfaction and optimizing human labor.  Be prepared to learn the future of digital commerce and the power of AI in customer service and commerce. Show Highlights: Integration of AI-driven agents with Salesforce Commerce Cloud to enhance digital commerce and customer interactions. Balancing speed and trust in deploying AI agents and the importance of using reliable enterprise data. Exploration of AI applications in various industries, focusing on customer service enhancements. The concept of networked agents capable of agent-to-agent communication. Real-world examples of AI-driven customer service. Strategies for businesses to leverage AI in optimizing human labor and enhancing the overall customer journey. Follow and Review: We'd love for you to follow us if you haven't yet. Click that purple '+' in the top right corner of your Apple Podcasts app. We'd love it even more if you could drop a review or 5-star rating over on Apple Podcasts. Simply select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review,” then a quick line with your favorite part of the episode. It only takes a second, and it helps spread the word about the podcast. Supporting Resources: Bill Donlan's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-donlan/  Learn more about Agentforce for Commerce: https://www.salesforce.com/commerce/ai/  Join the Commerce Cloud Community: https://sforce.co/commerce-crew Would you like to be on the podcast, or do you know someone who should? Submit a nomination here: http://sfdc.co/podnomination To learn more about Commerce Cloud Innovations, go here: https://www.salesforce.com/commerce/innovations/  *** Episode Credits If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Emerald City Productions. They helped me grow and produce the podcast you are listening to right now. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com. Let them know I sent you.

Gail Sussman-Miller founded Inspired Choice in 2001. She took the title of Chief Obstacle Buster which describes her perfectly. Gail lived her entire life in Chicago Illinois until she and her husband moved to Sarasota Florida in 2019. While Gail grew up thinking she should be a teacher along the way she decided she did not wish to teach youngsters. She recognized that her talents were put to better use teaching and coaching adults. She makes it quite clear that she has fun and great joy working with adults. She will say that some people want to be coached and some who think coaching for them is not necessary. I would say that Gail urges people to approach the coaching experience with an open mind. She is, as you will hear, quite successful at her work. About the Guest: Gail Sussman-Miller, Chief Obstacle Buster at Inspired Choice, helps women leaders leverage, rather than squelch, feminine power and abilities they don't realize they possess, so they live their most authentic, joy-filled life. She is an expert at guiding women to deliberately choose their thoughts and beliefs to design desired experiences and results. Gail's techniques shape new perspectives that reduce stress, discomfort and procrastination which increases decisive action, inner peace and resilience amidst the uncertainty of life. The bottom line is increased freedom and more joy! Clients find Gail's perspective-shifting techniques, practical tactical action steps, and spiritually-inspired wisdom indispensable. Her rare gift, shared by 7% of leaders assessed, is she senses and sees things few people see, speaks that truth and offers actionable ways for participants to thrive and fulfill their soul's desires. The biggest demand and focus of Gail's coaching is strengthening the efficacy and collaboration in challenging conversations and relationships by combining truth, authenticity, and vulnerability. Professional background. Gail has been teaching executives and women at all levels to turn obstacles into opportunities since 2001 as a coach, facilitator, speaker, and trainer. She received her training as a professional coach at the Coaches Training Institute (CTI) in 2001. Gail is certified in the EQi-2.0 emotional intelligence assessment by MHS, a well-known publisher of psychological assessments. Prior to founding Inspired Choice, Gail delivered computer job training for visually-impaired adults and spent 13 years at Andersen Consulting (Accenture) in Marketing, Knowledge Management and Technology Coaching. After a lifetime in Chicago, Gail made Sarasota, Florida her home in 2019. www.inspiredchoice.com Ways to connect with Gail: Gail@inspiredchoice.com www.inspiredchoice.com http://www.linkedin.com/in/gailsussmanmillerr https://www.facebook.com/GailSussmanMiller/ About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson ** 01:21 Well, a pleasant hello to you. Wherever you happen to be today, you are listening to unstoppable mindset, and my name is Michael Hingson. You can call me Mike if you want. It's okay as well. I am the host of unstoppable mindset, and today we get to chat with Gail Sussman-Miller, who is are you ready? Here it comes, Chief obstacle. Buster, I love that, and she is the chief obstacle Buster at inspired choice, which is an organization that she founded. She has been a coach for, wow, 23 years. You started in 2001 I think you said, And so anyway, this will be a fun conversation. She's got lots to talk to us about, and we've been talking for the last few minutes about how to talk about some of the visual stuff to an audience that isn't necessarily going to see it. And that isn't because the people who aren't going to see it are blind. It's because they're not watching this, but listening to it on a podcast site, so you guys get to experience things the way some of the rest of us do. But anyway, Gail, welcome to unstoppable mindset. We're really glad you're here.   Gail Sussman-Miller ** 02:32 Thanks, Michael. I'm honored to be here, and I've had fun getting to know you as we get ready for this. Yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 02:39 well, and it's been good to get to know you and get a chance to really chat. Let's start, if we could by maybe you telling us sort of a little bit about the early Gale, growing up and some of that stuff, always a good way to start right. That could take an hour, but I'll leave it up to you. It reminds   Gail Sussman-Miller ** 02:54 me of the movie, I think was called the jerk that Stephen Martin was in, and he starts out saying, I was born a poor, black child. Started with his anyway, so I grew   Michael Hingson ** 03:10 up. I was born, I was born modest, some people have said, but it wore off. But anyway, you were born in Chicago, and I was born in Chicago.   Gail Sussman-Miller ** 03:20 Yeah, I grew up on north side, so yes, I'm a Cubs fan.   Michael Hingson ** 03:25 I was south side, and I still love the Cubs, Hopelessly Devoted   Gail Sussman-Miller ** 03:29 and lived my entire life actually in the city limits. Sometimes people say they're from Chicago to give people a reference, and they really live in the suburbs. So I loved, I would say all Yes, actually, all my residences were within two miles of Lake Michigan, and I love being near water. So grew up. I'm the the eldest of two girls, and close to my cousins, really great, close family. And then I went to college at Northern Illinois University, got a degree in teaching elementary and special ed at a time when there was a surplus of teachers, and I wasn't sure I wanted to do it as a career. And then I learned later in life that I love teaching, but actually prefer teaching adults. So it's been an interesting evolution of I would say most of my jobs were just good enough. I was one of millions who believed you live for Fridays and work is something you do to make money because you have to. And it wasn't until I was in my 40s that I found my ideal dream. Work, which is coaching and speaking and teaching, and I came home to a profession that I thought was just for me. It was perfect. It was great. And in the last five years, almost five years, we've been in Sarasota, Florida, made some permanent move and happy ever since, so   Michael Hingson ** 05:26 until you were in your 40s, were you teaching school or what were you doing? No,   Gail Sussman-Miller ** 05:30 I never became a teacher. It just wasn't. I didn't enjoy my student teaching. I did enjoy trying to parole and contain and control 2025 kids. I love children, so that was why I thought, Well, it's interesting. When I went to college, I had no strong calling for a profession, so I enrolled in teaching as the Lacher of evils, if you will. It just was like, well, compared to being a scientist, computer engineer, or you name it, this, I like kids and I like teaching, I just didn't like the combination.   Michael Hingson ** 06:15 So what did you do for jobs?   Gail Sussman-Miller ** 06:20 Oh, we'll see if I can remember, there was a period of time where I worked for an educational publisher, because I thought, Okay, I have a teaching degree. Maybe this will be interesting. It was not. I spent some time even working as a temp because I was good at computers and word processing, as it was called in the day. Yes, and it's so funny, Michael, I actually need my resume in front of me to tell you things in sequence. But the funny thing was, each thing led to something else. I think of my life as walking through a doorway and then going down a hall with lots of doorways, and then I choose another doorway, and that leads to another hall with doorways, and that's how I wound up where I am. So at one point, I think it might have been after the education publisher. There were, there were literally, I'm I'm being this is proof how meaningless some of my jobs were. But I did spend four years in Chicago at the chicago lighthouse at the time, called Chicago Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired. I think they've changed their name now, and I taught transcription skills and typing to adults who then went on to get jobs and get placed. And that was the most gratifying thing I did, and that's where I realized I much prefer teaching adults   Michael Hingson ** 08:01 you created a an interesting analogy, one that I subscribe to a lot. I think that each of us go through life making choices, and if you really sit down and think about it, you can trace your life back to and through the choices that you make. So you did a variety of things, and you discovered something with each choice and each thing that you went off and did, I can trace my life back because of the choices that I made. And I also studied teaching. I got a secondary teaching credential. And I actually thought of teaching, but then an opportunity to take a job in technology, actually working with Dr Ray Kurzweil and the National Federation of the Blind, with the development of the Kurzweil Reading Machine came along, and that led to working for Ray, and I was going to do human factors and continuing to do some of the work I did when we were all originally developing the first machine. But then after about eight months, I was confronted with a choice of either leaving the company or going into sales. And I decided, I love to tell people I lowered my standards from science and went into sales, which is not true, but I didn't lower my standards, as it turns out. But what I what I discovered, and I always liked teaching, I always liked explaining, and what I discovered was that the best salespeople are teachers. They're counselors. They really are involved in understanding what a customer's needs are, and then teaching that customer about how to get those results, hopefully with their products, I've had some situations where the product that we had wasn't the right solution, and of course, from. One standpoint that's an ethical issue to deal with. Do I say it's our product won't work, or do I still try to sell it? My belief has always been, you take the ethical choice and I are a few times where we specifically said our product won't work, but here's what will but whenever that occurred, we developed a level of trust that then led to other opportunities later on, but teaching people and really advising and counseling was something that I enjoyed, but I but I hear what you're saying about teaching adults. The question I would ask you is there are a lot of people who say that adults tend to be locked in and are much harder to teach than children. What do you think about   Gail Sussman-Miller ** 10:44 that? Oh, wow. I don't think that's ever it's funny in a way. I don't think that's ever crossed my mind.   Michael Hingson ** 10:54 It's like teaching language. You know, children learn language and additional languages.   Gail Sussman-Miller ** 11:00 Yeah, I would agree there. What I mean by that is, and what I thought you were going to ask me, so maybe I'll answer it anyway, is what I liked more about working with adults, and I like being able to hold the adult accountable and responsible for their learning and for asking questions, for speaking up, all of that. It depends, I suppose, if the adult, if the person I'm working with, wants to be in the training slash coaching learning situation or not are very there was only one period of time as a contractor where I was matched with people without my meeting them or knowing them. Normally, my clients come to me and then I get to we see if we have a fit in both ways. So there were a few times where people were assigned to me and didn't necessarily want to have coaching. But what I'm a master at is helping people look at their perspectives and shift them for their greater good. So it almost always worked out that I could say or get to help them see this is going to benefit you, whether you ask for it or not. And let's figure out what it is you would most like to get out of it. Yeah? So enlisting, yeah, enlisting them, engaging them. And then I, I don't think it's ever been a challenge. In my opinion,   Michael Hingson ** 12:36 my wife was a teacher for a number of years, and she liked teaching third graders more than older kids, because she said a lot of the older kids had already developed their attitudes, whether taught by their parents or whatever, and developed habits that weren't necessarily positive. And as a result, it was harder to work with them than it was to work with third graders, because third graders were at an age where she could get them to to think and to focus, and was able to get them to look at and hopefully learn the things that she was trying to Teach, whereas older kids she felt didn't do that nearly as well. So that was an interesting observation that she had. And eventually she she left teaching because, well, here's a story. She was going to do a Valentine's Day party for her class, and she made a deal with the students. The parents were going to bring goodies and they were going to come and all that in the park. That. And the party was supposed to start at two o'clock, and she made a deal with her students, and I don't know whether it was that morning or before, but she said, we'll start the party when you all get your work done. Okay? And everybody agreed. Well, at two o'clock, kids had been goofing off and so on, so the party didn't start. The parents had to wait outside, and it was like about 20 minutes late for the party to start. The kids finally finished the stuff they were supposed to do, and one parent pitched a real hissy fit and had her well, took her to the principal's office. The principal called her in and said, what's going on? The parents are not happy with what you did that day. And Karen brought the students in, who were the children of the parents, and the parents complained that she was too hard on the students and all that. And so Karen then said, Okay, kids, what was the arrangement that we had? And they all said we were supposed to get our work done before the party could start. Why didn't we start the party on time? We didn't get stuff done and that was it. You know, the principal told the parents, go away, go away. It is accountability. And Karen. Is really always great at accountability, and I love the concept of accountability, and when you're creating teams and so on, the most basic fundamental is all about being able to hold each other accountable. And you don't do it because it's a personal thing, or you have an ax to grind, it's because the whole team agrees that those are things that everyone can do. So I agree with you, accountability is important. That's great.   Gail Sussman-Miller ** 15:29 I also think that if motivation is important, so your wife used the party as a motivator, and with adults, if they really want to change their results, then this is and I don't, I don't dictate how to do it as much as help them figure out how they're going to do it,   Michael Hingson ** 15:52 absolutely, absolutely. So   Gail Sussman-Miller ** 15:56 it's fun. It's fun. I have a blast, and some people are a term coaches use is coachable. Some people are more coachable than others. And usually I can kind of assess that early on. And sometimes it's we go as far as they're willing to go. They may also not be emotionally ready to go any further   Michael Hingson ** 16:22 well. So in 2001 you discovered that you really wanted to teach adults more, and you started your organization. And so inspired, choice came to be. Tell us more about that and what it is and how it's evolved over the years.   Gail Sussman-Miller ** 16:43 So I'm actually it's kind of funny. I was I got married in 2000 came back from my honeymoon to find out I'd been laid off. I spent 13 years at Anderson Consulting, which became Accenture, just as I was leaving, and I, I don't even remember, I think I had seven different jobs in 13 years. They there was a lot of shifting, and one or two I enjoyed the most because they had a lot of teaching. So I enrolled in a couple of programs. Chicagoans will recognize this name, maybe, you know it the Discovery Center was on Lincoln Avenue. We've hired that so I took a class that introduced coaching there. And I said, this is interesting. I'm actually still friends with a couple people that were in that classroom, and then I went to a two day conference held by the local Chicago chapter of the International Coach Federation. And then I was hooked, totally hooked. So after being laid off, I spent some time looking for a job, and then I asked my husband if it was okay with him if I decided to pursue this training and then career and coaching. And he said, Sure. So that's where it started, and in 1997 I'm rewinding just a little, I did a two and a half day women's personal growth weekend, and started to do the deepest personal growth work I'd done, I would say, in my life, I'd done therapy for years, but didn't find it as effective as this. Two and a half days really moved the needle. And one of the women who was staffing that weekend, I saw her at a local event for that organization, and I mentioned I was unhappy about a few things. She said, Well, I think I can help you. And I hired her. Lo and behold, she was a coach. I didn't even know it, and it was immensely helpful to me. That's how I really got familiar with coaching. And then the two day, two and a half day weekend, and then all of that. So that's when I realized it was like a career design just for me. No one else was perfect. It was my orientation. Was not telling people what to do, it was helping them empower themselves and realize their best way. So I started my business very slowly. I didn't know anything about being a business person. I had no clue I was the least bit entrepreneurial, and it evolved slowly, but in the beginning, I kind of like thinking of as a sandwich on the bottom layer. The first piece of bread was about seven years working with women who were in the. Own businesses, helping them realize and find their best marketing method. I just love thinking about marketing, and then that led me to develop a workshop of my own called How to love networking, which most people do not love. It used metaphors, taking what they love to do most in their life, like, let's say cooking or knitting or travel, and how to network the way they do that activity they love. That led to my being discovered by a senior executive organization helping people network. So they asked if I would lead their Chicago meetings, and I did for about seven and a half years. That shifted me and put me in front of senior executives who were looking for jobs, and I taught networking and help them present themselves well within the meeting. And many of them needed additional help, so I was hired into that kind of coaching. And my whole career, my whole business shifted from helping women on marketing to helping executives with their job search, which is, by the way, still marketing.   Michael Hingson ** 21:22 It is, how? How do you teach networking? What? What is that?   Gail Sussman-Miller ** 21:28 I'll answer that in a minute, but my brain needs to finish this one. Okay, okay, brain, go ahead. My brain will be busy working on it. After about seven years of teaching these executives, helping them in their job search and promoting themselves and networking, I came back to working with women, and that's what I've been doing, working with women leaders on how to be a more empowered, truthful, authentic and vulnerable leader. So that just had to bring you up to the present. So how do you teach networking? It was helping to debunk what networking is, and I like to define networking as simply connecting with like minded people for the greater good. It's all about connection. What do you have in common? How getting curious? I mean that one of the basic concerns people had was always walking into a room like a networking event, and maybe there's 10 people, there could be 40 people. How do I start a conversation? How do I describe myself? And people being very attached to the outcome, I have to meet someone who's going to be helpful to me. I worked with some people who wanted to literally walk in the room, grab the microphone and say, I'm a tech engineer. Can anyone hire me? Like, Oh my gosh, that is not going to get you there, no, but very, you know, end result oriented. So it had a lot to do with understanding human nature, how to have these conversations, how to describe themselves well and talk about the outcomes they deliver, and to be of service help others. First things you've heard before, but it was usually getting at what their obstacle was. What was their obstacle to the process,   Michael Hingson ** 23:29 makes sense, and and it and it is always a challenge. If let's take your example. I'm a tech guy who will hire me, shows in so many ways, probably what that person isn't looking at and needs to look at, and certainly could use a lot of teaching and coaching. The question is, of course, would they be interested in doing it? And that's, that's, of course, what you address and what you deal with. Some people are coachable, and some people aren't, and some people will be once they discover what being coachable is all about.   Gail Sussman-Miller ** 24:15 Yeah, then a case like that, sometimes it's people that kind of urge, like, you know, I don't want to make small talk. I always say, Well, then don't make small talk. Make big talk. Ask important questions. Don't talk about the weather or how good the weenies are wrapped in the in the dough and the hors d'oeuvres. But they are impatient, perhaps because they're desperate, because they're afraid. I always wind up on the emotional undertones of what is going on. How long have you been in job search? Have you been turned down a lot what's going on? How confident are you? How well can you talk about what you do? Well. How well do you do in relationships having nothing to do with job search? What you know, are you good listener? All those things. So it's, I would say it's interesting about job search that at some level, people might not be at their best depending on how comfortable they are with the process, because it is not linear,   Michael Hingson ** 25:27 yeah, and even if you're turned down for a job, do you ask? Why? You know? Are you willing to learn? And again, some people are and some people aren't. Right, right when I talk, when I talk with people about being as when I talk with people about being a speaker and and even sometimes they say we're considering you. And then if they come back and they say we went a different direction, I will ask why. I'd love to learn a little bit more. I don't, I'm not quite that blunt. I'll say something like, I'd like to learn a little bit more about what the process was and what led you to the choice that you made. If you would please take the time to let me know. And again, it's, it's a it's a process. I haven't generally heard that. Oh, you're not a good speaker, or whatever. And I suppose some people might not want to say, but usually it's we had somebody who went a different wanted us to go a different direction, or, I mean, any number of things, or we changed our mind about the theme for the event, which has happened more than once any number of things. And so you you take every, every opportunity, and you learn what you can.   Gail Sussman-Miller ** 26:50 That makes sense. Yeah, yeah. It eventually. What led me at some point, I think the pretty sure the people were under and their fear and working with that, I think that some point that may have been what helped me decide to move on and instead of and practice what I preach. Really am I coaching this target audience out of passion, and I was starting to lose my passion. And I said, you know, I've been feeling a hankering to go back to working with women, and as I did the work on myself, this is not a surprise, but I was doing a lot of work on myself. To stand in my power more to really tune into my feminine energy and to spirituality. And it was all guiding me to say, you're not following your heart and soul passion. And then that led me right back to where I started, and working with women. There you go on on deeper issues. So it's been wonderful,   Michael Hingson ** 28:09 by the way. What kind of work does your husband do?   Gail Sussman-Miller ** 28:14 Oh, well, it's really interesting. He might have lost track how many years, but he's about a 45 year stock trader, and started out on the Chicago Board of Trade floor. Then around the time I met him, he, as they call it, went upstairs, became an upstairs trader, electronic only, and now, for maybe the last eight years, nine years, he's teaching traders and investors how to read the cycles in the stock market chart analysis and some emotional issues for traders. Traders psychology. And he created a membership for people that want to get involved at a deeper level or a lighter level. And he does training videos. He does. He's actually got a live show that he does once a month, and it's all about education and analysis, some really technical but this gorgeous, beautiful charting that he that he invented, of looking at where the rhythms are. I could go on and on about this, but I think that's probably all your listeners want to hear, because it gets great, really technical. And for those who are a little geeky, if you have ever heard of the Fibonacci formula, even the market follows Fibonacci cycles. Well,   Michael Hingson ** 29:52 the reason I asked the question was you said earlier, when you decided to start your business, you asked him, and he said, Yes, and that. Immediately made me wonder, what kind of a guy is he that he was willing to be open, and clearly, he's an intelligent person. He observes a lot, and so it makes perfect sense that that he would be the kind of person who would support and agree with decisions that you could make and do make, and the fact that the two of you communicated about it is, I think, the most telling thing. It's great when a couple shares and essentially really decides together.   Gail Sussman-Miller ** 30:36 Well, I can't wait to tell him what calls over. He's uh, currently relaxing by the pool after his Friday, his Friday live show. But the interesting thing, or, or, and the three, the two and a half day training I told you that I did in 97 he did the men's version, which is a little more popular. It's called a little has more notoriety. It's called new Warrior, and he did that in like three months before I met him, and that changed his life. So, communication skills, self awareness, taking responsibility, all of that, that was what drew me to him and that, and we've been growing those skills ever since, no taking responsibility if you get triggered, and not blaming the other person. Yeah, understanding a lot of emotional intelligence, a ton of emotional intelligence. In fact, we both got certified in a tool published by MHS, and it's a emotional intelligence assessment.   Michael Hingson ** 31:46 Well, you've been coaching for a while, needless to say, 23 years. What are the most common issues that women leaders ask for support on?   Gail Sussman-Miller ** 32:01 There's usually one common thread, and it's about, how do I have this conversation? I need to tell this employee they're not doing well, but I don't want to hurt their feelings. I'm not getting along well. Things are not going smoothly with one of my direct reports. I don't know how to approach that. Or there I have some clients who are in a male dominated industry and a male dominated firm, and they may be the only woman in the room. How do I dan in my power express myself and communicate where very often, male and female communications can be different. So how to how to tell, have the conversations, how to tell the truth, what they think is the truth, without worrying about hurting people's feelings or having a lot of fear come up and how how to move through the discomfort. It might be speaking up more than they're used to. It might be saying no, it might be setting some limits and being honest with some risk. So it's almost all connected, but those are usually the general themes,   Michael Hingson ** 33:29 yeah, and it's unfortunate that there have to be risks just to being able to speak up where as if it were just men in the room, probably the same issue wouldn't be there, but we're still way too patriarchal, I think, in a lot of ways, and that tends to be a problem. I love it when people are willing to speak up and be open. I think it's it's so important to do that.   Gail Sussman-Miller ** 33:57 Well, I can tell you that while I was still coaching on job search, most of my clients were men, and they had plenty of fear about speaking up plenty it is really not so gender biased, especially networking or interviewing, or how am I going to answer that question, or all of this strategizing. Well, if they say this, then I'll say that. Or instead of what I have come to learn to not only do but to enjoy, is to just be be in the moment. Yeah? Like I often joke, I like being put on the spot. Yeah, I mean, you asked you, and I talked about some things we might talk about today, but I'm ready for you to ask me anything, and I think that's exciting. And if I don't know the answer, I'll say so, but, but I've learned to love honesty in that kind of Troy. And that's what I help my clients do, yeah, and I can think of, oh, sorry, let me just finish this one, thinking of this one client, he wanted to get promoted. He liked his company a lot. He was doing well, and he was going to go to this meeting where they're going to be all appears of his, and then the next level up of management, and he was making himself a little nuts preparing, like I said, if they go on this topic, I've got my notes, and if they go to this topic, I've got my notes. And I helped him to see how he could he didn't need he was over, preparing, spending a lot of time that he didn't need to. And this concept of showing up, show up, be present, answer the questions from what you know, and the words don't matter as much as the energy. It's about saying what you feel and what you believe and say that proudly. So he started doing that, and he couldn't believe the shift. And there's a there's a woman. Her name is nalima bat. I've heard her speak, and she has a meditation that helps get to the point of saying there's nothing to defend, there's nothing to promote, and there's nothing to fear. God practically just want to sigh at that, yeah, oh, that's so reassuring. And then you just show up because you're you've got the ability you know you you're ready. You're always ready.   Michael Hingson ** 36:43 We just don't always think we are, because we overthink things. You know, the biggest problem with fear is we focus so much on the what ifs and that we create our own fear, rather than, as you just said, really living in the moment and and using the knowledge that you have, trusting your your gut or your brain, and, yeah, speaking up and doing the things that you know, really that you should do. And the reality is, you do know what you should do, but we are so focused so often on what if that we've lost a lot of those skills. They're there to be redeveloped. And I wrote a book that's going to be well, it'll be out in August of 2024 it's called Live like a guide dog, true stories from a blind man and his dogs about being brave, overcoming adversity and walking in faith. And the idea is to help people learn how to control fear. It isn't to be fearless, because fearless is a very powerful thing, but you don't need to let fear overwhelm you. You need to use it in a positive way. And one of the things that I learned and talk about in the book is that living in the moment is one of the most powerful things that we can do. That isn't to say you don't develop strategies and spend some time strategizing, but if you do it to the point where you drive yourself crazy and you don't really listen to yourself, that's a problem.   Gail Sussman-Miller ** 38:21 You used a really important word there trust and we have this is a topic that I'm warning you. Michael could go pretty deep, so I'm going to try to stay at the top, because it can. It's so enmeshed, I have come to appreciate that as humans, we have to, let's call it two minds. We have our ego, fear driven mind that, from our cave days, is there to protect us. That's the the ancient reptilian part of our brain that's there to make sure that we have our fight, flight or freeze response if we see a big wooly mammoth today, our fears are very different, but we're not worried about a lion or a tiger around every corner, so we have this protective, fear driven way of thinking that you can also refer to as ego. That is the what if negative and I need to be careful. What if I don't get promoted? What if someone thinks this? What if a lot of women worry? What if I sound too outspoken? We've got all that worry side, and that's one mind. The other is love driven, and it is for many people. It is about faith. It is about beliefs that there is the. Our powers greater than us, and that it isn't what one side, the ego, human protective side, is very tied to body identification with the eyes, ears, nose and touch, all of that what we hear the other side is spirit identification, and and that there, there's magic in the world. There's mystery, yeah, and it is not 100% all up to you. People will feel your energy. There are, there's, whatever you want to call it for you, divine, the universe, spirit. There are other forces at work, and that that's where, if we can trust that it doesn't all rest on our shoulders, not all within our control, either, but we, one side is powerless. This side, to me, is where you have your power. I need to do my best, and I can show up.   Michael Hingson ** 41:00 We don't always have control over what happens, but we always have control over how we deal with what happens, and that's the part that we have to make, the choice to address. And the example I always give with that is the World Trade Center. We had no control over it, and I no one's convinced me yet that we could have figured it out, but each and every one of us moves forward from the World Trade Center, and we have the choice to make of how we deal with what happened that day. We can hate love, we can use it as a way to move forward and help others and ourselves and so many different things that we have a choice to do. Well,   Gail Sussman-Miller ** 41:45 I hope so here do, yeah, yeah, big time.   Michael Hingson ** 41:50 And I think it's the important thing that we we need to do. Let me ask you this question. You have a tool that you use to help men and women improve their results. And do you want to talk about that some?   Gail Sussman-Miller ** 42:04 Yeah, and it's all about what you were just talking about. It's all about perspective and it all and the power of our thoughts. So very typically, when I work with people, I'm sure you see this, and the people you talk to, people want to change their results. So they say, Well, if I want a better career, I want this, or I want that, I need to change my actions, my behavior. And usually that's where it stops. Is okay. Want a job, I'm going to go look for a job. I'm going to do this, do that, do these steps. I want to get promoted. I'm going to start showing up like this or that, and then it sometimes doesn't work, or they're too afraid, so they do some shortcuts, or they aren't showing up fully in their strength and their ability and their power. So what I help people realize is before you go take those changed actions to get new results, there's something that happens before the action, and that is, you look at choices options, you think about your options first, and then you choose one or two, and you do those actions before the choices, even before you look at a list of choices, there's an emotion or a feeling. If your job search is motivated by fear, then your options that you look at might be somewhat desperation driven, and then your behavior, and then the results you get. If we I'll stick with job search as the example. What triggered those emotions? Where do those come from? So even before the emotion, there's some kind of a belief, and before the belief we have thoughts, and I like to kind of put those in the same bucket, thoughts that we hold on to long enough become beliefs we can have fleeting thoughts, like I think I can fly, but then when we we look at what we believe. So there's often a trigger at the beginning of the whole process. I need a job. I've just been laid off, and the thought or belief is this is a tough market. No one's going to want to hire me. I didn't get enough to a high enough level, or my resume is not going to be impressive. That creates the emotion of fear. Fear leads to limited options, like, I'm not even ready to talk about my skills. I'll just go apply online. That's it. I'll send out like 50 resumes online. Online is never the best way to find a job, and it's usually. Maybe 20% of the best strategy. So we look online, and then the result is, that's our action. The result is, maybe we get called for one or two interviews. So now we're annoyed This isn't going well, that thought, that belief now starts a whole nother chain reaction. This isn't going well. I'm never going to find a job more anger and frustration and fear, and we make new choices, take more action, and the results may not change. So what you can do with this is interrupt the whole flow and choose a different thought, a different belief. And one possibility for this kind of a person would be, I've had a reasonably good career. I have a lot of skills, maybe if I ask for some help, I can present myself in a different way, or I'm really focusing too much on the negative, and a new belief might be if I tell my story in a more positive way, and if I can calm myself down, I know I'm hireable. I know I can do well, and that would bring a new emotion of some positivity, some maybe even a little spark of joy, some contentment. I don't know if we could go all the way to happy and we look at making different choices. Who can I ask? Who do I think describes themselves really well? Who has a lot of confidence? Maybe a good friend of mine can help me, and we look at a bunch of choices. I've heard that networking is more important than looking online, but I don't, I don't think I can network well. Who do I know that networks well, and then we take different action, like maybe talking to one of those friends, or working with a job search office or a coach, and we get different results, and that then feeds the formula again. Then we're like, okay, that worked. I'm on the right track. I got more interviews. I'm hireable, and it keeps circulating and circulating.   Michael Hingson ** 47:28 Yeah, and the example you just gave, the reality is, all too often we talk ourselves into a bad situation or a not positive situation, because we do the what ifs and we don't look at options. And I think it's so important to think about the more positive things. And the reality is, Gandhi put it very well when he said interdependence is an ought to and ought to be as much the ideal of man as a self sufficiency. And the point is, is so true that we're all part of the same world. We're all part of the same process, and the more we work together, and the Learn More we learn to work together, the better it will be. Yes,   Gail Sussman-Miller ** 48:17 and interestingly, maybe building on your What if concept, there's, there's a, there's a game I sometimes play with people, if you can picture like the chair you're sitting in is, is center center point. What if negative moves to your left every time you answer? Well, what if I don't get a job? Well, what if I go hungry? What if I'm broke? What if, and you keep moving left, left, left, further, or you can come back to center and move to the right, well, what if I get some help, and that leads to a job? And what if this, and what if this going positive, and you just notice where, where are you in the center? And the minute you go, what if, positive two or three steps, but you have a negative thought, it takes you back to the center. So it's just a way of paying attention. Am I? Am I going up with my What if, or in this case, to to the right, or am I going? What if negative they can go either way,   Michael Hingson ** 49:26 well. And the issue is, you take two or three steps to the right or movements to the right, and then a negative thought comes along again. You have the choice and the control of how you deal with that negative thought of that as a negative thought, I'm not going to let that control my life. It might be good point. Glad you brought that up negative mind, but that's not going to help me progress, and that. That's the part that I think a lot of people don't learn how to deal with very well. We're way too negative oriented in our world. It seems, sometimes seems to me,   Gail Sussman-Miller ** 50:12 Well, it's interesting, because that's the human protective ego side bringing up the fear based thought, like, Ooh, wait a minute, you're feeling a little too cocky so you could get hurt. Let me throw a monkey wrench in here. Well, what if? And then here comes the negative thought. And we really those thoughts are so powerful, they influence not just our emotions and choices and action and results, but they they influence what what we believe, and we actually vibrate that to other people. I'm sure you know our listeners and and you have walked into a room and said something with with other people, and you just feel something in the air someone's like, did you just walk in after an argument two people had or something doesn't feel right. We really do vibe off each other. And using continuing to use the job search metaphor, depending on how you come in the room to meet someone that wants to have a conversation with you, you set the tone you really we have that power. It's takes a lot of practice, though, to catch like you said, Oh, thanks, negative mind, because it is worth thinking. It is trying to protect you, and especially your very young child. All our coping mechanisms, we taught, we were taught them or developed them, and it's gotten us this far, but it may not be serving you anymore, or   Michael Hingson ** 51:54 you you haven't learned how to put a barrier or a stop to those things, and that's the the part that's missing. Can you give us an example? Tell us a story about someone who you've helped with, with the whole process and what happened?   Gail Sussman-Miller ** 52:12 Well, this is kind of fun, and this has happened a couple times. To tell you about I'm trying to decide which story to tell you, because I'm also thinking about protecting confidentiality. So maybe this is a little easier one. So I have a client who, right now is actually a month from today, is her 65th birthday, and she's thinking was came to me thinking about retiring. She She and I worked together, I don't know, maybe 10 years ago, and she came back, and she was in a lot of either or thinking, so I'd like to make a decision, and may 12, be retired, but I still really love what I do. She's a musician, and I know she would enjoy my telling her story, and I still get a lot of pleasure out of it, but I don't want to work so many hours. She's used to kind of just saying yes to every gig that comes along, sure I'll play for you. Sure, sure. So part of our work was about what is your desired outcome? What do you really want? Do you want to stop working and cook and visit with people and go on trips? No, I really still like working, but I don't really trust myself to not work all the time. So we wound up shifting using a similar thought formula. Her current belief was it's either work or play. That was it. So that led to feeling overwhelmed and afraid, and that led to her making choices to postpone it, which is really a choice. She didn't take action. And the result is, well, I'm getting even closer to that 65th birthday, and I have no decision. And we shifted to the concept of what about work and play, that there were way to set ways to set limits. We came up with some criteria, all based on joy. Which gigs bring you the most joy? Oh, well, that's easy. I get to play this instrument, not that one within 25 miles of my home, for people that I really like, Okay, now we have, like, a thought filter, a choice filter for choice filter, right, right. It has to meet this criteria, this one and this one. Oh, but then I'll hurt the feelings of people I say no to we worked on that. Well. Now. I just talked to her yesterday, she said no to like, two or three gigs. Said yes to six. She's working fewer hours, and now she's exploring, what do I want to do with my time off? She's never taken much time off, and now it's just plugging in some time for my husband, some time for learning new recipes, some time for practicing my instrument, and now she trusts herself to only say yes to the gigs that bring joy. And   Michael Hingson ** 55:32 why did she say no? Why did she say no to some   Gail Sussman-Miller ** 55:38 they they were on holidays, which she's used to sacrificing holidays. And she said, Nope, I want Easter with my husband and my family. I'm saying no,   Michael Hingson ** 55:50 that's my point. Yeah, and yeah. And it was limits. It   Gail Sussman-Miller ** 55:54 was setting limits. Maybe she'd worked with them before and they didn't pay on time, or it was out of her driving limit, or something about it, there's no one else in the room with her making the decision. Something about it didn't feel right, like it's just trusting instinct, but there were some clear cut yeses and clear cut nos instead of I need to please everyone, so I have to say, yes, yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 56:26 which is so cool.   56:28 Yes, it's so fun. Well, what's   Michael Hingson ** 56:30 the best way that people can explore working with you?   Gail Sussman-Miller ** 56:33 Well, I think that when we share this video and the audit the recording, that folks will have my email but let me give it to you now. Yes, please. My email address is Gail, G, A, I, L, at, inspired choice.com, that's I n, s, p, i, R, E, D, C, H, O, i, c, e.com, you can also call me good old telephone, 773-477-4012, still have my Chicago area code. There you go. And my website, if you want to learn more, is www, dot inspired, choice.com,   Michael Hingson ** 57:20 and through the website, and I would assume that through the website, they also can contact you. There's contact information on the site and so on.   57:28 Cool.   Michael Hingson ** 57:31 Well, this, I think, has been a lot of fun to do, and I think it's so important that people learn that they can discover better how to make choices, and that you're out there to help. And I still love chief obstacle. Buster, I think that's such a great title.   Gail Sussman-Miller ** 57:52 And Michael, I just want to add that I'm happy to always set up a zoom and meet with people and explore the possibilities and see it has to be a good fit on both sides and like, am I even someone who is coachable, or is this something that would even work for me? So that's always the first step.   Michael Hingson ** 58:16 Exploration is always a good thing. Yeah. Well, I want to thank you for being here, and I want to thank you all for listening and watching us today. I hope that this has been informative and useful and helpful, and that you will take advantage of the services and skills that Gail has to offer and that you'll reach out to her. I want to thank you for listening, and as always, really appreciate all that you're doing with unstoppable mindset and attending our different episodes. I'd love to hear from you. You can reach me by email at Michael H i, at accessibe, A, C, C, E, S, S, I, B, e.com, or go to our podcast page, www dot Michael hingson.com/podcast, Michael hingson is m, I C, H, A, E, L, H, I N, G, s, o, n.com/podcast, wherever you're listening, please give us a five star rating. Really would love to get that. It really is one of the wonderful things. When people give us a rating, we hope it'll be five star. But whatever you rate us, please review and we'd love to hear your thoughts and your comments. If you know of anyone else who ought to be a guest on unstoppable mindset, please encourage them to reach out, or you reach out and introduce us. Love it. Gail, you as well. If you know anyone else who ought to be a guest, please let us know. Thank you today. Michael, well, I want to thank you again, and we really appreciate you being here. Thanks very much for all of your time. Thanks.   **Michael Hingson ** 59:54 You have been listening to the Unstoppable Mindset podcast. Thanks for dropping by. I hope that you'll join us again next week, and in future weeks for upcoming episodes. To subscribe to our podcast and to learn about upcoming episodes, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com slash podcast. Michael Hingson is spelled m i c h a e l h i n g s o n. While you're on the site., please use the form there to recommend people who we ought to interview in upcoming editions of the show. And also, we ask you and urge you to invite your friends to join us in the future. If you know of any one or any organization needing a speaker for an event, please email me at speaker at Michael hingson.com. I appreciate it very much. To learn more about the concept of blinded by fear, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com forward slash blinded by fear and while you're there, feel free to pick up a copy of my free eBook entitled blinded by fear. The unstoppable mindset podcast is provided by access cast an initiative of accessiBe and is sponsored by accessiBe. Please visit www.accessibe.com . AccessiBe is spelled a c c e s s i b e. There you can learn all about how you can make your website inclusive for all persons with disabilities and how you can help make the internet fully inclusive by 2025. Thanks again for Listening. Please come back and visit us again next week.

Join host Marsh Naidoo in this episode of Raising Kellan as she talks with Dennis Anderson, CEO of Anderson Consulting. Dennis shares his expertise on digital accessibility and safety, providing valuable insights for parents navigating the digital world. 00:00 Introduction 01:30 Dennis Anderson's background 05:00 Business IT services and government contracts 10:00 Residential IT services and accessibility tools 15:30 Common accessibility tools 20:00 Digital safety tips for parents 30:00 Top accessibility features 35:00 Smart assistants and speech-to-text technologies 40:00 Contact information and services 45:00 Anderson Custom Crafts 50:00 Closing remarks For more information, visit Anderson Consulting's website at andersonconsulting.us and follow their Facebook page for Tech Tuesday updates. Don't forget to rate and review on your podcast platform. Stay connected and continue to reach the top of your mountain! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/marsh-naidoo/message

On today's show, we discuss:  The Evolution of a Creative Strategist: Our guest, Ed, shares his journey from working in sales promotion and direct marketing to becoming a creative strategist. He highlights the significance of understanding the power of communication and how his early career experiences shaped his approach to strategy and innovation. The Transition to Management Consultancy: Ed discusses his pivotal move to Accenture (formerly Anderson Consulting), emphasizing how this shift was the best decision for his career. He reflects on the learning curve and the unique challenges of management consultancy, describing it as a 'fourth emergency service' career that demands hard work, grit, and client management skills. Pursuing Passion and Finding the Right Fit: We explore Ed's decision to leave Accenture and join 'What If', driven by his desire to focus more on creative strategy. He shares insights into the dynamic and fun environment at 'What If', and how it aligned with his professional aspirations. The Role of Insight and Strategy in Business: Ed delves into the importance of human insight in business strategy. He explains how understanding customer needs and expectations is crucial for innovation and growth, and how this approach has shaped his career and current role at Butterfly. Plus much more...   --- Where to find the Ed: LinkedIn Butterfly Where to find Danny: LinkedIn Tiktok The Insightful Innovator: How to Level Up Your Employee Experience   Get full access to the 'Get Knotted' Newsletter and bonus content from the podcast at https://www.weareknot.co.uk/subscribe.   ---

Host Marsh Naidoo interviews Dr. Jennifer Graves, the president of the Star Center in Jackson, Tennessee. Dr. Graves discusses her connection to disabilities and her passion for helping individuals with differing abilities. She explains how the Star Center was founded by Margaret and Chuck Doumitt who wanted to provide services for their children with Batten's Disease. The center offers a wide range of services, including music therapy, assistive technology, employment services, and a reading clinic for individuals with dyslexia. She encourages listeners to reach out to the Star Center for more information on their services. Timeline: 00:33 Introduction 02:33 Dr Jennifer Grave's backstory 05:21. Dr Grave's career and how she became involved with the Star Center 06:53 The origin of The Star Center and the story of Margaret and Chuck T, Doumitt 11:48 Services provided for pediatric clients 12:10 Music Therapy 14:32 Vocational Rehab 16:03 Reading Programs 21:35 Homecare 23:33 Conclusion The episode is sponsored by Anderson Consulting your one-stop IT shop! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/marsh-naidoo/message

In this podcast episode, the host, Marsh Naidoo, interviews Kim Larrick about their experience at Hope Heals Camp. Kim shares that her son, Ben, has a rare genetic condition called Menkes disease, which affects his mobility and other aspects of his health. Her daughter, Kelsey, has cerebral palsy and epilepsy. Kim and her family learned about Hope Heals Camp through Instagram and decided to apply. Kim and Marsh discuss their favorite moments at the camp, including worship sessions, mom's party, and the talent show. Timeline: 2:18 Introduction by Kim Larrick 4:25 Ben and Menkes Disease6:01 Kelsey and Cerebral Palsy 7:52 How did you learn about Hope Heals Camp 10:50 Camp experience12:11 The Road to Nauvoo Alamba 13:34 Highlights of Camp15:41 Kim and teaching elementary school. 17:06 Managing time and the work-life balance when you have a child/children with disabilities.18:06 RoundupThis episode is brought to you by Anderson Consulting. Your one-stop shop for all your IT needs --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/marsh-naidoo/message

In this podcast episode, Marsh Naidoo interviews Kali Decker, a pediatric physical therapist who recently went on a mission trip to Uganda. Kali discusses her journey to becoming a pediatric physical therapist and the need for specialized care for children with disabilities. She also talks about the equipment drive being organized to collect pediatric equipment such as wheelchairs and walkers for her upcoming mission trip. The goal of the mission trip is to provide sustainable care and improve the quality of life for children in Uganda. Listeners are encouraged to donate equipment and support the project. Timeline: 02:55 Kali Decker's Background and what put her on the trajectory to becoming a pediatric PT. 5:13 Kali's mission trip to Masindi. 6:31 Kim Decker and The Fellow of Christian Athletes (FCA) 7:46 Planned Equipment Drive for Kali's Mission Trip. 8:28 Items needed. 10:30 Our take on helping locally and internationally. 12:30 Kali relates Noah's story of mobility. 14:02 What is OneWorld Health? 15:12 Kali's plug to participate in the Equipment Drive. 17:36 Closing Remarks This episode is sponsored by Dennis Anderson of Anderson Consulting in Newbern TN --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/marsh-naidoo/message

Today we chatted with Ashley Roberts, MRC, CRC vocational rehabilitation field supervisor here in NortWest TN. Timeline: 3:27 What is vocational rehabilitation (VR)? 3:54 Who does VR service and what services does it cover? 4:16 How can parents get connected with VR? 5:47 Is VR part of school and when do you enroll for services? 11:58 Does VR involve finding independent living solutions? 14: 06 Can VR coincide with other employment services? 15:39 Conclusion. The transcript of this podcast can be found at www.raisingkellan.org This episode is sponsored by Anderson Consulting in Newbern, TN --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/marsh-naidoo/message

In this episode, David Wiers, the President of Satori Energy, embarks on an exploration of the dynamic energy consulting realm and the world of electricity deregulation. Join us on a journey through David's career trajectory, where he transitioned from his early days at Anderson Consulting to a pivotal role in the energy consulting sector, perfectly timed with the unfolding of ComEd customer deregulation in 2000. At the young age of 28, David started Satori Energy, recognizing an opportunity to offer valuable services to mid-sized and smaller businesses through a brokered approach to energy consulting. Witness the remarkable growth of his company, which started as a small team and has now flourished into a thriving enterprise boasting nearly 60 employees. Delve into the complexities of customer tariffs, the transformative shift towards deregulated energy suppliers, and the historical landscape of deregulated electricity markets. Explore the concept of electricity deregulation, where the generation and delivery of electricity become uncoupled, granting consumers newfound choices and responsibilities. David shares invaluable strategies for effectively managing energy consumption and costs in regulated states. Discover a roadmap to heightened energy efficiency, encompassing technologies like smart thermostats and behind-the-meter solar solutions, providing more control over energy expenses. Gain insights into how clients are harnessing solar power, incentives, credits, and SRECs (Solar Renewable Energy Certificates) for both economic savings and environmental sustainability. This episode isn't merely about energy consulting; it's an odyssey through the ever-evolving energy landscape where entrepreneurship, innovation, and growth reign supreme. Stay tuned for more eye-opening revelations in future episodes!

Season 5 Episode 7 FACULTY: Jody Padar CLASS: #TheGuide TITLE: The Art of Radical Conversations In this podcast episode, Scott interviews Jody Padar, also known as "The Radical CPA," who currently serves as the VP of Tax Strategy & Evangelism. The episode delves into Jody's journey from high school accounting competitions and Tax Twitter to taking over her father's firm. Introducing Jody Padar Jody in High School Early Tax Twitter Peer Group Forward Thinking Taking Over Her Father's Firm Changing Pricing Being a Mother and an Entrepreneur How Jody's Dad Helped Her Passion for Accounting The Art of Conversation Will the AICPA Stick around? CPA vs EA Next Things for Jody Shout Outs: Jason Ackerman's Dad, Nayo Carter-Gray, Jason Blummer, Jason Staats, Ron Baker, Mark Koziel, Tom Hood, Shana Chapman, Michael Hsu, Chris Farmand, Drew Carrick, Anderson Consulting, Engage, Botkeeper, Zappos, Sage, Xero, April, Monday, AICPA --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/accountinghigh/message

Today we are joined by Rob Wrubel, CFP® AIF® AEP®. He is a best-selling, award-winning author of Financial Freedom for Special Needs Families, 30 Days to Your Special Needs Trust and Protect Your Family. He has been a contributing source for local and national media and is a sought-after speaker who regularly gives highly-rated, entertaining, and informative workshops on special-needs planning. His books, workshops, and educational talks help families plan for the future, preserve benefits and achieve financial freedom. Rob has three children and his middle daughter has Down syndrome and is the President of Cascade Investment Group in Colorado Springs. Timeline: 1:48 Rob's background and how he got into financial planning for families with special needs. 5:01 What are some of the benefits persons with disabilities can enroll in once they turn 18? 6:09 What is SSDI? 8:20 What is SSI? 10:16 Special Needs Trust 14:32 Protecting your child's future benefits such as medical care. 15:12 Rob's advice for parents. 17:05 Future planning helps you live a great life today. 19:16 Contact information: Rob Wruble The transcript will be soon available at www.raisingkellan.org This episode is brought to you by Anderson Consulting in Dyersburg TN --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/marsh-naidoo/message

Richard Seroter, Director of Outbound Product Management at Google, joins Corey on Screaming in the Cloud to discuss what's new at Google. Corey and Richard discuss how AI can move from a novelty to truly providing value, as well as the importance of people maintaining their skills and abilities rather than using AI as a black box solution. Richard also discusses how he views the DevRel function, and why he feels it's so critical to communicate expectations for product launches with customers. About RichardRichard Seroter is Director of Outbound Product Management at Google Cloud. He's also an instructor at Pluralsight, a frequent public speaker, and the author of multiple books on software design and development. Richard maintains a regularly updated blog (seroter.com) on topics of architecture and solution design and can be found on Twitter as @rseroter. Links Referenced: Google Cloud: https://cloud.google.com Personal website: https://seroter.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/rseroter LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seroter/ TranscriptAnnouncer: Hello, and welcome to Screaming in the Cloud with your host, Chief Cloud Economist at The Duckbill Group, Corey Quinn. This weekly show features conversations with people doing interesting work in the world of cloud, thoughtful commentary on the state of the technical world, and ridiculous titles for which Corey refuses to apologize. This is Screaming in the Cloud.Corey: Human-scale teams use Tailscale to build trusted networks. Tailscale Funnel is a great way to share a local service with your team for collaboration, testing, and experimentation.  Funnel securely exposes your dev environment at a stable URL, complete with auto-provisioned TLS certificates. Use it from the command line or the new VS Code extensions. In a few keystrokes, you can securely expose a local port to the internet, right from the IDE.I did this in a talk I gave at Tailscale Up, their first inaugural developer conference. I used it to present my slides and only revealed that that's what I was doing at the end of it. It's awesome, it works! Check it out!Their free plan now includes 3 users & 100 devices. Try it at snark.cloud/tailscalescream Corey: Welcome to Screaming in the Cloud, I'm Corey Quinn. We have returning guest Richard Seroter here who has apparently been collecting words to add to his job title over the years that we've been talking to him. Richard, you are now the Director of Product Management and Developer Relations at Google Cloud. Do I have all those words in the correct order and I haven't forgotten any along the way?Richard: I think that's all right. I think my first job was at Anderson Consulting as an analyst, so my goal is to really just add more words to whatever these titles—Corey: It's an adjective collection, really. That's what a career turns into. It's really the length of a career and success is measured not by accomplishments but by word count on your resume.Richard: If your business card requires a comma, success.Corey: So, it's been about a year or so since we last chatted here. What have you been up to?Richard: Yeah, plenty of things here, still, at Google Cloud as we took on developer relations. And, but you know, Google Cloud proper, I think AI has—I don't know if you've noticed, AI has kind of taken off with some folks who's spending a lot the last year… juicing up services and getting things ready there. And you know, myself and the team kind of remaking DevRel for a 2023 sort of worldview. So, yeah we spent the last year just scaling and growing and in covering some new areas like AI, which has been fun.Corey: You became profitable, which is awesome. I imagined at some point, someone wound up, like, basically realizing that you need to, like, patch the hole in the pipe and suddenly the water bill is no longer $8 billion a quarter. And hey, that works super well. Like, wow, that explains our utility bill and a few other things as well. I imagine the actual cause is slightly more complex than that, but I am a simple creature.Richard: Yeah. I think we made more than YouTube last quarter, which was a good milestone when you think of—I don't think anybody who says Google Cloud is a fun side project of Google is talking seriously anymore.Corey: I misunderstood you at first. I thought you said that you're pretty sure you made more than I did last year. It's like, well, yes, if a multi-billion dollar company's hyperscale cloud doesn't make more than I personally do, then I have many questions. And if I make more than that, I have a bunch of different questions, all of which could be terrifying to someone.Richard: You're killing it. Yeah.Corey: I'm working on it. So, over the last year, another trend that's emerged has been a pivot away—thankfully—from all of the Web3 nonsense and instead embracing the sprinkle some AI on it. And I'm not—people are about to listen to this and think, wait a minute, is he subtweeting my company? No, I'm subtweeting everyone's company because it seems to be a universal phenomenon. What's your take on it?Richard: I mean, it's countercultural now to not start every conversation with let me tell you about our AI story. And hopefully, we're going to get past this cycle. I think the AI stuff is here to stay. This does not feel like a hype trend to me overall. Like, this is legit tech with real user interest. I think that's awesome.I don't think a year from now, we're going to be competing over who has the biggest model anymore. Nobody cares. I don't know if we're going to hopefully lead with AI the same way as much as, what is it doing for me? What is my experience? Is it better? Can I do this job better? Did you eliminate this complex piece of toil from my day two stuff? That's what we should be talking about. But right now it's new and it's interesting. So, we all have to rub some AI on it.Corey: I think that there is also a bit of a passing of the buck going on when it comes to AI where I've talked to companies that are super excited about how they have this new AI story that's going to be great. And, “Well, what does it do?” “It lets you query our interface to get an answer.” Okay, is this just cover for being bad UX?Richard: [laugh]. That can be true in some cases. In other cases, this will fix UXes that will always be hard. Like, do we need to keep changing… I don't know, I'm sure if you and I go to our favorite cloud providers and go through their documentation, it's hard to have docs for 200 services and millions of pages. Maybe AI will fix some of that and make it easier to discover stuff.So in some cases, UIs are just hard at scale. But yes, I think in some cases, this papers over other things not happening by just rubbing some AI on it. Hopefully, for most everybody else, it's actually interesting, new value. But yeah, that's a… every week it's a new press release from somebody saying they're about to launch some AI stuff. I don't know how any normal human is keeping up with it.Corey: I certainly don't know. I'm curious to see what happens but it's kind of wild, too, because there you're right. There is something real there where you ask it to draw you a picture of a pony or something and it does, or give me a bunch of random analysis of this. I asked one recently to go ahead and rank the US presidents by absorbency and with a straight face, it did it, which is kind of amazing. I feel like there's a lack of imagination in the way that people talk about these things and a certain lack of awareness that you can make this a lot of fun, and in some ways, make that a better showcase of the business value than trying to do the straight-laced thing of having it explain Microsoft Excel to you.Richard: I think that's fair. I don't know how much sometimes whimsy and enterprise mix. Sometimes that can be a tricky part of the value prop. But I'm with you this some of this is hopefully returns to some more creativity of things. I mean, I personally use things like Bard or what have you that, “Hey, I'm trying to think of this idea. Can you give me some suggestions?” Or—I just did a couple weeks ago—“I need sample data for my app.”I could spend the next ten minutes coming up with Seinfeld and Bob's Burgers characters, or just give me the list in two seconds in JSON. Like that's great. So, I'm hoping we get to use this for more fun stuff. I'll be fascinated to see if when I write the keynote for—I'm working on the keynote for Next, if I can really inject something completely off the wall. I guess you're challenging me and I respect that.Corey: Oh, I absolutely am. And one of the things that I believe firmly is that we lose sight of the fact that people are inherently multifaceted. Just because you are a C-level executive at an enterprise does not mean that you're not also a human being with a sense of creativity and a bit of whimsy as well. Everyone is going to compete to wind up boring you to death with PowerPoint. Find something that sparks the imagination and sparks joy.Because yes, you're going to find the boring business case on your own without too much in the way of prodding for that, but isn't it great to imagine what if? What if we could have fun with some of these things? At least to me, that's always been the goal is to get people's attention. Humor has been my path, but there are others.Richard: I'm with you. I think there's a lot to that. And the question will be… yeah, I mean, again, to me, you and I talked about this before we started recording, this is the first trend for me in a while that feels purely organic where our customers, now—and I'll tell our internal folks—our customers have much better ideas than we do. And it's because they're doing all kinds of wild things. They're trying new scenarios, they're building apps purely based on prompts, and they're trying to, you know, do this.And it's better than what we just come up with, which is awesome. That's how it should be, versus just some vendor-led hype initiative where it is just boring corporate stuff. So, I like the fact that this isn't just us talking; it's the whole industry talking. It's people talking to my non-technical family members, giving me ideas for what they're using this stuff for. I think that's awesome. So yeah, but I'm with you, I think companies can also look for more creative angles than just what's another way to left-align something in a cell.Corey: I mean, some of the expressions on this are wild to me. The Photoshop beta with its generative AI play has just been phenomenal. Because it's weird stuff, like, things that, yeah, I'm never going to be a great artist, let's be clear, but being able to say remove this person from the background, and it does it, as best I can tell, seamlessly is stuff where yeah, that would have taken me ages to find someone who knows what the hell they're doing on the internet somewhere and then pay them to do it. Or basically stumble my way through it for two hours and it somehow looks worse afterwards than before I started. It's the baseline stuff of, I'm never going to be able to have it—to my understanding—go ahead just build me a whole banner ad that does this and hit these tones and the rest, but it is going to help me refine something in that direction, until I can then, you know, hand it to a professional who can take it from my chicken scratching into something real.Richard: If it will. I think that's my only concern personally with some of this is I don't want this to erase expertise or us to think we can just get lazy. I think that I get nervous, like, can I just tell it to do stuff and I don't even check the output, or I don't do whatever. So, I think that's when you go back to, again, enterprise use cases. If this is generating code or instructions or documentation or what have you, I need to trust that output in some way.Or more importantly, I still need to retain the skills necessary to check it. So, I'm hoping people like you and me and all our —every—all the users out there of this stuff, don't just offload responsibility to the machine. Like, just always treat it like a kind of slightly drunk friend sitting next to you with good advice and always check it out.Corey: It's critical. I think that there's a lot of concern—and I'm not saying that people are wrong on this—but that people are now going to let it take over their jobs, it's going to wind up destroying industries. No, I think it's going to continue to automate things that previously required human intervention. But this has been true since the Industrial Revolution, where opportunities arise and old jobs that used to be critical are no longer centered in quite the same way. The one aspect that does concern me is not that kids are going to be used to cheat on essays like, okay, great, whatever. That seems to be floated mostly by academics who are concerned about the appropriate structure of academia.For me, the problem is, is there's a reason that we have people go through 12 years of English class in the United States and that is, it's not to dissect of the work of long-dead authors. It's to understand how to write and how to tell us a story and how to frame ideas cohesively. And, “The computer will do that for me,” I feel like that potentially might not serve people particularly well. But as a counterpoint, I was told when I was going to school my entire life that you're never going to have a calculator in your pocket all the time that you need one. No, but I can also speak now to the open air, ask it any math problem I can imagine, and get a correct answer spoken back to me. That also wasn't really in the bingo card that I had back then either, so I am a hesitant to try and predict the future.Richard: Yeah, that's fair. I think it's still important for a kid that I know how to make change or do certain things. I don't want to just offload to calculators or—I want to be able to understand, as you say, literature or things, not just ever print me out a book report. But that happens with us professionals, too, right? Like, I don't want to just atrophy all of my programming skills because all I'm doing is accepting suggestions from the machine, or that it's writing my emails for me. Like, that still weirds me out a little bit. I like to write an email or send a tweet or do a summary. To me, I enjoy those things still. I don't want to—that's not toil to me. So, I'm hoping that we just use this to make ourselves better and we don't just use it to make ourselves lazier.Corey: You mentioned a few minutes ago that you are currently working on writing your keynote for Next, so I'm going to pretend, through a vicious character attack here, that this is—you know, it's 11 o'clock at night, the day before the Next keynote and you found new and exciting ways to procrastinate, like recording a podcast episode with me. My question for you is, how is this Next going to be different than previous Nexts?Richard: Hmm. Yeah, I mean, for the first time in a while it's in person, which is wonderful. So, we'll have a bunch of folks at Moscone in San Francisco, which is tremendous. And I [unintelligible 00:11:56] it, too, I definitely have online events fatigue. So—because absolutely no one has ever just watched the screen entirely for a 15 or 30 or 60-minute keynote. We're all tabbing over to something else and multitasking. And at least when I'm in the room, I can at least pretend I'll be paying attention the whole time. The medium is different. So, first off, I'm just excited—Corey: Right. It feels a lot ruder to get up and walk out of the front row in the middle of someone's talk. Now, don't get me wrong, I'll still do it because I'm a jerk, but I'll feel bad about it as I do. I kid, I kid. But yeah, a tab away is always a thing. And we seem to have taken the same structure that works in those events and tried to force it into more or less a non-interactive Zoom call, and I feel like that is just very hard to distinguish.I will say that Google did a phenomenal job of online events, given the constraints it was operating under. Production value is great, the fact that you took advantage of being in different facilities was awesome. But yeah, it'll be good to be back in person again. I will be there with bells on in Moscone myself, mostly yelling at people, but you know, that's what I do.Richard: It's what you do. But we missed that hallway track. You missed this sort of bump into people. Do hands-on labs, purposely have nothing to do where you just walk around the show floor. Like we have been missing, I think, society-wise, a little bit of just that intentional boredom. And so, sometimes you need at conference events, too, where you're like, “I'm going to skip that next talk and just see what's going on around here.” That's awesome. You should do that more often.So, we're going to have a lot of spaces for just, like, go—like, 6000 square feet of even just going and looking at demos or doing hands-on stuff or talking with other people. Like that's just the fun, awesome part. And yeah, you're going to hear a lot about AI, but plenty about other stuff, too. Tons of announcements. But the key is that to me, community stuff, learn from each other stuff, that energy in person, you can't replicate that online.Corey: So, an area that you have expanded into has been DevRel, where you've always been involved with it, let's be clear, but it's becoming a bit more pronounced. And as an outsider, I look at Google Cloud's DevRel presence and I don't see as much of it as your staffing levels would indicate, to the naive approach. And let's be clear, that means from my perspective, all public-facing humorous, probably performative content in different ways, where you have zany music videos that, you know, maybe, I don't know, parody popular songs do celebrate some exec's birthday they didn't know was coming—[fake coughing]. Or creative nonsense on social media. And the the lack of seeing a lot of that could in part be explained by the fact that social media is wildly fracturing into a bunch of different islands which, on balance, is probably a good thing for the internet, but I also suspect it comes down to a common misunderstanding of what DevRel actually is.It turns out that, contrary to what many people wanted to believe in the before times, it is not getting paid as much as an engineer, spending three times that amount of money on travel expenses every year to travel to exotic places, get on stage, party with your friends, and then give a 45-minute talk that spends two minutes mentioning where you work and 45 minutes talking about, I don't know, how to pick the right standing desk. That has, in many cases, been the perception of DevRel and I don't think that's particularly defensible in our current macroeconomic climate. So, what are all those DevRel people doing?Richard: [laugh]. That's such a good loaded question.Corey: It's always good to be given a question where the answers are very clear there are right answers and wrong answers, and oh, wow. It's a fun minefield. Have fun. Go catch.Richard: Yeah. No, that's terrific. Yeah, and your first part, we do have a pretty well-distributed team globally, who does a lot of things. Our YouTube channel has, you know, we just crossed a million subscribers who are getting this stuff regularly. It's more than Amazon and Azure combined on YouTube. So, in terms of like that, audience—Corey: Counterpoint, you definitionally are YouTube. But that's neither here nor there, either. I don't believe you're juicing the stats, but it's also somehow… not as awesome if, say, I were to do it, which I'm working on it, but I have a face for radio and it shows.Richard: [laugh]. Yeah, but a lot of this has been… the quality and quantity. Like, you look at the quantity of video, it overwhelms everyone else because we spend a lot of time, we have a specific media team within my DevRel team that does the studio work, that does the production, that does all that stuff. And it's a concerted effort. That team's amazing. They do really awesome work.But, you know, a lot of DevRel as you say, [sigh] I don't know about you, I don't think I've ever truly believed in the sort of halo effect of if super smart person works at X company, even if they don't even talk about that company, that somehow presents good vibes and business benefits to that company. I don't think we've ever proven that's really true. Maybe you've seen counterpoints, where [crosstalk 00:16:34]—Corey: I can think of anecdata examples of it. Often though, on some level, for me at least, it's been okay someone I tremendously respect to the industry has gone to work at a company that I've never heard of. I will be paying attention to what that company does as a direct result. Conversely, when someone who is super well known, and has been working at a company for a while leaves and then either trashes the company on the way out or doesn't talk about it, it's a question of, what's going on? Did something horrible happen there? Should we no longer like that company? Are we not friends anymore? It's—and I don't know if that's necessarily constructive, either, but it also, on some level, feels like it can shorthand to oh, to be working DevRel, you have to be an influencer, which frankly, I find terrifying.Richard: Yeah. Yeah. I just—the modern DevRel, hopefully, is doing a little more of product-led growth style work. They're focusing specifically on how are we helping developers discover, engage, scale, become advocates themselves in the platform, increasing that flywheel through usage, but that has very discreet metrics, it has very specific ownership. Again, personally, I don't even think DevRel should do as much with sales teams because sales teams have hundreds and sometimes thousands of sales engineers and sales reps. It's amazing. They have exactly what they need.I don't think DevRel is a drop in the bucket to that team. I'd rather talk directly to developers, focus on people who are self-service signups, people who are developers in those big accounts. So, I think the modern DevRel team is doing more in that respect. But when I look at—I just look, Corey, this morning at what my team did last week—so the average DevRel team, I look at what advocacy does, teams writing code labs, they're building tutorials. Yes, they're doing some in person events. They wrote some blog posts, published some videos, shipped a couple open-source projects that they contribute to in, like gaming sector, we ship—we have a couple projects there.They're actually usually customer zero in the product. They use the product before it ships, provides bugs and feedback to the team, we run DORA workshops—because again, we're the DevOps Research and Assessment gang—we actually run the tutorial and Docs platform for Google Cloud. We have people who write code samples and reference apps. So, sometimes you see things publicly, but you don't see the 20,000 code samples in the docs, many written by our team. So, a lot of the times, DevRel is doing work to just enable on some of these different properties, whether that's blogs or docs, whether that's guest articles or event series, but all of this should be in service of having that credible relationship to help devs use the platform easier. And I love watching this team do that.But I think there's more to it now than years ago, where maybe it was just, let's do some amazing work and try to have some second, third-order effect. I think DevRel teams that can have very discrete metrics around leading indicators of long-term cloud consumption. And if you can't measure that successfully, you've probably got to rethink the team.[midroll 00:19:20]Corey: That's probably fair. I think that there's a tremendous series of… I want to call it thankless work. Like having done some of those ridiculous parody videos myself, people look at it and they chuckle and they wind up, that was clever and funny, and they move on to the next one. And they don't see the fact that, you know, behind the scenes for that three-minute video, there was a five-figure budget to pull all that together with a lot of people doing a bunch of disparate work. Done right, a lot of this stuff looks like it was easy or that there was no work at all.I mean, at some level, I'm as guilty of that as anyone. We're recording a podcast now that is going to be handed over to the folks at HumblePod. They are going to produce this into something that sounds coherent, they're going to fix audio issues, all kinds of other stuff across the board, a full transcript, and the rest. And all of that is invisible to me. It's like AI; it's the magic box I drop a file into and get podcast out the other side.And that does a disservice to those people who are actively working in that space to make things better. Because the good stuff that they do never gets attention, but then the company makes an interesting blunder in some way or another and suddenly, everyone's out there screaming and wondering why these people aren't responding on Twitter in 20 seconds when they're finding out about this stuff for the first time.Richard: Mm-hm. Yeah, that's fair. You know, different internal, external expectations of even DevRel. We've recently launched—I don't know if you caught it—something called Jump Start Solutions, which were executable reference architectures. You can come into the Google Cloud Console or hit one of our pages and go, “Hey, I want to do a multi-tier web app.” “Hey, I want to do a data processing pipeline.” Like, use cases.One click, we blow out the entire thing in the platform, use it, mess around with it, turn it off with one click. Most of those are built by DevRel. Like, my engineers have gone and built that. Tons of work behind the scenes. Really, like, production-grade quality type architectures, really, really great work. There's going to be—there's a dozen of these. We'll GA them at Next—but really, really cool work. That's DevRel. Now, that's behind-the-scenes work, but as engineering work.That can be some of the thankless work of setting up projects, deployment architectures, Terraform, all of them also dropped into GitHub, ton of work documenting those. But yeah, that looks like behind-the-scenes work. But that's what—I mean, most of DevRel is engineers. These are folks often just building the things that then devs can use to learn the platforms. Is it the flashy work? No. Is it the most important work? Probably.Corey: I do have a question I'd be remiss not to ask. Since the last time we spoke, relatively recently from this recording, Google—well, I'd say ‘Google announced,' but they kind of didn't—Squarespace announced that they'd be taking over Google domains. And there was a lot of silence, which I interpret, to be clear, as people at Google being caught by surprise, by large companies, communication is challenging. And that's fine, but I don't think it was anything necessarily nefarious.And then it came out further in time with an FAQ that Google published on their site, that Google Cloud domains was a part of this as well. And that took a lot of people aback, in the sense—not that it's hard to migrate a domain from one provider to another, but it brought up the old question of, if you're building something in cloud, how do you pick what to trust? And I want to be clear before you answer that, I know you work there. I know that there are constraints on what you can or cannot say.And for people who are wondering why I'm not hitting you harder on this, I want to be very explicit, I can ask you a whole bunch of questions that I already know the answer to, and that answer is that you can't comment. That's not constructive or creative. So, I don't want people to think that I'm not intentionally asking the hard questions, but I also know that I'm not going to get an answer and all I'll do is make you uncomfortable. But I think it's fair to ask, how do you evaluate what services or providers or other resources you're using when you're building in cloud that are going to be around, that you can trust building on top of?Richard: It's a fair question. Not everyone's on… let's update our software on a weekly basis and I can just swap things in left. You know, there's a reason that even Red Hat is so popular with Linux because as a government employee, I can use that Linux and know it's backwards compatible for 15 years. And they sell that. Like, that's the value, that this thing works forever.And Microsoft does the same with a lot of their server products. Like, you know, for better or for worse, [laugh] they will always kind of work with a component you wrote 15 years ago in SharePoint and somehow it runs today. I don't even know how that's possible. Love it. That's impressive.Now, there's a cost to that. There's a giant tax in the vendor space to make that work. But yeah, there's certain times where even with us, look, we are trying to get better and better at things like comms. And last year we announced—I checked them recently—you know, we have 185 Cloud products in our enterprise APIs. Meaning they have a very, very tight way we would deprecate with very, very long notice, they've got certain expectations on guarantees of how long you can use them, quality of service, all the SLAs.And so, for me, like, I would bank on, first off, for every cloud provider, whether they're anchor services. Build on those right? You know, S3 is not going anywhere from Amazon. Rock solid service. BigQuery Goodness gracious, it's the center of Google Cloud.And you look at a lot of services: what can you bet on that are the anchors? And then you can take bets on things that sit around it. There's times to be edgy and say, “Hey, I'll use Service Weaver,” which we open-sourced earlier this year. It's kind of a cool framework for building apps and we'll deconstruct it into microservices at deploy time. That's cool.Would I literally build my whole business on it? No, I don't think so. It's early stuff. Now, would I maybe use it also with some really boring VMs and boring API Gateway and boring storage? Totally. Those are going to be around forever.I think for me, personally, I try to think of how do I isolate things that have some variability to them. Now, to your point, sometimes you don't know there's variability. You would have just thought that service might be around forever. So, how are you supposed to know that that thing could go away at some point? And that's totally fair. I get that.Which is why we have to keep being better at comms, making sure more things are in our enterprise APIs, which is almost everything. So, you have some assurances, when I build this thing, I've got a multi-year runway if anything ever changes. Nothing's going to stay the same forever, but nothing should change tomorrow on a dime. We need more trust than that.Corey: Absolutely. And I agree. And the problem, too, is hidden dependencies. Let's say what is something very simple. I want to log in to [unintelligible 00:25:34] brand new AWS account and spin of a single EC2 instance. The end. Well, I can trust that EC2 is going to be there. Great. That's not one service you need to go through that critical path. It is a bare minimum six, possibly as many as twelve, depending upon what it is exactly you're doing.And it's the, you find out after the fact that oh, there was that hidden dependency in there that I wasn't fully aware of. That is a tricky and delicate balance to strike. And, again, no one is going to ever congratulate you—at all—on the decision to maintain a service that is internally painful and engineering-ly expensive to keep going, but as soon as you kill something, even it's for this thing doesn't have any customers, the narrative becomes, “They're screwing over their customers.” It's—they just said that it didn't have any. What's the concern here?It's a messaging problem; it is a reputation problem. Conversely, everyone knows that Amazon does not kill AWS services. Full stop. Yeah, that turns out everyone's wrong. By my count, they've killed ten, full-on AWS services and counting at the moment. But that is not the reputation that they have.Conversely, I think that the reputation that Google is going to kill everything that it touches is probably not accurate, though I don't know that I'd want to have them over to babysit either. So, I don't know. But it is something that it feels like you're swimming uphill on in many respects, just due to not even deprecation decisions, historically, so much as poor communication around them.Richard: Mm-hm. I mean, communication can always get better, you know. And that's, it's not our customers' problem to make sure that they can track every weird thing we feel like doing. It's not their challenge. If our business model changes or our strategy changes, that's not technically the customer's problem. So, it's always our job to make this as easy as possible. Anytime we don't, we have made a mistake.So, you know, even DevRel, hey, look, it puts teams in a tough spot. We want our customers to trust us. We have to earn that; you will never just give it to us. At the same time, as you say, “Hey, we're profitable. It's great. We're growing like weeds,” it's amazing to see how many people are using this platform. I mean, even services, you don't talk about having—I mean, doing really, really well. But I got to earn that. And you got to earn, more importantly, the scale. I don't want you to just kick the tires on Google Cloud; I want you to bet on it. But we're only going to earn that with really good support, really good price, stability, really good feeling like these services are rock solid. Have we totally earned that? We're getting there, but not as mature as we'd like to get yet, but I like where we're going.Corey: I agree. And reputations are tricky. I mean, recently InfluxDB deprecated two regions and wound up turning them off and deleting data. And they wound up getting massive blowback for this, which, to their credit, their co-founder and CTO, Paul Dix—who has been on the show before—wound up talking about and saying, “Yeah, that was us. We're taking ownership of this.”But the public announcement said that they had—that data in AWS was not recoverable and they're reaching out to see if the data in GCP was still available. At which point, I took the wrong impression from this. Like, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hang on. Hold the phone here. Does that mean that data that I delete from a Google Cloud account isn't really deleted?Because I have a whole bunch of regulators that would like a word if so. And Paul jumped onto that with, “No, no, no, no, no. I want to be clear, we have a backup system internally that we were using that has that set up. And we deleted the backups on the AWS side; we don't believe we did on the Google Cloud side. It's purely us, not a cloud provider problem.” It's like, “Okay, first, sorry for causing a fire drill.” Secondly, “Okay, that's great.” But the reason I jumped in that direction was just because it becomes so easy when a narrative gets out there to believe the worst about companies that you don't even realize you're doing it.Richard: No, I understand. It's reflexive. And I get it. And look, B2B is not B2C, you know? In B2B, it's not, “Build it and they will come.” I think we have the best cloud infrastructure, the best security posture, and the most sophisticated managed services. I believe that I use all the clouds. I think that's true. But it doesn't matter unless you also do the things around it, around support, security, you know, usability, trust, you have to go sell these things and bring them to people. You can't just sit back and say, “It's amazing. Everyone's going to use it.” You've got to earn that. And so, that's something that we're still on the journey of, but our foundation is terrific. We just got to do a better job on some of these intangibles around it.Corey: I agree with you, when you s—I think there's a spirited debate you could have on any of those things you said that you believe that Google Cloud is the best at, with the exception of security, where I think that is unquestionably. I think that is a lot less variable than the others. The others are more or less, “Who has the best cloud infrastructure?” Well, depends on who had what for breakfast today. But the simplicity and the approach you take to security is head and shoulders above the competition.And I want to make sure I give credit where due: it is because of that simplicity and default posturing that customers wind up better for it as a result. Otherwise, you wind up in this hell of, “You must have at least this much security training to responsibly secure your environment.” And that is never going to happen. People read far less than we wish they would. I want to make very clear that Google deserves the credit for that security posture.Richard: Yeah, and the other thing, look, I'll say that, from my observation, where we do something that feels a little special and different is we do think in platforms, we think in both how we build and how we operate and how the console is built by a platform team, you—singularly. How—[is 00:30:51] we're doing Duet AI that we've pre-announced at I/O and are shipping. That is a full platform experience covering a dozen services. That is really hard to do if you have a lot of isolation. So, we've done a really cool job thinking in platforms and giving that simplicity at that platform level. Hard to do, but again, we have to bring people to it. You're not going to discover it by accident.Corey: Richard, I will let you get back to your tear-filled late-night writing of tomorrow's Next keynote, but if people want to learn more—once the dust settles—where's the best place for them to find you?Richard: Yeah, hopefully, they continue to hang out at cloud.google.com and using all the free stuff, which is great. You can always find me at seroter.com. I read a bunch every day and then I've read a blog post every day about what I read, so if you ever want to tune in on that, just see what wacky things I'm checking out in tech, that is good. And I still hang out on different social networks, Twitter at @rseroter and LinkedIn and things like that. But yeah, join in and yell at me about anything I said.Corey: I did not realize you had a daily reading list of what you put up there. That is news to me and I will definitely track in, and then of course, yell at you from the cheap seats when I disagree with anything that you've chosen to include. Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me and suffer the uncomfortable questions.Richard: Hey, I love it. If people aren't talking about us, then we don't matter, so I would much rather we'd be yelling about us than the opposite there.Corey: [laugh]. As always, it's been a pleasure. Richard Seroter, Director of Product Management and Developer Relations at Google Cloud. I'm Cloud Economist Corey Quinn, and this is Screaming in the Cloud. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave a five-star review on your podcast platform of choice, whereas if you've hated this podcast, please leave a five-star review on your podcast platform of choice, along with an angry comment that you had an AI system write for you because you never learned how to structure a sentence.Corey: If your AWS bill keeps rising and your blood pressure is doing the same, then you need The Duckbill Group. We help companies fix their AWS bill by making it smaller and less horrifying. The Duckbill Group works for you, not AWS. We tailor recommendations to your business and we get to the point. Visit duckbillgroup.com to get started.

Show Notes: Chris Cowell, a computer science major, shares an anecdote about his college experience. He mentioned that the computer science major concentration at Harvard was different from today, and how he worked with paper and pencil more than computers. Chris talks about the multiple paths taken in life after graduating from Harvard, including working for a public service program called Vista, which was started during the Vietnam War as a way for conscientious objectors to provide service to the country. Chris was assigned to an adult literacy group in Lansing, Michigan, where he was in charge of matching tutors and literacy tutors with students who needed to learn how to read. This experience was unpleasant and lonely, but it was also a good antidote to the occasional preciousness of Harvard. Through this experience, he was able to understand the struggles of a large portion of the population, including students who struggled with brain problems, mental health issues, and other struggles. This experience helped him understand that life doesn't come easy for many people. Chris shares a few anecdotes from his time in the program, including how the term dyslexia is used, how his experience taught him that there are many reasons an adult may have difficulty learning how to read, and how he would match teachers to students. Pursuing a Philosophy Degree and Moving into Consulting Chris initially had a side interest in philosophy and decided to pursue a philosophy degree. He took two years at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, taking more undergraduate philosophy classes and decided to pursue a PhD in philosophy. He went on to Berkeley for grad school and spent six years there, but felt like he was barely hanging on and didn't have much to contribute. He finished the program in 2001 but decided he wouldn't pursue a career in the academic field and decided to go back into computer science. Chris was recruited by Anderson Consulting, a company that had just spun off from Arthur Andersen, which had been involved in the Enron scandal. Chris' experience with Anderson Consulting was not what he expected. He was assigned to an eight-year in-town project in Sacramento, which was a contract with the government of California to set up a child welfare website, which was unfortunate because, although he had learned theory of computer science, he didn't have the practical coding skills  to complete the project. He was given the opportunity to learn programming but later transitioned to Accenture and moved into their research and development lab in Palo Alto during the height of the innovation era in the San Francisco Bay area.  Starting a Technical Training Company Chris moved to Portland, where he worked for Oracle as a computer programmer. He worked for different companies in the Portland area, specializing in testing programs that test other programs. However, he realized that he had only been promoted once over the course of his 20-year career. This realization led him to change their focus from tech to doing technical training. Chris started a one-person technical training company, teaching people how to use software. He sold classes and in-person training to local companies and had fun building the curriculum. He also enjoyed public speaking. However, the COVID pandemic hit, but he had no marketing savvy and his company was failing.  After a few years, he got a job with a real software company, teaching people how to use their software. He recently shifted to another company, and their career now focuses on technical training, building materials, and giving presentations on software usage. Influential Harvard Courses and Professors Chris remembers a few courses from college, but he found the core science courses the most interesting. David Lazarus' Space, Time and Motion, the Recent History of Iran course, and Diana Eck's Comparative Religion course. He loved the music appreciation course taught by Louise vos Gershon, who was described as the only faculty member at Harvard without a PhD. The skills learned in music appreciation have been useful in his singing and guitar playing ever since. Chris also values learning basic music theory, which is essential for musicians who want to understand how music theory works. He also joined the Harvard Speech in Parliament and Debate society where he may have debated Ted Cruz.  Timestamps: 03:23 Adult Literacy group in Lansing, Michigan 08:51 How to pick the right student 11:19 How Chris decided to pursue a Phd 15:25 How Chris started his career in tech 22:39 On starting his own technical training company 25:41 Courses and professors that have stayed with him CONTACT:  Facebook: Cowell-shah Email. Chris@post.harvard.edu  

Many people feel divorce is a death sentence. But with the right support and guidance, you can move through the process with knowledge, skills and confidence. It can also be a time of growth and progress. As a divorce and empowerment coach, I'm an invaluable member of your divorce team. I help you understand and navigate the process, come to terms with your emotions, avoid costly mistakes, learn skills to help you communicate and negotiate, find your true voice and create an empowered life post-divorce. If you're interested in learning more, schedule a free consultation at herempowereddivorce.com. Beverly Price: Hi everyone. Welcome to the Her Empowered Divorce Podcast. I'm Beverly Price, your host and divorce and empowerment coach. This podcast is made for you. No matter what phase of separation or divorce you're in, whether you're just thinking about it, having separated, are in the midst of the legal and financial negotiations, or are already divorced, this is for you. And boy am I excited today. My guests are TH Irwin and Jessica Klingbaum of exEXPERTS, and I can't wait for you to hear them tell you about exEXPERTS. These two ladies are two best friends who got divorced at the exact same time. How about that? And although they had completely different experiences, they were lucky enough to have each other through it all. They rose from a lack of resource support and information during their separate journeys, and they both had the desire to help others maneuver through the process. And we have that in common. And from that, they created exEXPERTS. Jessica is an Emmy nominated former TV producer for several national news networks. I am so intimidated, Jessica.Jessica Klingbaum: You don't have to be intimidated.Beverly Price: And she's an external optimist and someone who always sees the silver lining. So beautiful. And TH Irwin began her career at a boutique market research firm. I started my career in market research too. How about that?TH Irwin: It helped me a lot in my career.Beverly Price: Yeah. And she worked for Anderson Consulting, which is a very high stress progress driven organization. And fun role as director of experiential events for USA today. In 2020, they co-founded exEXPERTS and I'll let you tell more about them and that organization. Hi TH and Jessica, thank you so much for being my guest today. It's so good to have you. You both have made such an impact on women. I can't wait to hear from you.Jessica Klingbaum: Thank you so much. And thank you so much for the opportunity to come on and share our stories.T.H. Irwin: Yeah, we're really excited to talk.Beverly Price: Oh, we are too. You are the first time that I've ever had two guests at once, so we're going to take a stab at making sure this works just fine. So either one or both of you, what is exEXPERTS and how does it help women?T.H. Irwin: So we created exEXPERTS because we found a need for it as we were going through our own divorces. We had one another to lean on the entire time, and our divorces were completely different. And what we ended up realizing is it's less about the business of divorce, even though we certainly helped one another out in terms of things to think about when negotiating, like college and cars and [?] mitzvahs and who's paying for all that stuff. But I think at the beginning we kind of took it for granted that we had each other, we had our...

Jason Roberts Bio Family Background:Born August 5, 1975 in Bryan TX to Mary and George RobertsTwo brothers Michael (8 yrs older) and John (1 year younger)Dad (George) was a college professor at Prairie View A&M University HBCU for many yearsMom (Mary) was a high school teacherGeorge was the first black to receive a PhD in Mathematics from the Texas A&M UniversityGeorge was a twin (brother Roy) and one of 11 children. He was born and raised in East Texas (Carthage) very poor but his parents (Baker and Thelma) stressed education for all of their children.Mary was one of 4 girls (also from Carthage). She met George in college (Wiley - Marshall TX - HBCU) George was a math genius but committed suicide at the age of 65.Mary retired shortly after his death and after 40+ years of teaching.She still lives in Hempstead TX.Currently married (to Tiesha aka Tie) with three children: Jalen (22 - Sr. SDSU), Karis (18 - Fresh Penn State), and Kaden (13 - middle school)Childhood and Young Adult:I grew up in Carthage (rural east Texas) prior to moving to a small town outside of Houston (Hempstead) shortly after my dad started teaching at Prairie View - 5th grade.I have fond memories of growing up with 30+ first cousins, working and fishing with my favorite uncle during the summers, helping my dad who also raised cattle.Work ethic was a key part of how I was raised. All of my role models (mom, dad, uncles, aunts, etc.) were always working, all the time!After moving in the 5th grade I went to school in a small town next to Prairie View (Waller). Graduated from there and then went on to college at the University of Texas at Austin.Majored in Mechanical Engineering, but realized later that I didn't want to be an engineer, so I got a minor in business.Was very active on campus (president and step master of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc, active with Dean of Students Office, etc.)Met my wife (Tiesha aka Tie) in college.Had our first child shortly after graduating and getting married in 1999 (son - Jalen)Early Career:First job out of college was as a Production Facilitator with Johnson and Johnson (Ethicon) in West Texas ( San Angelo). Jalen was actually born there.Worked the 2nd shift in a production plant where they manufactured sutures, bone mesh and other medical products. Lead a team of employees that pieced together the sutures.Loved it there, but moved to Houston after one year to be closer to family and after a difficult pregnancy.Took a job in Houston with then Anderson Consulting (now Accenture). Started as a Tibco Developer (programming) before eventually moving into more business consulting in addition to systems integration consulting.Enjoyed the fast pace consulting environment and the learning, achieving early promotions to both Consultant and Manager levels.However, the fast pace took a toll on my personal life. Especially after our daughter was born, so I stopped traveling and took a local project in Houston.Shortly after that, my dad committed suicide (February 13, 2006). To this day, I feel that if it was more acceptable to discuss and be open with how you feel (especially as a black man and our challenges) that my dad would be here today.His death affected me more than I realized which I would come to understand later. It was also the catalyst for change in my early career. Shortly after, I decided to leave consulting and move into an industry - to allow me to go back to school and get my MBA. It was there that I met one of my lifelong mentors (Darily Jones). She was one of very few Black women executives in oil and gas in Houston at the time. Encouraged me to follow through on my plans to get my MBA and even supported me at work. Even went out of her way to get the company to cover more of the costs for my MBA (at Rice University).  She has helped me tremendously over the years and we still stay in touch to this day.Mid Career:After getting my MBA an opportunity presented itself to use this new found knowledge with a larger company. So I made the transition to the waste industry (i.e., trash and recycling) in 2011. Becoming a Director of Innovation and Business Optimization at Waste Management.The guy that hired me is another one of my lifelong mentors and someone who has helped me grow - Dave Murphy (aka Murph). He specifically hired me into his small - but high profile - innovation group because he wanted someone who did not grow up in the industry and was not white. Get that, a white dude who understood the power of diversity, and actually sought it out.Murph was a huge part of my growth and development at WM. He made sure I had opportunities to interact with the C-Suite, and eventually honored his promise to me to get me P&L responsibility.My first P&L responsibility was running a small retail product business called Bagster (~ $50 Million business).  Loved having the opportunity to run a business and make strategic decisions that impacted the top line. Not just run a department that was a cost center - which in my experience (at the time), was where you would find the black folk in leadership. Not in operations or sales, but in support functions.After my success with Bagster and an internal leadership development program, I was promoted to General Manager and asked to move to California to learn frontline operations in depth (2016).Before I left for California from Houston, I remember Murph telling me that “If I didn't figure out what made me tick, I would kill myself”. I didn't understand then the power of his words, but I would later.This move is truly what provided me the opportunity to see frontline operations upfront and personal. It's also from this experience that I got the idea to start my own company. More on that later.After moving to CA and running a large collections operations (i.e., 100+ drivers and staff that pick up your trash, recycling, and green waste) I quickly realized that the men and women doing the lion's share of the work were not treated as the valued assets that they were.  And this didn't sit easy with me. I struggled internally with whether I could continue to climb in a company knowing what I now knew. I felt like my values didn't align with the trajectory I was on, and on top of that, I was set up to fail. But I also felt so much pressure to keep climbing that corporate ladder, since I was the ONLY black executive in operations at the time. That, along with the stress of transitioning to operations with very little support, took a real toll on me.In fact, at the age of 42 (Oct 7 2017), I had a stroke while at Big Bear vacationing with my family and friends. I was airlifted to Loma Linda hospital where I spent several days in the hospital. Luckily I had no long-term damage, but I remember sitting in the hospital thinking that I needed to make a change or I would die.  Murph's words to me before I left Houston all of a sudden became crystal clear.Shortly after my stroke, I decided to see a therapist for the first time. This was probably the best decision of my career, and potentially life saving. She helped me understand “what made me tick” and how my childhood played a huge role in what was happening in the current day. She helped me better manage the stress and tension of life. To this day, I credit her not only with saving my life, but with making me a better, more self-aware, compassionate person.Current Profession (Story Behind Frontline Careers):A few months after my stroke, I was at a golf tournament in Scottsdale AZ (Waste Management Open). There I had the opportunity to hear Mike Rowe (the TV celebrity) speak. He virtually called out business leaders in the room for devaluing the skill trades and putting too much emphasis on college degrees. His words resonated with my experience on the frontlines. It was at that moment that I had the idea to start what would later become Frontline Careers. The idea: help frontline workers find companies that did understand their value and worth. After having the idea, I first called my wife and then a long-time friend (Ari) with whom I had countless conversations lamenting my displeasure with the work environment and how folks were treated. His background as a PhD IO Psychologist was perfect for what I envisioned.They both loved the idea, and after a year and half getting my affairs in order, I made the decision to leave Waste Management, and co-found Frontline Careers with Ari (Jan 2020).  Tie helped us as an outside consultant initially (via her non-profit consulting company) but we later brought her on as a co-founder given her direct and tireless involvement from the early stages of the company. Tie currently serves as Chief Digital Officer (she's got mad marketing skills), Ari as our Chief Operating Officer (he's one hell of a scientist), and myself as CEO.Shortly after we founded the company, the world stopped moving due to COVID, but we did not. We used the time to launch our website, conduct market research, and eventually build and launch beta versions of our job site and proprietary frontline workplace assessment.Today, we have a growing social impact startup focused on connecting frontline workers looking for more with companies that offer more. We use our proprietary Frontline FriendlySM assessment to get anonymous feedback from frontline employees (only) in an effort to determine if a business or company truly does care and invest in their frontline staff.  Those that are, earn our official Frontline FriendlySM company certification which is good for one year.In addition to our certification, we also offer a job site that only features frontline jobs offering more than just pay.We recently certified the first-ever Frontline FriendlySM company (Little Cakes Kitchen in Vista CA) and are in the process of beginning more assessments in San Diego.For years I have thought of writing a book titled “Corporate America is not for Me”. Speaking to the corp america experience as a black man.  However, the point of the book is that Corp America actually is for us (hence the “not” is struck through), because it provides the perfect opportunity to learn on someone else's dime and build the skills necessary to gain the freedom you need and desire.At least that has been my experience. My time working as a supervisor in a plant, learning to code as an analyst, planning and leading large projects as a consulting manager, overseeing a p&l with a large marketing budget, and even running frontline operations consisting of hundreds of hard-working men and women,has all better prepared me to lead my own company.And most importantly, my personal mental health journey has also equipped me with the tools necessary to handle the inevitable pitfalls and setbacks you suffer as a startup founder.  PersonalEmail: jason@frontlinecareers.comFacebook: facebook.com/jason.roberts.14473426Instagram: jjroberts06Clubhouse: @jasonjrobertsLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jason-jerome-roberts Frontline CareersWebsite: frontlinecareers.comEmail: info@frontlinecareers.comTwitter: @FrntlineCareersFacebook: facebook.com/frontlinefriendlyInstagram: frontlinecareersLinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/frontline-careers 

Rarely is there a new medication that is really new and innovative. Imagine a drug that deactivate methamphetamine within 2 minutes and excretes it from the body within 2 hours. CS1103 is that drug. Listen to this episode from the drug developers at Clear Scientific and learn about this magically innovation. Clear Scientific Clear Scientific was founded in Cambridge, MA, in 2019. The heart of our mission is saving lives. We are a biopharmaceutical company pioneering novel therapies for life-threatening and debilitating conditions caused by an excess of harmful substances in the body.www.clearsci.com We are advancing a pipeline of innovative medicines in four therapeutic areas: Overdose caused by methamphetamine, fentanyl and their co-use; Accidental ADHD medication poisoning in children (Adderall and Ritalin); Reversal of neuromuscular blocking agents in anesthesia; Metabolic and neurodegenerative condition-induced CNS dysfunction. Our pioneering work has produced a first-in-class treatment, CS-1103, for methamphetamine overdose, a critical public health crisis. Mitch Zakin, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer 35+ years experience developing technologies for life sciences and chemical/biological defense Former DARPA Program Manager, Visiting Scholar Wyss Institute for Bio-Inspired Engineering at Harvard Med School; Co-Founder Soft Robotics Inc. , Physical Chemistry, Harvard University; BS, Chemistry CCNY Winston Henderson, JD, General Counsel 25+ years experience in intellectual property/corporate law and working in technology startups from founding to exit Work experience Kenyon & Kenyon, Anderson Consulting, Surface Logix, Active member Board of Trustees at Boston Children's Hospital JD, Duke University School of Law; BSE, Biomedical Eng & Electrical Engg.

Guest Debbie Cameron, Build Consultant's newest Partner, and Build Consulting's Kyle Haines had an informal discussion on what the upcoming few years will probably bring to the nonprofit IT ecosystem, changes to expect and the value of change management in nonprofit IT projects. Their conversation also touches on the importance of planning for 3-5 years out instead of trying to plan for 10 years out when making a software selection, how best-of-breed models allow greater flexibility to pivot but require greater emphasis on keeping clean export-able data, and observes that being the planner and cheerleader for nonprofit tech projects complements being the planner and cheerleader of an active family. Debbie led the development of Build Consulting's change management practice before joining the leadership team. Prior to joining Build Consulting, Debbie led the multi-year constituent relationship management transformation at the World Wildlife Fund that brought together diverse stakeholders ranging from data scientists to relationship managers. Debbie began her career at Anderson Consulting in the Enterprise Technology practice and then worked for Bearingpoint as an Engagement Manager in the State, Local and Education practice. She is a graduate of Virginia Tech. Our Fireside Chats are designed for audiences with varied experiences with technology. In this Fireside Chat learn more about the value of change management in nonprofit IT tech projects and the leadership role Debbie Cameron will take on as she joins the team of Partners at Build Consulting.

Eric Vermillion is the CEO of Helpshift, a San Francisco based company that develops mobile customer support software that helps companies provide better customer support in mobile apps. Before Helpshift, Eric was instrumental in advancing BlueCat to one of Canada's most notable software exits, and also helped grow revenue at NICE Systems to over $1 Billion. He has also held sales and leadership roles at PTC, Tecnomatix and Triad Systems Corporation. Eric holds a Bachelor's degree in management from Purdue University.   Questions   We like to give our guest an opportunity to do their own introduction in their own words, can you just tell us a little bit about how you got to where you are today? Can you tell us a little bit about what Helpshift does? Do you see mobile applications advancing even more in the whole development of customer experience on a global level? Or do you find people are looking for more opportunities where they can have more face-to-face interactions and less interaction with the digital or the technological side of things? Metaverse, there are a lot of people who still have a little bit of apprehension in relation to that whole emergence of that, what it represents, how to interface with it. What are your thoughts on that? Do you think it's something that will become the norm? How do you think people can adjust to it feeling more comfortable because it's so different and generally speaking, human beings just don't adjust to change very readily. Could you share with us what's the one online resource, tool, website, or app that you absolutely can't live without in your business? Could you also share with our audience, maybe one or two books that have had the biggest impact on you? It could be a book that you read recently, or even one that you read a long time ago, but it still has impacted you in a very great way. We have a lot of listeners who are business owners and managers, who feel they have great products and services, but they lack the constantly motivated human capital. If you were sitting across the table from that person, what's the one piece of advice that you would give them to have a successful business? What's the one thing that's going on in your life right now that you're really excited about - either something you're working on to develop yourself or your people. Where can listeners find you online? Do you have a quote or a saying that during times of adversity or challenge, you will tend to revert to this quote, it kind of helps to get you back on track if for any reason you got derailed or just kind of helps to get you back refocused.   Highlights   Eric's Journey   Eric shared that he spent his entire career in the world of software, pretty good chunk of it on the sales end of things. He kind of got lucky coming out of Purdue University, when all his friends were taking jobs at places like John Deere and Caterpillar and Anderson Consulting, I found the Bay area software company to join and kind of fell in love with technology and software. So, he's spent his career helping people use technology to create value. And he's spent a big chunk of it in the world of customer service, he was at NICE for 8 years and got to be a part of things when kind of this whole omni channel trend happened. After he left NICE, he did a couple of other software plays in the world of identity management and IT security with blue cat, he found his way back and spent the last 3 years in Helpshift trying to really redefine what good customer service looks like for mobile apps and using more mobile devices more effectively.   What Does Helpshift do?   When asked about what Helpshift does, Eric shared that if you think of the your mobile phone, you probably engage with a lot of mobile apps on a day to day basis. Most people do and that's a trend that is rapidly increasing. They help brands use that mobile app to create essentially an orchestration tool for consumers to drive a very elegant customer experience. So, when you're in the mobile app you got typically it's the mobile app knows who you are, there's some context to the situation. And so, their customers are able to really provide their consumers with a much more elegant logical flow within the mobile app, allowing them to really self-serve much more effectively and by the time they actually get to an agent or human if they need to, because it's a more complex problem, or they're a blue-chip customer. A lot of the problems already been solved, the context is there for the agents, so they can become a bit more like a concierge or a personal assistant than then the traditional view of what we would think of as a customer service agent.   Mobile Applications Advancing to Develop Customer Experience   Me: Do you see mobile applications advancing even more in the whole development of customer experience on a global level? Or do you find people are looking for more opportunities where they can have more face-to-face interactions and less interaction with the digital or the technological side of things?   Eric stated that those are two separate interesting questions. He thinks after what we've all been through in the last couple of years with COVID, he'd be surprised if there's anyone in the world that isn't craving a little bit more face-to-face interaction. So, he does think people want that, but he's not sure that customer service is the place where they're striving for more kind of face to face, human to human interaction.   People are busy, people's schedules have changed and evolved a lot over the last couple of years, people tend to do a lot more working remotely, they tend to have schedules that are not very standard and typical, so they want to be able to find resolution to their problems whenever they want, wherever they want, at whatever time of day they want and that's something that he thinks companies are going to have to continue to adapt to.   And one thing that we know is true is that there were 2 million mobile apps that were created last year and there'll be more than that that are created this year. People tend to carry their mobile device with them, all the time 24/7, for most of us it's sitting next to our bed even at night. And so, it is this tool that's on our person 24 hours a day and when used properly, it can be an incredibly powerful tool for accessing support and creating a support engagement that really fits your needs and your schedule as a consumer, whenever and wherever you want.   He also thinks that when you think about some of the other trends that are going on in the world, like the emergence of this thing, everyone's calling the metaverse, other kind of distributed commerce technologies, like blockchain and web3, and other digital commerce trends that are happening in the world, most of those actually are accessed through mobile devices and through mobile apps as well. So, it's a trend that he thinks would be hard to find any reason that it's not going to continue to grow and kind of grow exponentially.   Metaverse, How Can People Adjust to it Feeling More Comfortable Because It's So Different   Me: I'm glad you mentioned the metaverse, because there are a lot of people who still have a little bit of apprehension in relation to that whole emergence of that, what it represents, how to interface with it. What are your thoughts on that? Do you think it's something that will become the norm? How do you think people can adjust to it feeling more comfortable because it's so different and generally speaking, human beings just don't adjust to change very readily.   Eric stated that all very good and fair points. He thinks that a lot of people's view of the metaverse is driven by the images, or the headlines that they see about broken virtual reality experiences, they think the metaverse as kind of a 3D VR kind of gaming environment and to a certain extent, it largely is in 2022, but the evolution of it is happening very, very fast.   And for him, he envision this world, not so many years from now, the technology is there to make this happen right now, where maybe he has a meeting with someone who is sitting in Japan, speaks only Japanese, someone who's in Brazil that speaks only Portuguese, someone in France who speaks only French, and himself in a room having a meeting, in a virtual environment in real time collaborating on some project where they all understand each other, and they can effectively communicate and collaborate in a way, that's just not possible today, and kind of a purely physical world.   And so, he thinks there's just so many applications for it like that really impacted us in a positive way, in a professional environment, in an educational environment, from a healthcare perspective that gets taken granted a lot today when people just think of the metaverse is kind of this scary 3D video game. And all of those things that he just described, of course, are also going to have commerce that comes alongside of them and ownership and digital rights that around and a lot of that is being handled today or will likely be handled through blockchain technology.   And so, you have this kind of parallel digital existence that happens with all of this commerce, would be naive to think that that's not going to create a lot of support issues and a lot of support challenges. And jumping from that world, out into the more physical world to pick up the phone and make a phone call or send someone an email is highly impractical when you think about it. So, he thinks support tools are going to have to evolve as well to be able to handle some of those changes.   App, Website or Tool that Eric Absolutely Can't Live Without in His Business   When asked about an online resource that he cannot live without in his business, Eric stated that it's probably pretty boring, but he spent a big chunk of his day in G Suite, from kind of managing the calendar to all the collaboration that happens over the tools. So that's a pretty boring one because they spend a lot of time talking about mobile apps, he would maybe add a bonus that he travels a lot and he'd really struggle if he didn't have his American Airlines app, that's kind of how he gets from place to place anymore. So that's one that he tends to use a great deal as well.   Books that Have Had the Biggest Impact on Eric   When asked about books that have had the biggest impact, Eric stated that he's a big fan of Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't by Jim Collins, that's just that's one of those timeless books, the concept of the whole hedgehog principle and really having that one thing that you're laser focused on, and the whole organization is laser focused on, that you want to be known for. As well as the concept of having the right people on the bus, even if you don't know where they will sit. Those are just concepts that resonates with him very well with him, and philosophies that he tends to use and in his own management style.   On a more kind of non-business level, he's a big fan of Bob Goff as well. He's got a very fascinating story. His first book, which is called Love Does: Discover a Secretly Incredible Life in an Ordinary World, is still his favourite of the ones that he's written. He's written a few since that he thinks that was probably 10 years old at this point. But he tends to really love experiences, he thinks Bob does a great job sharing interesting experiences and the lessons you can take from each one in an extremely interesting way.   Advice for Business Owners and Managers to Have a Successful Business   Me: We have a lot of listeners who are business owners and managers, who feel they have great products and services, but they lack the constantly motivated human capital. If you were sitting across the table from that person, what's the one piece of advice that you would give them to have a successful business?   Eric stated that you know that you're a coach, you're not just a manager. He saw this clip in the last few days of Nick Saban, the Alabama football coach that's highly regarded and very well known. He stepped in and prevented a player from sharing a piece of cake with another player. So, they have this spring game every year, where they play against their own teammates, and the losing team gets beans and franks and the winning team gets a steak dinner with chocolate cake. And the winning teammate wanted to share a piece of cake with his really good friend that was on the losing team and Saban saw it and shut it down.   And he just loves that because losing hurts, and it should hurt and that's how you know you don't want to do it anymore. And he thinks people sometimes need to realize that they have an obligation as a leader, as a manager, to also be a coach and not just a manager. His job is really to help everyone who works for him to perform at a high level, and to help prepare them for their next job or even help them get their next job. And he thinks too many managers forget that often. And you can't buy your way out of that responsibility no matter how much you're paying for someone.   And then in this world where human capital and good human capital is very hard to come by, and often very expensive, losing sight of that responsibility to really coach and help a person be prepared for whatever's next, it's one of those things you take for granted if you're just trying to sometimes pay top dollar for people because you think that'll automatically make them the best at things, which is not the case.   Me: I totally agree. One of the things that we talk about a lot as well as a customer service trainer is that the most important role of the leader is to grow and develop people because as you mentioned before, you want to have people around you who are robust, who are efficient, who are intrinsically motivated to do what they're employed to do, but at the same time, they feel like they have some purpose and for them to feel like they have some purpose, they have to feel like they're a part of a bigger goal other than collecting a salary. So, I do quite agree with you that leaders are coaches even though a lot of them may not look at themselves as a coach, I like that phrase that you put it as.   What Eric is Really Excited About Now!   Eric shared that from a people perspective, the pandemic has created a lot of confusion around what work looks like and you hear a lot of companies talking about they're going to be remote only or they're going to be office only or they're going to be hybrid or like lots of different things that people are calling this thing. He spent most of his career as a remote employee and it's hard, it is not something that there's a kind of a playbook or a handbook out there to do. And it was harder before Zoom and messaging and always available internet, but it's still hard.   And he believes very strongly that companies need to have a framework for expectations and that's something that they've been continuing to work on a lot as a company. Expectations on what's expected of you as an employee, and that is independent of physical location, that is just what's expected of you as an employee, he doesn't really care where you sit, if you're doing those things, he doesn't care where you sit. He doesn't care if you're physically in an office or remote. If you're following those guidelines and principles of what they stand for as an organization and using the technology to do that, if you're doing it like that, he doesn't really care where you work from. He thinks a lot of companies think that they can kind of hand you a bag of cool technology and software, and it will make you a great remote worker but it just unfortunately doesn't always work that way, you have to teach people what's expected, inspect it regularly and then drag them back into the office when it's too hard or people are just not able to kind of cope with that very unstructured environment that you have at home, not everyone can do it. And frankly, not everyone wants to and so that's professionally.   On a personal level, he did get a Peloton a few months ago so he's been loving that and trying to take off his own COVID-19.   Where Can We Find Eric Online   Website - www.helpshift.com/ LinkedIn – Helpshift LinkedIn – Eric Vermillion   Quote or Saying that During Times of Adversity Eric Uses   When asked about a quote or saying that he tends to revert to, Eric shared that his favourite quote is the Wayne Gretzky quote, or at least he thinks it's widely attributed to Wayne Gretzky, which is “You miss 100% of the shots you don't take.”   Me: All right. And that's a good one. How do you think people can apply that in this whole environment that we're operating in? As you mentioned, we're emerging out of this global pandemic, even though we're not fully emerged out of it, people are trying to just kind of get their life back into some form of semblance. So, with all of that in play and there's also I think a lot of people are still experiencing a lot of fear and anxiety because they don't know what to expect. How do you think that quote can help people to really raise the bar?   Eric stated that he thinks it can be a motivating factor for you. He's definitely a person that's fairly easily amused and he's very much an experience person, he doesn't particularly care about stuff and things, and he thinks for a lot of people over the last couple of years, they've had to figure out more interesting ways to entertain themselves versus going out and kind of buying stuff and looking more for satisfaction through material things. Every day is really a new opportunity to learn something, pain tends to create intelligence, practice creates perfection and that kind of galvanizes you.   He thinks that every person that he meets is a new lesson, every person that he has had an opportunity to help in some way is literally currency for him, it makes him feel wealthy, even if it doesn't add a penny to his own bank account. And every time he gets a chance to experience a new city or a new restaurant, or make a new friend, it makes him feel wealthier than the day before. And he think that's one of those things that every one of us can remember, every one of us that's above ground and breathing has all those opportunities every single day to like add those experiences, add those things that do make you wealthier in a non-monetary way, and never miss a chance to take one of those shots and being aware of that he thinks is an incredibly motivating thing.   Please connect with us on Twitter @navigatingcx and also join our Private Facebook Community – Navigating the Customer Experience and listen to our FB Lives weekly with a new guest   Grab the Freebie on Our Website – TOP 10 Online Business Resources for Small Business Owners   Links Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't by Jim Collins Love Does: Discover a Secretly Incredible Life in an Ordinary World by Bob Goff   The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience   Do you want to pivot your online customer experience and build loyalty - get a copy of “The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience.”   The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience provides 26 easy to follow steps and techniques that helps your business to achieve success and build brand loyalty. This Guide to Limitless, Happy and Loyal Customers will help you to strengthen your service delivery, enhance your knowledge and appreciation of the customer experience and provide tips and practical strategies that you can start implementing immediately! This book will develop your customer service skills and sharpen your attention to detail when serving others. Master your customer experience and develop those knock your socks off techniques that will lead to lifetime customers. Your customers will only want to work with your business and it will be your brand differentiator. It will lead to recruiters to seek you out by providing practical examples on how to deliver a winning customer service experience!

Audience Questions It was a great honor to have a conversation with Mekonnen Kassa on Habesha in Tech club. We spent close to 3 hours talking about his personal & professional journey. It was an eye opening session where we learnt how he was able share us his personal story starting from his life in Gondar, Ethiopia. Mekonnen left Ethiopia during the Socialist Derg military was leading the country. He was young & ambitious so he and his friend together walked to Sudan, yes WALKED TO SUDAN. He was able to escape the suffering in Ethiopia but the suffering in Sudan was there waiting for this young new Refugee. After few years in Sudan living as a refugee, Mr. Kassa was fortunate enough to come to the US with his partner. That's where he was able to start his English language class. He also started working as a taxi driver. Mekonnen is polyglot. He speaks Amharic, Tigrigna, Arabic, English. He loves learning new languages he tried to learn Afan Oromo too, he probably need some course – feel free to give him tips

It was a great honor to have a conversation with Mekonnen Kassa on Habesha in Tech club. We spent close to 3 hours talking about his personal & professional journey. It was an eye opening session where we learnt how he was able share us his personal story starting from his life in Gondar, Ethiopia. Mekonnen left Ethiopia during the Socialist Derg military was leading the country. He was young & ambitious so he and his friend together walked to Sudan, yes WALKED TO SUDAN. He was able to escape the suffering in Ethiopia but the suffering in Sudan was there waiting for this young new Refugee. After few years in Sudan living as a refugee, Mr. Kassa was fortunate enough to come to the US with his partner. That's where he was able to start his English language class. He also started working as a taxi driver. Mekonnen is polyglot. He speaks Amharic, Tigrigna, Arabic, English. He loves learning new languages he tried to learn Afan Oromo too, he probably need some course - feel free to give him tips

Suzanne Sherlock is a Principal in the Columbus, Ohio office of Slalom Consulting. Suzanne's journey to consulting started with on-campus interviews with Anderson Consulting (a firm that later became Accenture.)  Since those early beginnings, Suzanne has become an outstanding consultant, and even more importantly, an adoptive mom. In this episode, we discuss Suzanne's path to consulting, what it's like at Slalom, and her advice to new consultants trying to build a career.

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In episode 92 of Climb In Consulting Nick speaks with Jonathan Davis, managing director at Avaloq. Jonathan started his career at Anderson Consulting in the late 1980s where he managed to get his foot in the door despite not having the educational success of many of his peers. That didn't stop him working his way up from the unloved outsourcing department to become an equity partner at the time of its IPO. Since then, he's taken on a number of varied and challenging roles ranging from attempting to buy a small car manufacturer to helping turn around Capco, to leading FIS's £400m Middle East and African business. As you can imagine, he's learned a huge amount along the way about what makes good teams tick and how to build colleague and client relationships that really work. As well as the ups and downs of his career, Nick and Jonathan delve deeper into the human side of consulting, including: - How Jonathan overcame his own insecurities to have the successful career he has - The secrets to motivating your team and how to get everyone on the same page to achieve a common goal - And why getting your top table right is critical to your consultancy's success Few people in our industry can match Jonathan's breadth of experience and he brings a huge number of valuable insights to this conversation. Whatever stage of your career you are at, whether you're attempting to break into the consulting business, refine your leadership skills or try something a little different, this is a conversation well worth listening to. Get in touch with Jonathan at – https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-davis-a56a5/ Or through – jonathan.davis@avaloq.com Find out more about Avaloq at – https://www.avaloq.com/ Specific things discussed in the show Getting to Yes: Negotiating an agreement without giving in by Roger Fisher and William Ury – https://amzn.to/30kV1Dh Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner – https://amzn.to/3n4SMMQ Open: An Autobiography By Andre Agassi – https://amzn.to/3oiRH3A

Rick Van Nostostrand is a Partner and Senior Portfolio Manager at Cornerstone Investment Partners. Cornerstone is an investment boutique in Atlanta, Georgia.  The firm manages "mid $2Bn" across a number of value strategies.  They have a qualitative approach with a quantitative model that guides them.  See https://cornerstone-ip.com/.    Prior to Conerstone, Rick was a voting member of the investment committee at EARNEST Partners and served on the Fundamental Value product at Invesco Capital Management. Previously, he worked in management consulting where he served clients across industries at both McKinsey & Company and Accenture (the Anderson Consulting).  Rick earned an MBA with a concentration in Finance from Wharton (U Penn), and holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science Engineering from Southern Methodist University.    This conversation covers: ~2:30 - Rick's Background ~3:53 - His consulting career at Accenture and McKinsey ~7:11 - College businesses, one of which could have been quite successful if Amazon existed ~13:57 - The theory that in the real world prices and value are seldom aligned ~ 16:23 - Need to develop an investment process and Cornerstone's philosophy ~ 22:21 - What Cornerstone's model told them about Microsoft that the market missed ~ 24:08 - Looking for high quality companies building value over time ~ 26:21 - ESG discussion ~29:36 - Risk subsidies driving valuation ~32:31 - Indexes and how they impact investment results and the market ~37:00 - What happened to certain stocks after the 1999 bubble burst ~38:00 - Investing in the late 90s ~43:00 - Buying the dip may not work forever ~45:00 - Avoiding financials in 2009 ~50:50 - Real option theory in valuation ~54:05 - Where Wells Fargo erred in remediation ~ 57:19 - Why Citigroup was a palatable turnaround investment ~1:01:00 - The benefit of investing with a team ~ 1:05:00 - Avoiding groupthink as a team ~1:07:00 - How to have investment teams function well ~1:14:00 - Building teams to last and culture ~1:19:00 - Miscellaneous discussion

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In our first episode on 2021 we're talking again with Sir Richard Murch--this time about a brand new technology that he and his team say will make hurricanes a thing of the past! Murch explains exactly how this tech will work and how it can relate back to landlocked Eastern Kentucky.Murch is an IT professional of more than 30 years, author, consultant for Teleworks USA during its inception, and advocate for the tech industry advancing the economy in Eastern Kentucky. He has worked for companies like IBM and Anderson Consulting and believes Eastern Kentuckians can benefit tremendously from technological developments available in the region now and in the future.This episode was recorded virtually via Zoom on Wednesday, Feb. 3 due to state and federal recommendations regarding social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.To learn more about EKCEP's mission to prepare, advance, and expand the workforce of Eastern Kentucky, log on to https://www.ekcep.org.Intro music from https://filmmusic.io"Sweeter Vermouth" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

In today’s show, Chris interviews Rebecca Friese, Managing Partner, Flyn Consulting, and author of the recently-released The Good Culture: The Leader's Guide to Creating a Workplace That Doesn't Suck. We start this show with Rebecca sharing her interesting backstory.Born and raised in Illinois, Rebecca chose Penn State to complete her college education. She made the most of this experience, and in this segment, she talks a great deal about how extra-curricular activities can truly set you up for success. After graduation, Rebecca worked as a consultant with Anderson Consulting and Accenture. In this next segment of the show, Rachel regales listeners by sharing her experiences and then talks a great deal about workplace culture and some of the issues that are plaguing us today.Reluctance to give and accept constructive feedback is one of the main things that we talk about in today’s show. When organizations are singularly focused on revenues and profits, workplace culture issues are often relegated to the backseat. After all, if the consulting dollars are flowing in, why would you rock your ship by pulling up your “star consultant”?But, are we really protecting our employees but not having this conversation? On the contrary, Rachel shares why we are, in fact, doing them the biggest disservice.The innate need for people to work with purpose, autonomy, and mastery is another important theme that we talk about today.As humans, we have an innate need to grow, develop, and continuously better ourselves. Can you expect to retain a gifted and hard-working employee if the workplace is devoid of the above three factors?On a positive note, we talk about how our empathetic side has been brought to the fore in the wake of COVID.We are sure you will enjoy today’s animated discussion. Enjoy!What You Will Learn In This ShowHow to give and receive constructive feedbackHow covid has brought our empathetic side to the fore at the workplaceHow happy, engaged, and connected people leads to a highly productive and effective work-forceAnd so much more…ResourcesFlyn ConsultingFierce Conversations: Achieving Success at Work and in Life One Conversation at a TimeRadical Candor: Fully Revised & Updated Edition: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your HumanityThe Weekly Coaching Conversation (New Edition): A Business Fable About Taking Your Team’s Performance and Your Career to the Next LevelStudent Works Chris Thomson LinkedInChris’s Email

In this episode we sat down with industry veteran Greg Owens to learn about his impressive career going from an entry level consultant at Anderson Consulting to various CEO roles. You can easily hear Greg's internal drive for success and passion for supply chain management. It all sounds pretty boring. So let's see if Greg can prove us wrong. Greg Owens is the CEO and a founder of iGAM. Greg also serves as the Executive Chairman of the Board at PRGX Global, Inc. In his most recent position, he served as the Group President of New Sectors & Ventures at Ritchie Bros. and as CEO of IronPlanet, Inc. since 2007. Prior to this, he served as Managing Director at Red Zone Capital, a Washington, D.C. private equity firm focused on strong revenue growth opportunities. He served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Manugistics Group, Inc. where he doubled annual revenues to $300 million for the supply chain management software company. Greg also served as Global Managing Partner, Supply Chain Management at Accenture where he was a founding member of the company's supply chain group. In addition, he serves on several outside boards including 3VR, Guardian Analytics, S1 Corporation, Secure Works, and Serena Software. Greg holds a B.S. in Industrial Management from Georgia Institute of Technology where he currently serves on the President's Advisory Board as well as the College of Management Board. Upcoming Events & Resources Mentioned in this Episode: Connect with Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregory-owens-498ab52/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregory-owens-498ab52/) Connect with Chris on Linkedin: https://gate.sc/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Fin%2Fchrisrbarnes%2F&token=319543-1-1598027501395 (www.linkedin.com/in/chrisrbarnes/) Subscribe to all Supply Chain Now Programs: https://gate.sc/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsupplychainnowradio.com%2Fsubscribe%2F&token=48d796-1-1598027501395 (supplychainnowradio.com/subscribe/) Supply Chain Now Ranked https://soundcloud.com/tags/1 (#1) Supply Chain Podcast via FeedSpot: https://gate.sc/?url=http%3A%2F%2Ftinyurl.com%2Frud8y9m&token=f80f79-1-1598027501395 (tinyurl.com/rud8y9m) Supply Chain Now Ranked https://soundcloud.com/tags/3 (#3) Supply Chain YouTube Channel: https://gate.sc/?url=http%3A%2F%2Ftinyurl.com%2Fyazfegov&token=c06057-1-1598027501395 (tinyurl.com/yazfegov) Listen and Subscribe to Supply Chain is Boring on Supply Chain Now: https://gate.sc/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsupply-chain-is-boring.captivate.fm%2Flisten&token=1386da-1-1598027501395 (supply-chain-is-boring.captivate.fm/listen) AIAG Virtual 2020 Supply Chain Conference: https://gate.sc/?url=http%3A%2F%2Ftinyurl.com%2Fy8axeflc&token=f99043-1-1598027501395 (tinyurl.com/y8axeflc) Register for Reuters Events Supply Chain USA Virtual 2020 Summit Here: https://eur06.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftinyurl.com%2Fy4mj6jph&data=02%7C01%7C%7C8962f1618d5b45a53fa608d849e62e94%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637340600251876796&sdata=m7Kz%2FmS5k5r8qRwcrBx4YQ4BU8o2i8HglOMcPg1Qz8w%3D&reserved=0 (https://tinyurl.com/y4mj6jph) WEBINAR: Stand Up & Sound Off- https://tinyurl.com/y4lcahdr (https://tinyurl.com/y4lcahdr) WEBINAR: New Market, New Mindset- https://tinyurl.com/y2rwvmwm (https://tinyurl.com/y2rwvmwm) AME Toronto 2020 Virtual Conference: https://www.ame.org/ame-toronto-2020 (https://www.ame.org/ame-toronto-2020) Check Out News From Our Sponsors: U.S. Bank: https://gate.sc/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.usbpayment.com%2Ftransportation-solutions&token=c6bdb4-1-1598027501395 (www.usbpayment.com/transportation-solutions) Capgemini: https://gate.sc/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.capgemini.com%2Fus-en%2F&token=4d92c1-1-1598027501395 (www.capgemini.com/us-en/) Vector Global Logistics: vectorgl.com/...

Joining us for this episode is Frater Erich Ploog. Erich initiated into TKE at the Epsilon-Omicron Chapter (Houston) and currently serves on the Grand Council. Erich has become a serial entrepreneur in his professional career - running a private management consulting business, managing one of Houston’s leading residential design firms and developing real estate. Previously he spent two decades in management consulting with firms like IBM and Anderson Consulting advising executives at Fortune 100 companies on strategic change initiatives and organizational change management. So listen in to learn what it takes to become a successful entrepreneur!

This week we're talking with Richard Murch, an IT professional of more than 30 years, author, consultant for Teleworks USA during its inception, and advocate for the tech industry advancing the economy in Eastern Kentucky. Murch has worked for companies like IBM and Anderson Consulting and believes Eastern Kentuckians can benefit tremendously from technological developments available in the region now and in the future.This episode was recorded at the Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program's (EKCEP) offices in Hazard, Ky.To learn more about EKCEP's mission to prepare, advance, and expand the workforce of Eastern Kentucky, log on to https://www.ekcep.org.Intro music from https://filmmusic.io"Sweeter Vermouth" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

On this episode of the Treasury Career Corner Podcast, I speak to Senne Van Nieuwenborgh, Senior Vice President, Treasury at SES Satellites. He made the move from management consulting into treasury and quickly progressed up the treasury career, taking roles in diverse industries, from mining to metals to space! SES are based in Betzdorf, Luxembourg and are a world-leading satellite operator. They also have more than 50 satellites in Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) and 20 in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO). They focus on value-added, end-to-end solutions in two key business units: SES Video and SES Networks. The company also provides satellite communication services to broadcasters, content and internet service providers, mobile and fixed network operators, governments and institutions. Founded in 1985 as Société Européenne des Satellites, the company was renamed SES Global in 2001 and has been simply “SES” since 2006. Senne started off studying law before starting work as a management consultant at Anderson Consulting (now Accenture). An opportunity came up to join Dow Chemical. He instantly clicked with the people and the company and spent the next 7 years moving around the company acquiring the technical skill-set that got him headhunted for Nyrstar. Senne has some great lessons for those starting out or for those looking to progress up the treasury career ladder. I'm delighted to welcome Senne onto The Treasury Career Corner podcast this week to share his insight. On the podcast we discussed… Senne's time in consulting and why he made the move into treasury at Dow Chemical The benefits of working for a large company which is focussed on people How Senne made the jump from Treasury Manager for EMEA to Group Treasurer of a publicly listed company The difference between working for a mining company to working for a space company The importance of being humble, building trust and connections in a new senior role Why it’s important to have not just technical skills, but people skills when you move further up the ladder Would you like to get in touch with Senne? If so, you can connect with him via his LinkedIn profile (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sennevannieuwenborgh/) . Are you interested in pursuing a career within treasury? Whether you’ve recently graduated, or you want to search for new job opportunities to help develop your treasury career, The Treasury Recruitment Company can help you in your search for the perfect job. send us your CV (https://treasuryrecruitment.com/jobs) and let us help you in your next career move! If you’re enjoying the show please rate and review us on whatever podcast app you listen to us on, for Apple Podcasts click here (http://www.treasurycareercorner.com/itunes/) !

EP183 - Jason Del Rey Land of The Giants Podcast  We catch up with Jason Del Rey (@DelRey) Senior Correspondent, Commerce at Recode. Jason was last on episode 67.  We discuss some recent industry events and get update on this two big projects: Code Commerce September 9 and 10, in New York City. Land of The Giants: The Rise of Amazon Podcast. Don't forget to like our facebook page, and if you enjoyed this episode please write us a review on itunes. Episode 183 of the Jason & Scot show was recorded on Thursday, August 8th, 2019 Transcript Jason G: [0:24] Welcome to the Jason and Scott show this is episode 183 being recorded on Thursday August 8th 2019 I'm your host Jason retailgeek Goldberg and as usual you with your co-host Scot Wingo. Scot: [0:39] Hey Jason and welcome back Jason Scott show listeners we are really excited this week to have back on the show Jason Delray Jason is senior correspondent Commerce at recode he's also produces the industry event code Commerce and now joins Jason retail geek and I in the pantheon of famous podcasters he was last on the Jason Scott show on episode way back on episode 67 which was January 17th back then he was senior editor so I guess congrats on the big promotion to senior correspondent. Jason D: [1:14] I don't know if that's a joke or not but I am I am happy to be back I was going to make a sport Sports Talk radio joke which is second time long time you know. Okay well we'll keep going thanks Rodriguez. Jason G: [1:34] It's good to have you back we don't get to make fun of the next enough so. Jason D: [1:38] Oh man it's going to be a long night. Scot: [1:41] So Jason G: [1:42] So is it true that your appearance on the Jason and Scott show sort of ignited your whole passion for podcasts. Jason D: [1:50] I mean I honestly did not know what podcasting was and then I came in you guys taught me the ropes and how many years later is this I don't know took me a couple years to like. Build up the courage and skill set but here I am so thank you. Scot: [2:09] Cool fucking to the club it's exciting to have you up in the in the in the podcaster realm. Jason D: [2:17] Only for a few more weeks but hopefully they'll be a long tail of listeners that all at all extend the Land of the Giants fan club into the rest of this year. Jason G: [2:31] Absolutely and we are going to need that into that but before we get in a Land of giants I want to talk about one of your other projects it's near and dear to Scott and eyes heart. I think it might have been three years ago now but you started a series of events code Commerce. Jason D: [2:52] Yeah that's right so we started we started with these one night one night, what we would consider a live journalism events and we started inside of shop talk I think year one of shop talk we did a sort of separate one-eyed event within shoptalk that required a separate ticket and it basically 3 hours you know an hour some ways food and drinks and networking and then usually three or four what would you like to drink or no BS interviews with. You know people like in past years you know we've had people like Jack Dorsey talking about Square Katrina wake pre-ipo talking about Stitch fix Mark Lori several years ago and overtime we built that. Into a standalone today event that's why we're going on Year 3000 New York City Standalone event, that happens every September and so we're only about a month out. Jason G: [4:03] Yeah and so and you have announced some of the the guess you're going to have for the Cher show. Jason D: [4:09] We have so we've announced maybe maybe about three-quarters of the lineup which I'm super excited about we have. Entrepreneur founder CEOs like Jennifer Hyman Rent the Runway Julie Wainwright we just took the real real Public Market Lori from Walmart Jeff Rader that Co CEO and co-founder Ari's which has agreed to sell for, make 1.3 billion dollars. I cookies in the CEO of Birkenstocks in the US and the founders of away digital native luggage or they would call themselves as they call themselves travel company, so that that's that sort of off the top of my head that those are some of the great guess we'll have and we are and there's a few more as well. Jason G: [5:09] Yeah that's going to be exciting away is kind of controversy on the show because Scott is a big fan and Advocate and I'm not so much. Jason D: [5:18] Should we got into that now or should we save that. Scot: [5:21] Shirtless Jason took me like 6 years again to buy a four-wheel bag and didn't even get in a way I don't I don't know what he was thinking. Jason D: [5:31] I will say that, we are a I I have a I have a new wish four-wheel bag that was purchased by my wife at TJ Maxx and so if that doesn't give it away I'll just say it it's not in a way back and it was probably about a third of the price, but I am very fond of the look of the waybacks and I'm very very interested in whether they are able to do what they say they want to do which is, build themselves into really a. Multi products brand that sort of incompetence has all the different types of products you could need or want. Intrexon sort of in your travel life. Jason G: [6:25] It's honestly like I have a critique of the product and but more seriously of the company like the the Super Bee product line coming me miss your bag is perfectly fine I travel a lot more than either of you I've already been on planes on her 50000 miles of this year it's alright it's like it tends to be worth it to invest in the most durable bag possible and for me that like I really like a bag that can. Expand into a soft-sided expandable bag works better for me. Jason D: [6:56] Yep so what it was so what is your brand of choice. Jason G: [7:00] So I might I have a Briggs & Riley. [7:04] More expensive more durable like I've already been with Scott when he was repairing his away bag and you know I would argue I've many more miles on that I've never had a proper. But that's I mean both bags get you get what you pay for with just fine. And I don't have a huge could take my bigger thing and you know maybe I'll get a chance to bring up on in your conversation with Jen. I visited their pop-up shop in Tribeca and I thought it was a fabulous piece of retail and and you already alluded to it they get mad when you called him a luggage company they like to call themselves the travel company, and you you go to this pop-up shop and they very much, Lycra merchandising and glorifying the travel lifestyle so I know there was a lot of like. [7:58] Memorabilia and stuff that made you you know sort of aspire to go to destinations and you know it felt like the the luggage was helpful enabler of this lifestyle that away was positioning right and whenever you. You know either founder talk about the company that's exactly how they talk about it so then they started opening permanent doors. And the permanent stores are super sterile shelves with luggage on on that like I could replace the away with Samsonite or to me and it would. [8:34] Exactly the same. Jason D: [8:37] Yeah so we will definitely 100%. Talk about this I think my guess or edit my educated guess is that, they are going to sedate David they talked about that they're going to open I forgot what the number is but I believe dozens of stores is the ID across the country or maybe not just across the country, select International markets over the next few years and I think frankly they are still I think they will read thank. Their approach but I will let them speak for themselves on, try to remember if they're speaking on September 9th or September 10th at Commerce whichever day I know be sure that this will be a topic we dive into. Jason G: [9:26] Yeah I'm looking forward to it I will be there and it'll it'll be fun to hear they're there POV I'll probably check my Briggs & Riley bag so they don't have to see it. Jason D: [9:37] Hahaha well I'll bring it up on stage. Jason G: [9:41] Awesome alone at the exactly. Jason D: [9:43] Okay. Scot: [9:46] Cool awesome to see what news comes out will be doing a show we always do a recap show from there and let's talk about your podcasts to land of giants you've got the time recording the Masters three episodes out, it's kind of a different kind of flavor than kind of what we're doing here with news obviously suits to tell us about Anna what got you started on this and how you're laying it up. Jason D: [10:09] Sure and then just so just so I don't know how touchy the search the search functions are on podcast apps I'll just slightly correct that it's a land of giants so people want to search it's Landon, Giants and I'll try to make the backstory quick centrally recode inbox me decide a lot of success with podcast over the last few years my colleagues petercopter Kara Swisher they have phenomenal, interview style shows but there has been a couple of things going on at the same time but what do this first dish heater Costco friending how he came to me and said you know you should the companies looking for more podcast you should do something on Amazon and I was like okay that sounds interesting and then simultaneously their conversations and other part of the company about an idea. [11:06] Doing a narrative getting into more of narrative storytelling and podcast there's not a lot of great narrative storytelling in the business world as a relates to audio and so there was this idea to do a franchise around the fangs companies and do a season on each company so short of the idea to do something on Amazon with that interest in the Fang franchise, call West End for me the timing was for me at all about a couple of other things one is obviously there's a ton of discussion around power effect of these right now. [11:44] NBC in Saucon Valley in the media should I felt like good timing the other pieces I know you guys know this to from being in the industry, it's very easy day today till like worried about the next in my case right about the next product announcement the next business Amazon's getting into NYU know I'll have some contacts in my article is but sometimes you need to force yourself to like step out to the big picture and say like you know, you know what is the status quo in e-commerce right now like is that healthy what are the what are all the impacts on society everything this company is trying to do and so I've had all those questions in my head for a long time and there's this seems like a way to I have the time to serve both dive deep and like take a broader look at the same time so that's. So why I can I can I can give a little more detail on what we're actually try and what we're actually set out to do with the content if you'd like or I can let you guys ask me whatever you want. Jason G: [12:51] So what's up I want to get to a little more of the contact but just to make sure that our audience is tracking so that the notion is there's a season about each of the Fang companies so there's a. Amazon season I think most people Nothing But Apple Facebook Netflix and Google so it's actually faang, that's the idea you'll have a season about each of those companies and then you're you're currently three episodes into the Amazon season is there a. Dick by Jordi know how many episodes that are going to be of the Amazon season. Jason D: [13:28] Yes oh yes so there will be 7 episodes and there's a chance that episode 7 will. Will be taped alive at so Commerce and so if, is that ends up being the case episode 7 was sort of break from the format we have in each episode so far which is sort of a Storyteller telling a story basically throughout a given, atopic area involving Amazon and episode 7 would sort of be like a conversation recap of unlike of of what listeners that the Earth were the first six episodes, and so you can imagine the challenge of trying to break up Amazon's impact, and interest into six or seven episodes is not easy and so on in episode 1 we should we try to the iiibeca by I'm curious what you guys think you know the foundation of Amazon's retail rise and dominance to me is Ben Prime and so episode 1 we both have Amazon Executives and employees telling the origin story of how Prime came to be and then we also get into the consumer psychology of how Prime has been able to walk us walk you know. [14:56] Over a hundred million people into Amazon's ecosystem and makes it very hard, to break out, episode 2 of I had this big question of like what does Amazon want that you from being inside our homes with Alexa with all the connected devices with ring with Eero with you know. Basically best smart home and so we exported that question with with an Amazon executive and also. [15:27] You know some smart people as food asking some skeptical questions about you know what this future of a fully automated home, I will will, will feel like in and how that might impact our lives in the future and then third episode which aired so far was that a look at Amazon's impact on local communities among the big tech companies yeah I would argue that Amazon. Has the bigger the biggest physical impact on small communities around the around the country because of their warehouse Network, North 710 now large fulfillment centers just in the US and so we went to a small town in Kansas that which was home to one of Amazon first fulfillment centers and it was number three or four and where they left a few years ago and then told the story what happens when they came and left and I'm and then I went to my hometown of Staten Island New York which is home to one of Amazon's very new, Jerry automated fulfillment centers to get the taste of. What the promise is in a in a small community when when Amazon comes to town today I'll take a breath. Jason G: [16:41] Yeah it's it's yes I'll be curious it's interesting like I told you to greet you that Amazon has the biggest physical footprint and you know they're for like sort of physically has the most impact on those small towns some of the other ones are you know much more responsible for, deciding who are government leaders are and how we really think so it's hard to know which one has more impact on your day-to-day life but yeah. Jason D: [17:05] Totally and then and I should I should say you know yes that's 100% true you know, part part of Odysseus or the the emission of of the whole franchise Land of the Giants has been, you know it is easy in our day-to-day getting caught up in our day-to-day lives work Family Family Life, you know pleasure. What sort of what the broad impact on what the broad reach of these companies now, now he's in our lives and and that's not to say it's all bad I mean it's a lot a lot of good and I hope that you know will come across in the in the series as well but it feels like a moment in time where, you know healthy scrutiny something that the world could use a little more us. Scot: [18:02] Close Amazon been kind of supportive of this or they they didn't really engage on. Jason D: [18:08] You know that's. You know I have not gotten a lot of feedback from the company since since episode 1, are the few weeks ago so they participated in episode 1. I interviewed one of the people I interviewed was Jeff Wilke who spent it on his own two decades and is now to CEO. Best way to get the global retail business and Global consumer and he reports to Jeff Bezos in episode 2 I did it interview the vice president of the smart home at Amazon. And you know for a episode 4 which will come out the week of August 12th so. I want to watch than a week from now you know I got a tour of one of them is on a more automated warehouses for an episode about through Amazon as an employer and Automation and so Dave, but they also just you know turn down and on-the-record interview for. In episode that'll be about competition on the Amazon platform and Sherman Antitrust scrutiny so I would say. They probably participate a little more than I expected but I think they're I think they're kind of still in a way to wait and see mode. Scot: [19:37] Did you did the Fulfillment center the toward was it like Eva based or was it one of the ones like the pallet lifting robot or something that we haven't seen you. Jason D: [19:46] It was, yeah so I don't know what I didn't see in the warehouse so it's possible and had more than I saw but it what I saw it were I don't know that they call them TV anymore but yes the orange, I think they call them mobile drive units are carrying carrying the 8-foot tall shelves to their stores and their Pickers. Scot: [20:12] Got to go so you don't you like us spend a lot of time to think about Amazon what's what's something that you done the podcast that kind of was a new discovery for you. Jason D: [20:22] That's a great question I think I think so far. It reinforced a lot one of the things I thought I knew about the company over the last six years you know I will say one thing that stuck out to me that's in one of the episodes that is already aired so, episode 2 is about sort of the smart home and Alexa and. Yeah I won't give too much away for people living with him but essentially I'm talking to someone who's in the author and futurist about you know. All the types of things that Amazon might do in the future with the data they can collect and you know I ask the VP of the Smart Home. Daniel Rausch I said so you know do you guys have a team's inside of Alexa and I know you have thousands of employees working on Alexa that sort of kind of listened to like this the questions coming from the Skeptics of this you know, as I said that the echo the echo behind me Alexa. [21:30] I'm going to ignore that I'm sorry guys so they're always always listening. Scot: [21:38] At least you're still has work so they're not too angry with you when your when your Prime shipments stop in your Alexa stops then you know that you fingered the Amazon. Jason D: [21:50] I was a little surprised I asked you I asked his VP of a smart home, you're do you sort of listen to it a lot of the smart smarter Skeptics are saying and what they worry about in the future and Anna try to like maybe we'll work back from you know some of those potential. You know use cases that people are worried about or you know data collection people worried about and his answer was essentially we were young very Amazon we work back from your problems and you know. And I we start from a place of optimism always phrase like started, the amazing company it is today but also miss climbing in 2019 like saying like. Tapping the site Facebook and social networks and you know it just felt, I guess I was just surprised they've built a certain lack of knowledge mean the word seems me self-awareness. About sort of the downsides of you know the advancement that sure the fast pases, Innovation sort of Eden of even specifically like inside our hugs and that's one thing that sort of stuck out to me, that was a little surprising I'd say. Jason G: [23:15] Yeah that totally make sense I mean to me that's part of the fun of your podcast is for your point you know most listeners are they show or sort of living and stuff day today and it's like you're there some new piece of news about something Amazon's doing. Every week if not every day and it's kind of fun on the show that you you kind of, take that 50000 put View and kind of put it in a broader context then leaves. Jason D: [23:47] Yeah I'm like the chat near the challenges we're trying to do a couple things like my goal is to have Jason and Scott and the listeners of this podcast and the you know, sure the sources I have you had developed over six years day today reporting like find enough compelling story wines and and hopefully new information as well that even though they stay the day they are coming away saying, that was a pleasant storytelling experience or I learn something new or I never I didn't think of it that way while also being welcoming to people who don't live this day today but but have Amazon in their lives you know in a big way and wonder about Amazon or 1/4 about Jeff Bezos or you know shortest sit on the periphery of these industries and so I think from the feedback I've gotten the reviews I've seen I think we've done a pretty good job at that so far, but you know we'll have you know episode 6 which will be antitrust and competition on the Amazon Marketplace I can that one like we'll dive into the weeds that in a way that I think even people in the industry. It'll really really resonate West and I think will be both surprising and hopefully somewhat news-making so I'll leave that to you. Jason G: [25:07] Nice. That's a good teas are a couple of short fun facts on stuff we've already covered I can't let it go without teasing Scott Scott had an opportunity to be an early investor in Cuba and thought it was a stupid idea. Jason D: [25:19] Scot. Scot: [25:21] Yeah what was NC State Professor he was talking about how he was going to take the algorithm ants use an appliance warehouses and it just didn't didn't make sense to me that Aunt part lost me. You was right I was wrong. Jason D: [25:35] Yeah I know I'm just I'm shaking my head in this empty house right now so. Jason G: [25:44] You mention so in episode 3 you visited a, a warehouse that's now a fulfillment center is now closed you you teased us that you went to a modern performance center and episode for a fun fact for listeners, Amazon actually gives a remarkably good tour of a bunch of those, modern fulfillment center so even if you're not a fancy journalist I Jason, you you can go to a web URL and Reserve at or I take clients on these tours all the time and it's if you're in the industry or you're just interested it's super worth going, so as you're listening to episode 4 and hearing Jason's description know that you can you can follow it up with aching person experience and I'll put the donation the show notes. Jason D: [26:33] Have you been to the Staten Island New York Film Center. Jason G: [26:36] I haven't and so an interesting question which I'll see if our intern can figure out while I'm talking to you only certain of the facilities are available. For the tours. And I don't think that's an island is so like in your neck of the woods Robbinsville New Jersey and West Deptford are available. I don't see Staten Island on the list I'm in Chicago and they they have a. You have to go to Jefferson Indiana and now there's a which is a suburb of Chicago. It's pretty interesting and I presume you had a slightly different experience at the very least they let you bring a mic and they do like Frisk you for all your digital device. Jason D: [27:39] Yes yeah they were there were big they were big no no phone or no camera signs and then yeah I was going to say another I'm hesitant to say what I think my memory is surfacing right now and another know something signed but I'm wondering if maybe it was when I visited a different Amazon facility 5 years ago or 6 years ago and cnx I have a vague memory of a no guns sign but. Anyway I am a millionaire I don't remember for sure so I probably should have said it but. Jason G: [28:26] That's not going to want to listen it'll be safe I'll put Jason's phone number in the show notes. Jason D: [28:34] Speaking of Jeff speaking of Jeff Bezos I got a secret I got a little package in the mail today from from. Kara swisher and the box says Bezos primes and the hundred and hundred billion dollar man and I opened it up and it is a Jeff Bezos figurine maybe like. A foot high and it comes with a robot that he was spotted with that one of his events a few years ago, so I can maybe that can be your show mascot. Jason G: [29:09] That would be awesome is it I'm assuming because the robot is buff Jeff Bezos and not a bookstore Jeff Bezos. Jason D: [29:17] Yeah if you if you Google as I just did Jeff Bezos yellow robot the first image that comes up is Jeff Bezos walking with a. Yellow shirt of is this a robot dog Boston Dynamics robot dog and he is wearing and just in the figurine is wearing what Jeff is wearing in the soda which is. Yes. Jason G: [29:40] Patagonia obligatory BCBS. Scot: [29:43] Does it have a drawstring into the Jeff left when you. Jason D: [29:46] I couldn't I couldn't see that past the bulging bicep switch on. A little envious I honestly. Jason G: [30:00] That was really your way of just working in that Carrie Fisher knows your address which is impressive but. Jason D: [30:05] She actually she actually I've only worked with her for 6 years and she had to text me for my address the other day not that cool. Jason G: [30:15] Yeah I kind of assumed that was the case I have to compete cuz I have a current mask mascot staring at me that I was going to bring the code Commerce this year I have one of the pets.com sock puppets. Jason D: [30:30] Yes yes and I'm assuming you're saying that the guess we're going to have Julie Wainwright too and I'm back in the day at one point rent ups.com. Jason G: [30:41] If I were younger listeners pets.com was one of the the fast runners in the first free internet crash that was a precursor to Chuy and had television campaigns and it has mascot was this sock puppet dog the that that's essentially did in fact morph into Triumph the the comedian. I don't know if you know the backstory here but there are lawsuits in the whole thing that, that sort of after pest.com left that the comedian that that treated the Triumph character like bought the rights to the Past. Calm dogs, and there are some real property fights and stuff so it's fun and then the founder of pets. Com is the the also the founder of real real who's going to be at your shop. Jason D: [31:35] One correction yes she was not, not the founder of cats but feels like almost every time. Yeah journalists are very go see this on almost every time Julie is you know appears that something like. Pets.com comes up twenty years later and I'm just curious about like, maybe it's something it's a it's a role she held but I'm curious of what she'll have to do like what she has to do to like not have that be part of the, part of the story in an only reason I ask is will a, I had someone reach out to me recently after we announced her and was like really you guys still mention pens.com and it made me think about that and then being like who is the CEO and maybe it's just a bad person and I should, I should I should know whether a person is alive or what they're doing today I think it I think it might have been a George something. Jason G: [32:46] George Shaheen good job. Jason D: [32:48] Okay cool you know maybe it's just a juul he's had some level of success and I don't know that's that's enough that I don't know if that was actually a question but it's something I I was just thinking about recently and so was interested. Jason G: [33:02] If I remember correctly after webvan George became the CEO of what was then Anderson Consulting now Accenture. Jason D: [33:10] Wow I was going to say something really mean which is probably not right I was going to say failing up but but maybe I actually was not covering. Jason G: [33:19] Thank you I think I could be a correct characteristic. Jason D: [33:22] Okay sorry George. Jason G: [33:26] That way so I have a very minor version of that I started my career and was like one of the original directors of marketing a blockbuster entertainment and in my world, like every time I go visit a client the the consultant from my saying company right before I get there pops up a slide talking about how you don't want to get Blockbuster. Jason D: [33:46] Oh well. So you view a failed really up. Jason G: [33:51] I have but I would actually point out I'm feeling, down because we sold Blockbuster for 9 billion dollars people always talk about the end when a failure the company was you no railroads are not a very good, investment today but Anderson Cooper's family did pretty good on the railroad. Jason D: [34:15] I am now staring at your LinkedIn which I did not know about this. Jason G: [34:21] That I never listen. Jason D: [34:23] 1616 month. Of your work career. Jason G: [34:26] It's a slide that I have to face every single day as though. Jason D: [34:34] Listen listen as someone who grew up so when you were there I'm not going to do the age thing but okay I'll do it when you were that when you were there I was, I was in Middle School and Blockbuster was probably one of my favorite places on Earth and I have very fond memories especially now that my parents both my parents are deceased very fond memories of going into Blockbuster on Friday nights and you know, hoping you what am I remembering correctly that like the case might be out but like if you opened it. You had it like you found out whether a movie or game was in or not with whether it was actually that the case was empty or not or am I am I totally making that. Jason G: [35:21] I know you're probably thinking of an independent video store so I guess what we would have is the box art would always be there with the movie was in stock or not behind and next to that box are would be. Jason D: [35:32] Oh yes. Jason G: [35:33] 30 or 40 Blockbuster desert called Amaray cases that plastic taste it held the the video. Jason D: [35:41] Got it well well thank you for giving me this even this cloudy memory of my Friday nights as a 12 year old. Jason G: [35:50] I appreciate you making it a blockbuster night we are so getting back to more tree Topix, I want we want to transition of the podcast but one question that you you may have inadvertently. I revealed an answer already but so season 1 Amazon you are the host. There's you know it least four more seasons are you going to be the host for these other companies or are we going to meet some new character. Jason D: [36:26] Most likely not I think, this is I think there were likely be people with more expertise. Then I have on those other companies since I have spelled spent the last six years really diving deep into Amazon in e-commerce show. I don't I don't know what the 100% answer is but that is the 99%. Correct answer likely answer so no I did I did there is an appointed frankly you know that I had to make you know by choice I had to make some trade-offs as I've spent the last six months and still end on this podcast series and also working on the conference which was I've not been able to report and write as frequently as I was I would like so you know where in the beginning of August and the last story I published was a big deep dive into internal tension at Walmart and that was a month ago so I'm anxious to get back to Amor, consistent writing a Cadence starting in the fall. Scot: [37:42] Cool I like how you started filling in the middle so you're kind of like doing episode 4 Star Wars style and then you'll have to kind of go do some some will have to come in and have filling before you. Jason G: [37:56] Netflix is going to be the prequel. Jason D: [37:59] I've always wondered is Amazon the first a in the Fang that has two A's or II a. Scot: [38:06] You know Kramer coins this I'm 99% sure so we can ask him. Jason D: [38:14] Know what you tweet we we we all know no one famous actually coins that thing right there like borrow it from someone was less famous. Scot: [38:21] Not the creamer did he had it on his knuckles one night I remember I remember watching the episode. Jason D: [38:27] Okay. Scot: [38:28] What it is like really fired up here like almost like a knuckle tattoo so is like f a i n g on the. Jason G: [38:34] But am I if I'm remembering right just to jump in when Kramer did start using it Apple wasn't even one of the things so I am assuming it was literally faang and I think so therefore it has to be m. Jason D: [38:49] Someone has tried to make for the newer companies A+ happen if you heard that one. Scot: [38:58] The effort several chondromatosis they're just not as catchy of Spain. Jason D: [39:03] No and now and I can't even I can't even tell you what the A and A+ is is it I'll maybe it's Airbnb anyway. Jason G: [39:11] The G is now and they also to make things more complex. Scot: [39:15] That sounds like an Andreessen Horowitz thing cuz it sounds like they're portfolio does their PRT. Jason D: [39:23] What's an A+ that I'm forgetting which food at after is who thinks he's an investor he actually is an investor. Yes he is in a duster sorry Aspen yeah a plus. Jason G: [39:37] What in your world A+ is Ashton Kutcher in my world it's the supplemental high-value content on the Amazon product detail. Jason D: [39:46] Man we are we are just nerding. Scot: [39:52] Cool sweet recommends that listeners check out Land of the Giants make sure you get the D in there except to get the search right it's great podcast we strongly endorse it here at the Jason Scott shoe so weak since we have you Jason we thought we just kind of Heather written about the news without we pick your brain about some topics the one I'm most interested in is we've had a lot of IPOs and recently so we've had Uber Lyft are out now we got chewy real real they all Uber Lyft haven't done so great but I think the Commerce ones have done pretty well specially real rely things done quite well what he thinks next I know you follow the shoe guys close to are they tearing up or is it your way just raise a lot of capital. Country has few you have any insights into what's next in the pipeline. Jason D: [40:43] Yeah sure so I'll you know what some of the ones I've been curious about. And so so wish wishes accompany that. Assertive gone through phases of being like like very much in the business news and then you know skirt, out of the news in the business world and you know frankly I haven't checked in on their performance in a while and you know last I saw that, there are some reporting that there is there gmv or I don't know what they use for their gross number is I want to say was somewhere maybe approaching or around 10 billion and. [41:29] And I'm assuming most westerners no wish but should I tell them what it is if they down or. [41:37] Yeah so wish wish I like to think of it is essentially AliExpress but for. [41:46] The popular in different markets or sort of taobao, what the Western Schism on it essentially not it's, it's a mobile shopping app with a fee that specializes in the low price non-branded products that are very very cheap that often, will take weeks to get to you although they've they've opened up some of their own warehouses to stop for the best selling stuff, and I'm just very curious about them in it for a long time mainly for you know a lot of stuff they sell, does not last very long yeah I've wondered a lot about what you know what the expectation is with different consumers in different countries when they pay a dollar or $2 for something like is it okay that it, brakes after 4 tries or no is that going to be a significant turn issue to wish is one you know I don't I don't know what their IPO plans are I could see them going public in the next year but that's one of the companies I'm anxious to dig into when I get back to writing a little more Casper there's been a lot of talk about I still looking at you know I still work at that company and. [43:14] Msmm frankly just skeptical of a long-term independent future you know my big question with all these sort of single product for the most part I know they have some other products but single product, digital native Brands is are they really expanding the markets, they're in or they just growing much faster than previous iterations in their industry and so they're going to hit a ceiling much faster and maybe that's obvious the people but it's something I think about a lot and. I just you know I had to report a couple years ago about talks they had with Target about a potential sale for around a billion dollars should I trust one like I don't know what the outcome is but I am very curious because like I said I'm I'm skeptical the public company that Casper has a password and public company, and then some other ones instacart, I think I wish around the current valuation they seem too big to be acquired, I'd love to see you in an s-1 filing with those unit economics look like. And then one that sort of Commerce City but sort of marketplace I don't know what you got if you guys have heard much or, what that much recently is house Houzz. [44:38] You know there was a lot of talk around then maybe a year or two ago and the businesses are smart like at a certain point you just want to get want to get your economics write a certain scale and like. You don't need to be held talking to the business press as much and so that's another one that sort of all my radar to check back into. I did a good job of talking for a few minutes and not actually answering your question. Makes me feel like a PR person. Scot: [45:06] Those are good let's see how about that you guys were they big enough for you think they need some time to consolidate. Jason D: [45:18] Yeah I I mean iced I still think those are so there's there's good and there's stockx. Which just, data breach which took them a long time to reveal actually I think I just got an e-mail today but I feel like I saw it reported last week maybe. My opinion is I think I think those are acquisition place. I just I have trouble I have trouble seeing those guys as public companies then again like you know maybe they you know the real real just went public and I know it's not Sneakers but it is. It is sort of high price high price point items Consignment second hand and sell. You know maybe maybe that is a future but my bet would be on both companies acquisitions. Jason G: [46:25] We've I recorded your your bets and we'll do a recap show later I'll throw like one slight editorial and let you know can I think it's an interesting thing about some of these companies that has changed as a result of digital disruption if you were to launch a a really popular single item company 15 years ago, the marketing vehicles that would be available to you and it would be affordable to you would like, put significant parameters on how quickly you could grow so even there was a demand for 5 million people that wanted to buy your product, it might hate for five years for all five million of those people to find out about your product. And today that that same five million people will find out about your product one day after you want, and so what are the things that I feel like digital has done is. Artificially compressed the sale the initial sales. For your product info you know the mistake I think some people have made is you know you look at these rapid growth of all these companies and you go oh man we just project that out another five years, this is a huge business and what you don't realize is. Jason D: [47:49] You hate you hate you hate your car. Jason G: [47:51] Plateauing much fat. Jason D: [47:53] Yeah. Yeah you said that and much more articulate way than I was then I hit that I did earlier but yeah that was play I was attempting to make was already are these companies and weeks I think we've seen it with some are these companies going to hit a ceiling much sooner than they expected maybe investors inspect extract and. And so yeah I mean that's why I don't hear it as much but I you know I grew double overtime you know few years ago I would have laughed after a. Of time when. A Founder that was like 4 months in or 6 months in would talk to me about like it was confident about. LTV lifetime value and like modeling out there tax you know because. Because of that very point you just made like you're going to stir your hitting your target audience much quicker than in the past. Scot: [48:57] Coop's one area I wanted to see if you have any thoughts on this you've done a lot of good coverage around the food delivery companies you mentioned instacart so there's there's like a zillion of them and we saw a little bit of consolidation with someone acquired the one that square has always so that was caviar and they got acquired by. Jason D: [49:18] Doordash. Scot: [49:18] Yes yes and there was also controversy around tipping so to give us an update on what you're seeing there. Jason D: [49:26] I mean it's like the wild west right it's pretty crazy yeah we had also reported that Postmates had. In a filed they had a press release very early this year saying they had confidentially filed, paperwork with sec to go public and we are now in August, they have still not filed their official S1 paperwork a publicly that is very unusual for a company that will, that for companies that will eventually actually make it public until we we we have reported that every code that they had talks with some potential acquirers there just has to be Asian I mean no one you know of the private companies no one's making money doordash is viewed as sort of dick because they have all this money SoftBank bank backed company they have tons and tons of money that they are burning through, just to gain market share I mean there you know the rumors about them doing some deals with some of the The Big Dig sort of quick casual and or fast-casual and food chains were there essentially you know, they're take raid or they're cut is like. [50:47] Pasta zero or maybe it's zero in some cases and so this is me it's just not sustainable what I've been told and Uber went public, and had a good public outing and was a valued you know they were they were thinking they were going to be value to round 120 billion I haven't looked recently but I'm going to try to pull it up right now what are they 70 70 billion that they were going to wipe they would be wife we to do a deal, for one of the companies and so that you know that the problem in a couple problems you know, so I sold my back was they were going to eat there were neither acquired doordash or even GrubHub another public company, and but at 72 billion instead of 120 billion those deals at those companies market caps evaluations, become really really big percentage percentage of meaningful percentage of Uber's market cap. [51:52] And yeah I could I could keep going to ugly one other point just on like the the debate for Hoover on who do who do you acquire you know you choir doordash you kind of a quite you acquire the crazy show the crazy player in the market that's forcing anyone to just everyone in the mark this sort of lose their heads and burn cash for market share but but that that's her set you back on the economic side like that does not help your profitability of your business right maybe there's some synergies but like on the face of it no if you if you acquire instead GrubHub which is profitable business, you know you've you've gained some NASA volume GrubHub shuja New York with seamless Fusion some Big Moe died in Chicago GrubHub popular Hometown but then you still have the crazy, cash burner doordash out there and so. I'm really interested to see what all happened I think there will be consolidation I'm hoping we haven't announced any of food delivery CEOs for code Commerce yet but I'm very confident we'll have one of the heads of want to be Services there, and what I didn't talk about what is the Tipping scandal, which is essentially I drove one of you guys for a wants to summarize it but it but I'm happy to get my dots on it. Scot: [53:16] Yeah I think the the summary is the so they they all charge there's just got two buckets there's a there's a delivery fee and there's a tip and, what's happening is if you if you put a tip-in then none of the delivery fee they're essentially kind of well couple things to do is, it's legal to skim the tip so you can charge the worker you can you can take out yo sitting on there's all kinds of rules around us but something like two to 4% essentially covering your credit card fee and whatnot so that's one aspect to this I think all that stuff kind of unethical but whatever so it's legal and then and then the bigger thing was that effectively you know the as you tipped then the company was keeping more and more of the delivery fee so they were kind of saying it was like an order so the driver got you know kind of an order from the delivery fee in the tip not an ant. Jason D: [54:15] Right and I think this was surprising to an indoor dashes case and I don't think they were the only one surprising to both, the delivery people when they were in that you know I was tipped, $8 but I didn't get all that tip and then I think it was surprising to, customers and doordash initially sad like we believe in this model we believe our it's more steady income for our delivery people with this model and when they don't when they get you know this is better for them when they don't get a good tip and, and then the story kind of exploded again a few months later when I think of New York Times writer, a reporter asked her did delivery I get her first person then of what it was like and this came up again and then doordash recently gave in or has said they will change their model the problem with the whole space I mean I'm going to paint with a broad brush and I know there's some nuances with each service but generally like there is just I think most consumers just don't know. How much they're paying and where it's going and you know maybe for a lot of people they don't care that they're, you know the price is basically marked up twenty 30% from what they would pay in the store but the convenience is worth it but. [55:45] I really think there's room for an ethical player to Stand Out by just doing business really the right way the problem is I think the economics of the business at least with the current auditor site and how many services there are. Don't allow for that. Scot: [56:02] Yep yeah that's at some point prices will go up in the convenience store and consumer will know that they're they're paying extra for the stuff so what we have to just come to get to that normalization. Jason G: [56:13] Yeah the the tricky part is sometimes when at normal ization happens then the service isn't as appealing a consumer's rights. At a similar version is played out with instacart where they were Articuno originally they they had a low delivery fee but they were artificially raising the price of all the goods you paid so it was. Jason D: [56:32] Right right. Jason G: [56:33] And when customers found out about that that's out really oily and dishonest so you know they started passing through the items at the same price and tried to charge more for the delivery fee and found the customers weren't willing to pay that delivery piece of eight like 10 only do good in Market Square, they kept the delivery for you which meant the unit economics for the business don't working in a b c is paying for your delivery. Jason D: [56:59] What are you doing I'm just curious and it like do you think any of these bit whether it since the card or you know the the meal delivery companies. Do you think do you think any of them like go away like they did do you think we're in for a rude awakening where like. Some of the most sensual like one or two of them like literally collapse even. Jason G: [57:22] Why did consolidate in one of them does well for a while but in the long run I'll predict the day all the way in or we change and the reason I say that is. That they're essentially offering a service to grocery stores in the kids of instacart or restaurants in a case of the others, providing a customer experience at that Grocery Store retail you know restaurant wasn't interested in providing or didn't feel they could have adequately provide and, early on when it's not a big business it made total sense to do that as, that service becomes the dominant method of getting those those companies products. It becomes increasingly stupid for these companies to Outsource this right and I mean not the analogy to me. Jason D: [58:16] Oh I am now remind I've heard I've heard your tape before but I want. Jason G: [58:20] In the early days. Nobody built their own e-commerce I try like we're retailers and so what will pay this technology company in Silicon Valley to operate an e-commerce site for us. Jason D: [58:31] Or in Seattle. Jason G: [58:32] Yeah so that was either Amazon or company back in the day g s i n g s I became a very successful very fast runner made the owner of billionaire now owns the 76ers the. In the long run. All of the the surviving retailers had to find a way to unwind their deals with Amazon and GSI because it just became too important a part of the customer experience and when I. Jason D: [59:00] And those DSi deals man I've heard some stories. Jason G: [59:03] He was a great salesperson that the contracts were absurd. Jason D: [59:08] Team 10 15 year deals yet. Jason G: [59:10] Yeah it was amazing but in the case of restaurants there's a huge shift in consumer Behavior. 20% of all restaurant sales are now consumed off pram, the the deals they have with these marketplaces are unprofitable for the restaurants and so it's it literally at the, inhibit scales under the current economic model outputs all these restaurants out of business and side note all of these delivery companies are secretly opening, kitchens and commissaries to start delivering the universe similar to Amazon private label Marketplace so there's more pressure coming in the big successful restaurants that actually have products that consumers want. They're going to have to own their own delivery experience right in it and you talk to these got these huge companies are announcing oh we're going to partner with Uber Eats, and I I go like that that's crazy that's your the front door of your your restaurant. That you're now Outsourcing to someone that's going to disintermediate you from the customer it for a variety of reasons I don't think it's a sustainable model what's the. Jason D: [1:00:20] Yeah one one other thing I forgot to mention Little Couple interesting things one is you know the former CEO ousted CEO of uber Travis kalanick he's in the space I think here's a company one of his one or a division of one of his new company is called Cloud kitchens which is essentially these like dark, call dark kitchens or Bay City restaurants that only do delivery. The other thing is you know how Mazon hasn't come up in this conversation yet but in the end they you know I think they announced shutting down Amazon restaurants there, attempted delivery I don't think they're out of this I think like I would like, I think the two wires to me in this space at least in the US are, Uber and. Uber and Amazon and so I didn't you know will Amazon do any big Acquisitions right now with the current regulatory climate maybe not but. Maybe that's obvious to people that they're not out of it but I think some people when they saw them Amazon shutting down out of the restaurants. They were exiting but I think. I I would not be surprised whatsoever if they if they make a point in the space. Jason G: [1:01:46] No I I I think that's very possible with some decent that's going to be a great place to leave it because we've done it again we've completely wasted an hour of our listeners time. Jason D: [1:01:57] You got you guys did I didn't want a day like that. Jason G: [1:02:00] You know you are a total a willing participant, the but if listeners disagree and they want to continue the conversation as always you could jump on her Facebook page and leave some comments or hit us up on Twitter, as always in bed this was the show that that you know finally added value in your life what you should do is jump on iTunes give us that five star review and at the same time you can subscribe to Land of the Giants in here even more Jason Del Rey. Jason D: [1:02:31] Check can I just plug like you should really give it a shot we've been top 50 and top 30 for most of the last week on all of apple and I am open to all feedback, good and bad I'm on Twitter at Delray Delray Jason at recode.net we have an email address for Land of the Giants, and I just hijacked your ending there you go. Scot: [1:03:01] Jason thanks for joining us and congrats on the success of the podcast we look forward to hearing the rest of it. Jason D: [1:03:09] Thanks guys I'll see you at Code Commerce. Jason G: [1:03:11] Absolutely in until next time happy commercing.

From the floor of the National Grocers Association (NGA) Show in San Diego, podcast host Kevin Coupe engages with a power-panel of retailers and experts in a discussion on the unique technology challenges and opportunities independent retailers are facing. Our guests for episode three include: Lauren Johnson, CEO/President, Newport Avenue Markets Lisa Mangino Swanson, Communications Director, Hugo's Family Marketplace Sterling Hawkins, Co-founder, Center for Advancing Retail & Technology (CART) Tom Furphy, CEO/Managing Director, Consumer Equity Partners Glen Terbeek, retired and previously Anderson Consulting’s Smart Store Retail Tomorrow is a GMDC initiative which hosts a series of “immersion” conferences where people can deep-dive into not only best-practices, but next-practices in retail. Past event locations include in Silicon Valley, Toronto, Seattle, and New York, with upcoming 2019 events scheduled for Los Angeles and Boston. Learn more at www.retailtomorrow.org

Mohamed Mansour is one of the founding Partners – and former Managing Partner – of Baringa Partners. If you have listened to episode 4 (http://bit.ly/CICep4) you'll know that Mohamed held this role before passing the mantel over to Adrian Bettridge having decided the time was right to move back to his homeland of Canada. Mohamed was also my boss for the first part of my time at Baringa and it was great to have the chance to sit down with him to find out about the early days of Baringa (most of which I didn't know) and ask Mohamed some questions that I'd always wanted to know the answers to! Mohamed has a really unique story; having started in Canada and moved across to the US to join the start up Consultancy, The Structure Group, he was offered the opportunity to help launch the firm's European arm and found himself alongside his co-founders, running a Consulting firm in a country he didn't know in his mid 20s. This subsequently grew in to Baringa Partners and as they say, the rest is history. We cover a whole range of topics in this episode including: How Mohamed found himself running a Consulting firm at such a young age and what key skills he had to develop as part of this. Mohamed's advice on how to become a good Leader. The key foundations that Mohamed and the founding team put in place to create the unique culture that Baringa was, and still is, renowned for. The importance of lateral thinking in Consulting and how you can develop this critical skill. How to respond to feedback and know what you should take on board and what you should ignore. How Mohamed is so good with names (something he was renowned for at Baringa) And much much more! You can find out more about Mohamed on his Linked In page – https://www.linkedin.com/in/mohamed-mansour-362b422/ or drop him an email at Amps.mansour@gmail.com Specific things we discuss in the show: Anderson Consulting – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Andersen#Andersen_Consulting_and_Accenture The Structure Group - https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-structure-group Colour personality types Mohamed mentions - http://www.fullcircletd.co.uk/insight-discovery/insights-discovery-colour-energies/ Riipen - https://riipen.io/ John Timpson - https://www.timpson.co.uk/about/meet-the-timpsons Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America: America's Second Civil War and the Divisive Legacy of Richard Nixon by Rick Perlstein - http://amzn.eu/cmNPiW6 India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy by Ramachandra Guha - http://amzn.eu/asFNO7d

Samuel Anderson is determined to make a difference in the lives of half a million people by being an example. Originally from Lynchburg, Va, he set out on a different path. While studying Business at Longwood University, he decided it was best to withdraw and embark on a new journey. A lifetime of building another's business was not in the cards. Starting his career at the Boys and Girls Club, he invested nearly a decade in the mental health field as a community based counselor. All the while knowing, there was something greater. The entrepreneur spirit took shape at the age of twenty years old when he joined a network marketing team. Within months, Samuel learned more about business from his mentors than he did from the years spent in a lecture hall. While working in the mental health field he was often told, "we would love to promote you but you do not have the education." Often contemplating returning to college, and following through at times, something told him that this was not his path. Eventually deciding that network marketing was not the vehicle he wanted to use to further develop his business acumen, he left the team after nearly five years of dedication. "I learned how to have an unrelenting passion for my goals and purpose in life. No matter how many times I was told no, nothing would stop me." An opportunity to work as a Project Manager was finally given to him by one company. "They took a chance on me. Even though I did not have the experience, there was no doubt that I would work hard and develop the necessary skill set." During this two year period, it seemed that all of a sudden, Anderson created three separate businesses. Richmond Bubble Soccer, Cycul, and Anderson Consulting. Sooner than he expected, these businesses started to take off, and he came to a cross road. Leave a "good" job with a regular salary, or to bet on himself and become what he had always wanted to be, an Entrepreneur. So began the journey. Now Anderson spends his days focused on his dreams and building the dreams of others. With his focus remaining on God, his family and helping others, he has developed a skill set as a public speaker and a developing author. When speaking at public events, he speaks on the topics of Entrepreneurship, Goal Setting, Passion, Social Media Branding and Leadership.Success Awaits Sam's Favorite Quote: Sam's Favorite Book:   Links From Today's Show:You Can't Afford Me: Building A Business While Working Full Time http://www.mrpreneur.org http://www.richmondbubblesoccer.com/#homoe http://www.washcycul.com The Power of Broke: How Empty Pockets, a Tight Budget, and a Hunger for Success Can Become Your Greatest Competitive Advantage  

Samuel Anderson is determined to make a difference in the lives of half a million people by being an example. Originally from Lynchburg, Va, he set out on a different path. While studying Business at Longwood University, he decided it was best to withdraw and embark on a new journey. A lifetime of building another's business was not in the cards. Starting his career at the Boys and Girls Club, he invested nearly a decade in the mental health field as a community based counselor. All the while knowing, there was something greater. The entrepreneur spirit took shape at the age of twenty years old when he joined a network marketing team. Within months, Samuel learned more about business from his mentors than he did from the years spent in a lecture hall. While working in the mental health field he was often told, "we would love to promote you but you do not have the education." Often contemplating returning to college, and following through at times, something told him that this was not his path. Eventually deciding that network marketing was not the vehicle he wanted to use to further develop his business acumen, he left the team after nearly five years of dedication. "I learned how to have an unrelenting passion for my goals and purpose in life. No matter how many times I was told no, nothing would stop me." An opportunity to work as a Project Manager was finally given to him by one company. "They took a chance on me. Even though I did not have the experience, there was no doubt that I would work hard and develop the necessary skill set." During this two year period, it seemed that all of a sudden, Anderson created three separate businesses. Richmond Bubble Soccer, Cycul, and Anderson Consulting. Sooner than he expected, these businesses started to take off, and he came to a cross road. Leave a "good" job with a regular salary, or to bet on himself and become what he had always wanted to be, an Entrepreneur. So began the journey. Now Anderson spends his days focused on his dreams and building the dreams of others. With his focus remaining on God, his family and helping others, he has developed a skill set as a public speaker and a developing author. When speaking at public events, he speaks on the topics of Entrepreneurship, Goal Setting, Passion, Social Media Branding and Leadership.Success Awaits Sam's Favorite Quote: Sam's Favorite Book:   Links From Today's Show:You Can't Afford Me: Building A Business While Working Full Time http://www.mrpreneur.org http://www.richmondbubblesoccer.com/#homoe http://www.washcycul.com The Power of Broke: How Empty Pockets, a Tight Budget, and a Hunger for Success Can Become Your Greatest Competitive Advantage  

Samuel Anderson is determined to make a difference in the lives of half a million people by being an example. Originally from Lynchburg, Va, he set out on a different path. While studying Business at Longwood University, he decided it was best to withdraw and embark on a new journey. A lifetime of building another's business was not in the cards. Starting his career at the Boys and Girls Club, he invested nearly a decade in the mental health field as a community based counselor. All the while knowing, there was something greater. The entrepreneur spirit took shape at the age of twenty years old when he joined a network marketing team. Within months, Samuel learned more about business from his mentors than he did from the years spent in a lecture hall. While working in the mental health field he was often told, "we would love to promote you but you do not have the education." Often contemplating returning to college, and following through at times, something told him that this was not his path. Eventually deciding that network marketing was not the vehicle he wanted to use to further develop his business acumen, he left the team after nearly five years of dedication. "I learned how to have an unrelenting passion for my goals and purpose in life. No matter how many times I was told no, nothing would stop me." An opportunity to work as a Project Manager was finally given to him by one company. "They took a chance on me. Even though I did not have the experience, there was no doubt that I would work hard and develop the necessary skill set." During this two year period, it seemed that all of a sudden, Anderson created three separate businesses. Richmond Bubble Soccer, Cycul, and Anderson Consulting. Sooner than he expected, these businesses started to take off, and he came to a cross road. Leave a "good" job with a regular salary, or to bet on himself and become what he had always wanted to be, an Entrepreneur. So began the journey. Now Anderson spends his days focused on his dreams and building the dreams of others. With his focus remaining on God, his family and helping others, he has developed a skill set as a public speaker and a developing author. When speaking at public events, he speaks on the topics of Entrepreneurship, Goal Setting, Passion, Social Media Branding and Leadership.Success Awaits Sam's Favorite Quote: Sam's Favorite Book:   Links From Today's Show:You Can't Afford Me: Building A Business While Working Full Time http://www.mrpreneur.org http://www.richmondbubblesoccer.com/#homoe http://www.washcycul.com The Power of Broke: How Empty Pockets, a Tight Budget, and a Hunger for Success Can Become Your Greatest Competitive Advantage  

Want to build a computer that makes money?Quest Partners LLC has a long, robust track record with their systematic trading approach.They utilize a different strategies from many of their peers and have diversified their product range to include equity programs both hedge and long only.At the core of it all is their philosophy on focusing on what investors need. They provide solutions for investors rather than a purist strategy.Leading the way is our next guest on Top Traders Unplugged, Nigol Koulajian.In This Episode, You'll Learn:How growing up Armenian provides a filter for the way Nigol perceives the marketsHis experience at Anderson Consulting and how he ended up working with Solomon Brothers by chanceWhy Nigol spend time at Colombia Business School programming and building modelsWhat Nigol thinks of Value at RiskHow Nigol found himself as a risk arbitrage manager despite his passion for CTA strategiesHow Nigol navigated beneficial detours before finally partnering to co-found Enterprise Asset Management in 1994About the founding and growth of Quest Partners from inceptions in 2001 to +760$ million in 2014The dangers of an increased correlation between alternative strategies designed to protect against trouble in traditional investment and the traditional asset classes themselvesLearn about self reinforcing feedback loop and how managers of growing AUM are forced to allocate to factors that are doing well (but perhaps doing well by chance)About the tight, automated business infrastructure of Quest Financial PartnersAbout the shift in volatility expansion and how to measure itResources & Links Mentioned in this Episode:Investors Business Daily – The finance newspaper which inspired Nigol in the early days3 Research Pieces from Quest that specifically examine factor drifts that could effect the returns of CTAsLearn about Sharpe RatioA specific trading model that trades the S&P and 30Y Bonds if it's down 3 days in a row, with a stop-loss and profit target (Full testing and code in the link).BTOP50 – the index that seeks to replicate the overall composition of the managed futures industry with regard to trading style and overall market exposureLearn about David Harding, one of the largest alternative investment managers in the worldRead this interesting article about transcendental meditation and NigolNigol's Foundation to promote studies on eastern religious philosophies and YogaFollow Niels on Twitter, LinkedIn,

2007 held numerous watershed events for the security industry. Innovation is needed and the money is there. Come to this session and meet the VCs actively investing in security, web, and mobile applications. Learn how VCs see the future, what they are looking for, and how best to utilize them to further your innovations. This session will conclude with a announcement about the Black Hat/DEFCON Open, a business plan competition focused on innovations in security; winners will be announced at Black Hat 2008 and DEFCON 16. Brad Stone, New York Times technology correspondent Brad Stone joined the New York Times in December 2006. He covers Internet trends from the newspapers San Francisco bureau. In addition to writing for the paper, he contributes to the Times technology blog, Bits. >From 1998 to November 2006, Stone served as the Silicon Valley Correspondent for Newsweek magazine, writing for the technology and business sections of the magazine and authoring a regular column, Plain Text, on our evolving digital lifestyles. He joined the Newsweek writing staff in 1996 as a general assignment reporter and covered a wide range of subjects. He wrote about Mark McGwire's home run chase during the summer of 1998, the jury deliberations in the Timothy McVeigh trial, and profiled authors such as Kurt Vonnegut. He is also a frequent contributor to Wired magazine, and has written for publications such as More magazine and the Sunday Telegraph in London. Brad graduated from Columbia University in 1993 and is originally from Cleveland, Ohio. Patrick Chung, Partner, NEA Patrick joined NEA as an Associate in 2004 and became Partner in 2007. Patrick focuses on venture growth equity, consumer, Internet, and mobile investments. He is a director of Loopt and Realtime Worlds, and is actively involved with 23andMe, Xoom and the firm's venture growth activities. Prior to joining NEA, Patrick helped to grow ZEFER, an Internet services firm (acquired by NEC) to more than $100 million in annual revenues and more than 700 people across six global offices. The company attracted over $100 million in venture capital financing. Prior to ZEFER, Patrick was with McKinsey & Company, where he specialized in hardware, software, and services companies. Patrick received a joint JD-MBA degree from Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School, where he was the only candidate in his year to earn honors at both. He also served as an Editor of the Harvard Law Review. Patrick was one of only nine Canadian citizens to be elected a Commonwealth Scholar to study at Oxford University, where he earned a Master of Science degree and won both class prizes for Best Dissertation and Best Overall Performance. Patrick earned his A.B. degree at Harvard University in Environmental Science. He is a member of the New York and Massachusettsbars. Maria Cirino, Co-Founder and Managing Director, .406 Ventures Maria is co-founder and managing director of .406 Ventures, a new VC firm focused on early stage investments in security, IT, and services. She serves as an active investor, director and/or chairman in one public company and four venture-backed companies including Verecode and Bit9. Maria brings 21 years of entrepreneurial, operating and senior management experience in venture-backed technology companies. Most recently, she served as an SVP of Verisign following its 2005 $142 million acquisition of Guardenta Sequoia, Charles River Ventures and NEA-backed IT security company that she co-founded and led as CEO and Chairman. In this role, Maria received several industry honors and awards, including "Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2003." Prior to Guardent, Maria was Senior Vice President responsible for sales and marketing at i-Cube, an IT services company, which was acquired in 1999 by Razorfish for $1.8 billion. Prior to Razorfish, she was responsible for North American sales at Shiva, the category creating network infrastructure company from 1993 to 1997. Mark McGovern, Tech Lead, In-Q-Tel Mark McGovern leads the communications and infrastructure practice for In-Q-Tel, the strategic investment firm that supports the U.S. Intelligence Community. He has extensive experience developing, securing and deploying data systems. Prior to joining In-Q-Tel, Mr. McGovern was Director of Technology for Cigital Inc. He led Cigital's software security group and supported a Fortune 100 clientele that included Microsoft, MasterCard International, CitiBank, Symantec, CheckFree, the UK National Lottery and the Federal Reserve Banks of Richmond, New York and Boston. Earlier in his career, Mr. McGovern worked for the Central Intelligence Agency. Mr. McGovern holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and an M.S. in Systems Engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute. Dov Yoran is a Partner at Security Growth Partners (SGP). Prior to joining SGP, Mr. Yoran was Vice President for Strategic Alliances at Solutionary, Inc. a leading Managed Security Services Provider. He was responsible for all partnerships, global channel revenue and marketing efforts. Previously, at Symantec Corporation, Mr. Yoran managed the Services Partner Program, having global responsibility for creating, launching and managing the partner re-seller program. This program generated over 50% of Symantec Services revenue, with a partner base expanding across six continents. Mr. Yoran came to Symantec as part of the Riptech, Inc. acquisition, in a $145 Million transaction that ranked in the top 2% of all technology mergers in 2002. Riptech was the leading managed security services firm that monitored and protected its client base on a 24x7 basis. At Riptech, he spearheaded the channel strategy, marketing and sales operations, growing the reseller program to over 50% of the company's revenue. Prior to that, Mr. Yoran has worked in several technology start-ups as well as Accenture (formerly Anderson Consulting) where he focused on technolog and strategy engagements in the Financial Services Industry. Mr. Yoran has also written and lectured on several Information Security topics. He holds a Masters of Science in Engineering Management and System Engineering with a concentration in Information Security Management from the George Washington University and is a cum laude Bachelor of Science in Chemistry graduate from Tufts University.

2007 held numerous watershed events for the security industry. Innovation is needed and the money is there. Come to this session and meet the VCs actively investing in security, web, and mobile applications. Learn how VCs see the future, what they are looking for, and how best to utilize them to further your innovations. This session will conclude with a announcement about the Black Hat/DEFCON Open, a business plan competition focused on innovations in security; winners will be announced at Black Hat 2008 and DEFCON 16. Brad Stone, New York Times technology correspondent Brad Stone joined the New York Times in December 2006. He covers Internet trends from the newspapers San Francisco bureau. In addition to writing for the paper, he contributes to the Times technology blog, Bits. >From 1998 to November 2006, Stone served as the Silicon Valley Correspondent for Newsweek magazine, writing for the technology and business sections of the magazine and authoring a regular column, Plain Text, on our evolving digital lifestyles. He joined the Newsweek writing staff in 1996 as a general assignment reporter and covered a wide range of subjects. He wrote about Mark McGwire's home run chase during the summer of 1998, the jury deliberations in the Timothy McVeigh trial, and profiled authors such as Kurt Vonnegut. He is also a frequent contributor to Wired magazine, and has written for publications such as More magazine and the Sunday Telegraph in London. Brad graduated from Columbia University in 1993 and is originally from Cleveland, Ohio. Patrick Chung, Partner, NEA Patrick joined NEA as an Associate in 2004 and became Partner in 2007. Patrick focuses on venture growth equity, consumer, Internet, and mobile investments. He is a director of Loopt and Realtime Worlds, and is actively involved with 23andMe, Xoom and the firm's venture growth activities. Prior to joining NEA, Patrick helped to grow ZEFER, an Internet services firm (acquired by NEC) to more than $100 million in annual revenues and more than 700 people across six global offices. The company attracted over $100 million in venture capital financing. Prior to ZEFER, Patrick was with McKinsey & Company, where he specialized in hardware, software, and services companies. Patrick received a joint JD-MBA degree from Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School, where he was the only candidate in his year to earn honors at both. He also served as an Editor of the Harvard Law Review. Patrick was one of only nine Canadian citizens to be elected a Commonwealth Scholar to study at Oxford University, where he earned a Master of Science degree and won both class prizes for Best Dissertation and Best Overall Performance. Patrick earned his A.B. degree at Harvard University in Environmental Science. He is a member of the New York and Massachusettsbars. Maria Cirino, Co-Founder and Managing Director, .406 Ventures Maria is co-founder and managing director of .406 Ventures, a new VC firm focused on early stage investments in security, IT, and services. She serves as an active investor, director and/or chairman in one public company and four venture-backed companies including Verecode and Bit9. Maria brings 21 years of entrepreneurial, operating and senior management experience in venture-backed technology companies. Most recently, she served as an SVP of Verisign following its 2005 $142 million acquisition of Guardenta Sequoia, Charles River Ventures and NEA-backed IT security company that she co-founded and led as CEO and Chairman. In this role, Maria received several industry honors and awards, including "Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2003." Prior to Guardent, Maria was Senior Vice President responsible for sales and marketing at i-Cube, an IT services company, which was acquired in 1999 by Razorfish for $1.8 billion. Prior to Razorfish, she was responsible for North American sales at Shiva, the category creating network infrastructure company from 1993 to 1997. Mark McGovern, Tech Lead, In-Q-Tel Mark McGovern leads the communications and infrastructure practice for In-Q-Tel, the strategic investment firm that supports the U.S. Intelligence Community. He has extensive experience developing, securing and deploying data systems. Prior to joining In-Q-Tel, Mr. McGovern was Director of Technology for Cigital Inc. He led Cigital's software security group and supported a Fortune 100 clientele that included Microsoft, MasterCard International, CitiBank, Symantec, CheckFree, the UK National Lottery and the Federal Reserve Banks of Richmond, New York and Boston. Earlier in his career, Mr. McGovern worked for the Central Intelligence Agency. Mr. McGovern holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and an M.S. in Systems Engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute. Dov Yoran is a Partner at Security Growth Partners (SGP). Prior to joining SGP, Mr. Yoran was Vice President for Strategic Alliances at Solutionary, Inc. a leading Managed Security Services Provider. He was responsible for all partnerships, global channel revenue and marketing efforts. Previously, at Symantec Corporation, Mr. Yoran managed the Services Partner Program, having global responsibility for creating, launching and managing the partner re-seller program. This program generated over 50% of Symantec Services revenue, with a partner base expanding across six continents. Mr. Yoran came to Symantec as part of the Riptech, Inc. acquisition, in a $145 Million transaction that ranked in the top 2% of all technology mergers in 2002. Riptech was the leading managed security services firm that monitored and protected its client base on a 24x7 basis. At Riptech, he spearheaded the channel strategy, marketing and sales operations, growing the reseller program to over 50% of the company's revenue. Prior to that, Mr. Yoran has worked in several technology start-ups as well as Accenture (formerly Anderson Consulting) where he focused on technolog and strategy engagements in the Financial Services Industry. Mr. Yoran has also written and lectured on several Information Security topics. He holds a Masters of Science in Engineering Management and System Engineering with a concentration in Information Security Management from the George Washington University and is a cum laude Bachelor of Science in Chemistry graduate from Tufts University.

About Today's Guest Jonathan Farrington on The Sales Podcast ( https://www.flickr.com/photos/thesaleswhisperer/14166689037 ) *Jonathan Farrington* is a globally recognized business coach, mentor, author and consultant, who has guided hundreds of companies and more than ninety thousand frontline salespeople and sales leaders towards optimum performance levels. As well as acting as the Senior Partner for JFA, he is Chairman of The JF Corporation and CEO of Top Sales Associates ( http://www.topsalesassociates.com/ ) , based in London & Paris. Formerly, Jonathan was the CEO of The jfa Group, which he established in 1994 and sold in 2005. Prior to that, he earned his spurs in some of the most demanding and competitive market sectors – i.e. IT, Telecommunications and Finance. Outstanding achievement at an early stage in his career provided a ‘fast-track' passage to several board level appointments, working with a number of the largest and most successful international corporations including: IBM, Wang, Legal and General, Andersen Consulting, Litton Industries and The Bank of Tokyo. Jonathan's written work has been republished by a host of journals including The New York Times, The Washington Post and The London Times: He is consistently named amongst the top twenty influential sales and marketing experts, and his highly popular daily blog, which he first published in 2006 for dedicated business professionals can be found at www.thejfblogit.co.uk ( http://www.thejfblogit.co.uk/ ) Hear the rest of his story on The Sales Podcast Session ( http://thesaleswhisperer.com/session70/ ) 70 ( http://thesaleswhisperer.com/session70/ ). Rubber-Meets-The-Road Tip * “I'm never satisfied.” Perfection is a journey, not a destination. * Came out of Anderson Consulting in 1991 to do his own thing. * Called in lots of favors to get started and it worked. * Wanted to have a 10 year run and it went 11 years. * He sold it and needed something to do but he had a non-compete. * He wanted to get online and experiment. * He reached out to 10 people he admired and told them there was room in the sales space to collaborate and he expected them to tell him “no.” But all came back and were on board. Jill Konrath was hiking in New Zealand and was checking email every 48 hours and was thrilled to work with him. Those 10 are still together. * Called ourselves the “top sales experts” and bought the URL Top Sales World ( http://topsalesworld.com ). * Ended up with a lot of sites but it was diluted so he brought it all under one roof. * 9 strategic areas of selling - relaunching his site to address these segments. * Creating the largest library for sales people ever created and it's free. * Launching his first convention - TSW14 - in Philadelphia in November 19-20, 2014 ( http://topsalesworld.com/top-sales-world-convention/ ). * Launching their awards of top 50 sales influencers. * Small businesses have a very level playing field. The only differentiator is price and that's tough. The marketplace is being commoditized. In the next 5 years 80% of the current sales population will be changed or replaced because of the internet. * But *personal selling is not going to disappear*. The top 5% achievers will become the top 20% because they will sell consultatively. * You must differentiate yourself with your marketing. * Our knowledge is what differentiates us. Our clients don't care about us or our brains. They want to know what we can do for them. * *Gain. Save. Improve. Increase. Reduce. 5 key words*. Prove this and you'll have their attention. Then prove it and back it up. * Relationship selling isn't dead. But too many sales people think it happens too quickly. It takes time to develop. It's based on mutual respect and integrity. Then it will endure. Being liked is not that important. * The greatest compliment is that they respect you and tell others they respect you. * People buy from people they believe can help them. * It's a bonus if people like you. * We talk WITH clients. We don't talk up or down to prospects. * We have something in common with everyone we meet. We just have to take the time to get to know them. * In the 80's PCs were selling like mad. He started helping people connect PCs via network. He called on a major private bank after the sales guys had been in 5-6 times. It was a huge opportunity. The prospect was a golfer. Jonathan was, too. The first thing they did was set a tee time. Jonathan put off business talk until they were golfing. The deal was done on the course. * You need deep pockets to launch a new venture and you need to be in it for the long haul. * For 4.5 years they were in the red with Top Sales World. * Top Sales Awards but not like the Stevies now in its 5th year. * Top Sales Academy. * His blog is a constant source of new opportunities. Top Sales World is not. * He wants to raise the bar and the level of standards in the sales world. Sales skills are declining rapidly. * *“Nothing happens until somebody buys something.”* * Sales managers aren't getting trained. The average tenure of a sales manager is 16 months, down from 18 months just a couple of years ago. 80% of sales people are under qualified to be in sales. * Individuals today don't have to wait for someone to make you successful. “If it's to be, it's up to me.” * Be committed to improving on a daily basis. * *Somebody has to be #1. Why not you?* * Be discerning. Experiment with sales concepts and ideas. Dive in and test some things. * Material stuff is reward for achievement. Money is not the motivator for the top achievers. It does pay your bills but we want to know we did a job well. * He is a crusader for sales. The rate of change is increasing. Solutions are becoming commoditized. We don't need sales people or even order takers. The bottom line is driving people out of business. There are 100 million sales people in the world today. You'll thrive if you're totally committed to sales. Be focused. Know what you want. Surround yourself with people that can help you achieve your objectives. You're the CEO of your own destiny. * Launching 5 major initiatives and then leaves for a month. Blitz and then break. Gets more done. Links Mentioned * Jonathan Farrington's home on the web ( http://www.jonathanfarrington.com ) * Jonathan Farrington's Blog ( http://www.thejfblogit.co.uk/ ) * Connect with Jonathan Farrington on LinkedIn ( https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanfarrington ) * Visit Jonathan Farrington's Top Sales World ( http://topsalesworld.com ) * Visit Jonathan Farrington's Top Sales Experts ( http://www.topsalesexperts.com ) Get all of the show notes for every episode of The Sales Podcast ( https://www.thesaleswhisperer.com/podcasts/ ) with Wes Schaeffer, The Sales Whisperer® ( https://www.thesaleswhisperer.com/ ). Order a signed copy of Wes's new book, *" The Sales Whisperer® Way ( https://info.thesaleswhisperer.com/way-book ) "* Use these resources to grow your sales: * Sell More This Month ( https://www.thesaleswhisperer.com/30-day-sales-growth ) * Hire Better Salespeople ( https://talentgenius.simplybook.me/v2/ ) * Hire The Best Keynote Speaker ( https://www.wesschaeffer.com/ ) * Find Your Best CRM ( https://info.thesaleswhisperer.com/best-crm-quiz ) * Join the Free Facebook Group ( https://www.facebook.com/groups/theimplementors/ ) Check out earlier episodes of The Sales Podcast: * Episodes 1 to 10 ( https://www.thesaleswhisperer.com/blog/sales-podcast-episodes-one-to-ten ). * Episodes 11 to 20 ( https://www.thesaleswhisperer.com/blog/the-sales-podcast-episodes-11-20 ). * Episodes 21 to 30 ( https://www.thesaleswhisperer.com/blog/sales-podcast-episodes-21-30 ). * Episodes 31 to 40 ( https://www.thesaleswhisperer.com/blog/sales-podcast-episodes-31-40 ). * Episodes 41 to 50 ( https://www.thesaleswhisperer.com/blog/sales-podcast-episodes-41-50 ). * Episodes 51 to 60 ( https://www.thesaleswhisperer.com/blog/sales-podcast-episodes-51-60 ). * Episodes 61 to 70 ( https://www.thesaleswhisperer.com/blog/sales-podcast-episodes-61-70 ). Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-sales-podcast/exclusive-content Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy