Podcasts about Mbo

Aaron Wexler is an American beach volleyball coach, former indoor and beach standout, and the author of "The Inspired Athlete." He is a former player and assistant women's volleyball coach at UCLA (2001 champs). He was an active player on the AVP scene and is currently the program director of West Coast Volleyball. 02:35 - Lambourne and Patterson, and the magic they put together, appreciating the appreciation 07:05 - The Huntington Heritage series, 3 things we liked and 3 things we would like to see, my "down period" and how I came back from it, plus, spouses save all, and players who came to flat out ball 18:11 - the authenticity of Evan Cory and the fans who take their journey with him, communications between the AVP and the fans and the variables many do not see, understanding technology from an enthusiast perspective 30:47 - Revenue-sharing, passion vs opportunism and how two things can be true at the same time, persistency is victory, praise to the photographers, having a pulse on regional support 41:48 - The value of having a league, the upward movement of revenue sharing, if the male elite players keep their promises, then we will keep ours, players have done well promoting themselves, Kiraly tears down the net video 57:45 - The power of the antagonist, and how it plays its part in sports, drama sells, historically, fans know if a personality comes from an authentic place 1:11:02 - Jason Olive insisted I talk to him, so we called him, also, taking comments from the live chat, the fans caring about the characters 1:32:31 - Dana White's journey with the UFC, the red to the black, do not manufacture villains, let it happen on its own, loving the AVP taking big chances, great sponsor opportunities 1:51:01 - For me to care, I have a short list, the Crabbs and the journey they allow us to take with them, Taylor Crabb's MBO journey to the finals and "the moment" 2:11:52 - Franchising the league teams, should there be a draft 2:25:10 - Top 5 domestic female players, male domestic players

Welcome to another episode of The Coral Capital Podcast, a show where we bring on guests from tech, business, politics, and culture to talk about all things Japan.In this episode, economist and long-time Japan optimist Jesper Koll breaks down how Japan is faring amid rising global protectionism, demographic shifts, and geopolitical uncertainty. A resident of Japan since 1986, Jesper has spent decades at the forefront of Japan analysis and investment, having served as chief strategist and head of research for JP Morgan and Merrill Lynch. He currently advises Monex Group, sits on the Japan Catalyst Fund's investment committee, and serves on multiple high-level advisory boards, including Governor Yuriko Koike's.Jesper warns that a Trump 2.0 presidency could trigger a double whammy for Japan: a weaker dollar slashing Japanese corporate profits and an aggressive U.S. tariff regime pushing China to dump exports into Southeast Asia—hurting Japan's industrial giants in the process. But he's still bullish on Japan.Why? Jesper sees Japan as “capitalism that works”—a system quietly modernizing under the radar. From record M&A and MBO activity to a younger generation of CEOs open to change, Japan is entering a new phase of productivity and openness. He highlights the ongoing shift to performance-based pay, increased immigration, and growing startup dynamism as key signs of this transformation. Why a weaker dollar is Japan's silent earnings risk: With two-thirds of Japanese listed company profits coming from overseas, a 10-yen appreciation can slash earnings by 8%. If Trump 2.0 weakens the dollar, Japan takes a hit—fast. Japan isn't insular—it's hyper-globalized: Despite its reputation, Japan generates a higher percentage of corporate profits overseas than the U.S. or Germany. From Daichi Life to Toyota, Japan's biggest firms are already global players. The real threat of Trump's China policy is deflation via the Global South: U.S. tariffs could force China to dump excess goods into Southeast Asia, undercutting Japanese firms not just on price, but now on quality too. Made in Japan = 30~40% price premium: Companies like Shiseido are relocating production to Japan not for politics, but for branding. “Brand-shoring” is about value, not alliances. Why energy—not labor—is Japan's factory hurdle: Labor can be automated. The real constraint on manufacturing in Japan may be uncertainty around energy costs and nuclear policy. Japan's brain gain is real—and measurable: While the population shrinks, immigration is quietly surging. Every day, 1,200 people get 3-year work permits. Companies are adapting with performance-based pay, not seniority resulting in higher talent liquidity.Record M&A and MBOs aren't a coincidence: As Japan's CEOs get younger and legacy-heavy firms face succession issues, a wave of corporate transformation is underway. “Metabolism,” Jesper says, is up.What Japan needs most is inheritance tax reform: MacArthur's anti-zaibatsu policies made sense post-WWII. But now, without reform, Japan risks losing its $4.5T+ generational wealth transfer to debt paydown instead of innovation.Japan ‘s “capitalism that works”: A system that's democratic, fair, globally integrated, and quietly undergoing a transformation from within.-----For founders building Japan's next legendary companies, reach out to us here: https://coralcap.co/contact-startups/If you're interested in joining a Coral startup, join our talent network here: https://coralcap.co/coral-careers/

In today's episode of Buy and Build, we dive deep into the incredible entrepreneurial journey of Brian Honan, founder and CEO of Fortus. Brian walks us through how he went from an "accidental entrepreneur" to leading a €200M turnover security distribution business across Europe. We explore his early days in business, executing a debt-funded MBO, partnering with private equity, building a recurring revenue engine, and navigating the challenges of integrating acquisitions. Brian also shares lessons learned on managing growth, staying passionate, and planning the next phase of Fortus' journey — including the possibility of an IPO. If you're interested in buy-and-build strategies, private equity partnerships, or scaling a business through acquisition, this is an episode you won't want to miss.

Mensen met een theoretische opleiding domineren onze democratie. Verreweg de meeste volksvertegenwoordigers hebben een hbo- of universitaire opleiding, en hun voorkeuren klinken vaker door in beleid. Veel praktisch opgeleiden ervaren bovendien een sterke culturele afstand tot de voornamelijk theoretisch opgeleide politici. En die ervaren afstand blijkt een belangrijke motor van politieke onvrede onder praktisch geschoolden. Hoe komt dit, en belangrijker, wat is er nodig om onze democratie van en voor iedereen te maken - ongeacht opleidingsniveau?  Hierover spreken we in deze aflevering van Appèl met Brigitte van den Berg en Kjell Noordzij. Brigitte van den Berg is Europarlementariër voor D66 en voormalig wethouder in Beverwijk. Zij maakt zich in Europa sterk voor onder meer een betere positie van MBO'ers. Kjell Noordzij is socioloog en verbonden aan de Erasmus Universiteit. Hij promoveerde op een proefschrift getiteld Verzet van onderop. Ervaren culturele afstand en politieke onvrede onder praktisch geschoolden.Presentatie: Suzanne van den Eynden en Daniël Schut

A Butterfly wants to kill the World?Book 3 in 18 parts, By FinalStand. Listen to the ► Podcast at Explicit Novels.Although Love is both fire and shadow, we often forget to take comfort from the coolness of the memories when the burning flames are absentThere were precisely two things, okay, four things, keeping me alive. The fourth thing would come to her later when her 'furious was replaced by her 'curious' ~ as in how I knew her inhuman lingo ~ which would lead to my legacy with Grandpa.The top three reasons -She had poked my chest. It was a challenge, calling for one of my guardians to come out and play. The avatar knew I was the chosen heir of the Goddess Ishara and my goddess had devoted a good deal of time and effort to my survival and continued service in her cause. If Ishara made an 'appearance', it would be enough reason to not eviscerate me for my foul treatment of her august personage.Nope. It seemed Ishara was busy at the moment.Still, she most likely knew SzelAnya had shown a keen interest in me in Romania, though I'd never told Selena, or any other member of the 9 Clans, the Dragon's Daughter had killed Ajax for me. Figuring out SzelAnya, a storm deity, had helped me and Aya escape from our kidnapping in the midst of a cyclone in the Pacific Ocean wasn't much of a reach.But no bolt of lightning coalesced from my chest to singe her finger. No clap of thunder. Not even a cloud with a hint of disfavor appeared above us.Her obsidian fingernail began penetrating my shirt, touched my skin, then drew my blood, and something 'twitched'.That would be Contestant Goddess #3. She wasn't actually hanging around me. She didn't have to. She'd left me a memento of our last shindig before we parted ways. That was the nightmare-inducing episode where she, the chthonic goddess Sarrat Irkalli, had compressed one man's body into a dagger and then proceeded to suck another's soul into it to use as a power source for an Airbus 350 (a commercial airliner, if you didn't know).I still had that snaggletooth-looking thing at my back. Well who the Hell was I going to leave it with? Honestly, the only people I felt could keep it safe I loved too much to curse with it. Anyway, the second her divine claw touched my blood, the long dormant weapon whispered to me in a somewhat bored, lofty feminine voice from beyond the grave,Do you want me to discorporate this pathetic has-been for you?Quick check. Only the avatar and I, and her priestess-savant heard that. Of course, in downtown, New York City, noon Sunday, how weird would such a declaration be? The avatar's eyebrow arched. Her big bat-ears (still looking human to the normal viewing public) flicked this way and that, figuring out precisely where the threat originated from. Slowly, her once poking hand began to slide across my chest, along my ribs and around my back.She touched the dagger. Nothing.Gingerly, she drew it forth. I'd had a makeshift sheath made. As the blade made its journey around me, she took a half-step back to better observe it."Please don't kill him!" Theddy squealed. "We haven't had sex yet!"Being 'who' and 'what' she was, the avatar did what came natural. Fortunately for Theddy, I'd become accustomed to working with psychopaths.She stabbed the dagger at Theddy. I clamped my hand down on her wrist. The claws of her left hand came down on my constraining wrist. My free hand came down on that hand, trying to pry it free. It was a hopeless struggle, except.Yes, my old friend 'except'. Except the avatar was holding the dagger. As powerful as Ītzpāpālōtl was, she wasn't pushing against me. She was pushing against Sarrat Irkalli.Ītzpāpālōtl was a living, breathing terror machine who killed and received sacrifices on a regular basis.Sarrat Irkalli hadn't been actively worshipped in 3,000 years.Uneven contest? Oh yeah.See, Ītzpāpālōtl had spent the past 500 years continuously fighting against the Weave to keep her fingers on this side of reality.Meanwhile, for the most part, Sarrat Irkalli had sat upon her throne in the Sumerian Underworld with hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of souls toiling under her watchful gaze for eternity. Sure, her version of Hell wasn't getting any fresh deposits, but she knew how to milk the system well.Even the bad karma for the dagger's creation wasn't hers. She'd stolen it from the foolish Gong Tau sorcerers who had meant to enslave my soul, aka one-third of the Baraqu-Alal-Cáel deal she'd worked out millennia ago. It was the Weave giving her a 'freebie' for playing by the rules, if you considered the Weave sentient.And now Ītzpāpālōtl was touching it. Whoops. It wasn't as if Ītzpāpālōtl was stupid. It isn't like there are tons of magic weapons running around, much less soul-munchers like the one I had. Rationally, who would give a novice like me, a weapon like this? I say again, 'whoops'.Once I'd figured this out, I couldn't stop being me."Theddy, do you like girls?""What?" she squeaked. Here was this psycho trying to drive a Smilodon incisor into her bosom and I was giving her a sex quiz.Ītzpāpālōtl was really starting to struggle now."I, ah, are you okay?" she continued."Oh, I'm dandy. I'm serious. You think this chick is hot? I mean, would you do her in a three-way?" I proposed casually."Timothy?" Sovann."Bro?" Timothy to me."It's all good. Sovann, you want to know what my life is like? This lady who came to discuss business with me today is an immortal mass murderer. You give the word, I'll let go and this knife is going to cut her up like a Ginsu blade on market day because just cutting her heart out isn't going to be enough. Worse. Eventually she'll get back up.""Timothy?" Sovann repeated, this time with more concern. He thought I was nuts. I released my left hand. The blade flipped up, twisting in the avatar's grasp. That was the point her minions figured out something was wrong."El Amado?" the priestess-savant called out softly. The three goons began reaching for 'things'."Call them off, or I open my other hand," I cautioned the avatar. She spared me a swift, hostile look. My fingers tingled."Esten quietos!" she snapped. They stopped."Cáel, bad day, or not. This isn't you. Stop it. The girl's in danger," Timothy spoke up. He didn't mean Theddy. He meant the avatar."I'm being a real asshole, aren't I?" I sighed."Pretty much. You never let the bitches get to you before. Girl pops an attitude, you smile and move on. Life is too short," he reminded me. Too true."I'm going to put my hand over the blade," I told Ītzpāpālōtl. "When I do, you can let go."She didn't say anything for several seconds, even after my left hand covered the semi-serrated edge."Why should I trust you?" she sizzled."Because 'me' letting anything bad happen to you would make me a total, judgmental jerk. I don't know you. Whatever you did before you showed up today shouldn't matter to me. I acted stupidly. I should have stopped you. I didn't. I didn't even warn you and I could have. I was angry, and not even at you. Just angry and I apologize. Now, let go.""Why?""Hi. I'm Cáel Nyilas. Can I have my knife back? Please?"Blink. She released it. For a millisecond, it wanted to do something else because bitches are bitches. It didn't, so my palm wasn't sliced open. My right hand took the hilt. I carefully put the blade away."Yes," Theddy gulped."Huh?" Sovann shook his head at the sudden evaporation of the life and death tension. Welcome to my life. Theddy meant 'yes' to the 'girl-girl-guy' thing I had proposed earlier. It pays to keep things prioritized."What is this movie you were talking about?" Ītzpāpālōtl asked. Had she forgiven me for anything which had transpired? Bwahahaha, no way. She was taking the initiative and going with Option 1 from my earlier insane diatribe."Wait!" Sovann nearly shouted. "You nearly, I don't know, threatened Cáel's life and tried to stab Theddy and now you think you can go with us to a movie?""I told you," Timothy put an arm around his shoulder, "life with Cáel is rarely dull.""I thought you meant he was fun to party with, or something like that," Sovann looked up at his lover. "I thought his uncle showing up, and trying to kill him and then being blown the fuck away by those women and federal agents, and that other girl who pointed a gun at us, is this the new normal?""I love you, Sovann," Timothy grew compassionate. "Cáel is my best friend. He'd never deliberately hurt either of us and normal friends are something he has in short supply. Today being a great case in point."Ten seconds passed."The title is 'As Above, So Below'," Sovann addressed the avatar, "and what do we call you?"Since 'if you are not a worshiper and addressing me, I normally am about to kill you' would sound really cool in Olmec-ic, but I might be asked to translate,"How about we go with 'Obsidian', please?" I pleaded with her.She knew I was currying favor now ~ and behaving like a weather vane caught in the wall of a tornado ~ she gave a gracious bow of her head."Obsidian will do for now. Is the Legend of the dagger 'business'?" Translation: it had better not be."No," I smiled. "It's pillow talk." Rancor, 'how presumptuous', followed by 'but that dagger ups the count to three Goddess interested in him', and next to recalling all the trivial babble about me being a sexual dynamo (I prayed my PR was that good) having some relevance. Her chimera emotions allowed me to get a few more crucial words out, because even women who aren't sleeping with me are jealous."Esta mujer fue la primera en ofrecer bienes funerarios tras la muerte dee mi padre," I reinserted Theddy back into my close company. For some reason, Obsidian considered me unreliable thus had to verify what I'd just said."Did you make funerary offering upon his father's passing?" she asked Theddy. Let's think about this. The wacko chick questioning Theddy had tried to stab a huge freaking blade into her not a minute ago. Fleeing in terror while screaming for the cops? Nope."Yes. I baked him some walnut and caramel chip cookies," she nodded. "It is a family recipe." Sovann looked over the three of us, then back to Timothy."I told you 'that's impressive cocking like I've never seen before'," he explained."She may remain," Obsidian 'permitted'. Theddy wrapped up my right arm with her left and gave it a squeeze. She wanted attention/explanation."Obsidian is a Master Vampire, Theddy," I leaned in and whispered. "Before she was turned, she was captured in a raid by the fey, mentally, spiritually and physically raped and made into their sex-slave. Part of her spirit never healed properly. While this imperfection allows her to walk around in daylight, her heart can never hold on to any emotion for long, so she is forced to forever seek passion, no matter how dangerous, from the world around her."Revealing secrets? Ha. I had noticed Theddy had every work done by Laurel K. Hamilton in her place, including the comic book series."You are not supposed to know, so act like I didn't tell you anything, okay?"'Okay,' she mouthed back at me. I could see it in her eyes. My chaotic life suddenly 'made sense' to her because a best-selling fiction author said so.Obsidian thought the movie was; hilarious. She couldn't stop snickering, giggling and poking at me as horrible shit happened to the various actors. She thought the plot was 'insightful' and wouldn't stop whispering to me throughout the entire thing. During the closing credits, I told her I'd get her the DVD for Christmas ~ she knew the concept behind digital technology, but didn't own any ~ she kissed me.The first kiss was fierce and joyous with the added benefit of her tongue doing things no normal tongue could do, it stretched. Not sure how I felt about that. The second kiss was more sultry, longer and came with some accompanying body action which, I'm no virgin. Not even close. She was on my left side, so when she twisted in her seat, her left leg insinuated itself between mine. Her left hand cupped my jaw and held my head in place as her lips played along mine.A dance of the scorpion perhaps? Tender at first, then suddenly stabbing, dominant and brutal. My lips and tongue battled back, using my superior Kiss-fu to nullify her natural strength and agility. She liked it. By her moaning, she liked it a lot. As the kiss progressed, more and more of her flowed from her seat into my seat, body facing me. Her body rose over mine, forcing my neck back to maintain contact."So, Dot Ishara is hovering around somewhere close, isn't she?" I murmured as our lips separated barely a centimeter apart. One chick kissing you to make another one jealous. It's happened to me plenty of times. Obsidian didn't give a damn about Theddy, or any other mortal woman in close proximity so,"Yes," she purred. "Do you mate with her?""A man does not brag of such things, but no, unless heavy petting counts?""What will she do to you when I steal your seed?"'When'? Why was I not surprised? Why was I not surprised another concussion was in my immediate future either? Was it possible I was, learning?"Chastise me for not fighting harder," I breathed across her lips, "and, in case you forgot, I'm on a date with the girl beside me.""Who I care nothing for," she sent a cruelly playful look Theddy's way. Wisely, the girl shivered."Who I am indebted to and how I honor my debts might matter to you," I hazarded. My words hurt Theddy's feelings. That was on purpose. Obsidian took pleasure in me hurting Theddy because she was basically a vicious monster."Yes?" I pressed her gently."Yes," Obsidian allowed, easing up slightly both romantically and physically."And Theddy, if you believe I'm with you solely because of some sense of obligation, you clearly haven't been listening to your recordings," I shot the human girl a wink."Oh.""Am I, or am I not, a sex-obsessed little monkey?" I teased her. Theddy giggled. I paid for my diversion with four obsidian claws to my ribs outside of Theddy's view. After all, it wasn't like Theddy could possibly compete with her for my attention. Considering Obsidian's legendary ability to rip open her opponent's ribcages and feast upon their hearts, I slipped my left hand, the one next to her between her legs and stroked her cotton-slacks covered cunt.Theddy hugged my right arm and put her head against my shoulder. Not to be outdone," Qu  un centenar dee hombres se quemaron vivos como el sonido?" Obsidian inquired with sexually sadistic hunger. Ah, memories of burning 7P Commandos.Whoops. Theddy knew Spanish."No lo s . Ten an respiradores en," I replied casually. "Si lo desea, puedo describir lo que se siente al tirar de una flecha de guerra lanzar mi propio muslo.""Eep," slipped out of Theddy's lips."Why did you do that?" Obsidian looked over us both."Well, I was showing a little girl I believed in her,""And she shot you?" Theddy gulped."No. She hit the target I was standing next to. A co-worker mistook me for a cardboard cutout of a Jehovah's Witness and let fly. Seems she had issues with organized religion as well as a reaction to the oscillation effect of florescent lighting and ceiling fans.""But why did you pull the arrow out?" Theddy asked. "Couldn't you wait until you got to the hospital?""Mosquito," Obsidian menaced, insinuating Theddy was a pest."I wasn't thinking rationally at the moment, I work in an asylum, I had a hot date in a few hours, any of those three will do," I smiled at Theddy."Copil such as Cáel don't bother with petty human conventions," Obsidian turned my gaze back her way with her hand on my jaw. 'Copil's were 'god-touched' in her lingo."More than one girl?" Theddy mused."Four.""Okay," she sighed happily."Theddy, three under-age girls and the police office he was dating acting as their chaperone," Timothy intervened. "He hurried home so he could keep a promise to the children, not for sex." Bastard. He really was my best friend. He didn't mention my post-injury, pre-festivity sex with Odette giving me a few extra, urgently needed Brownie Points to suggest I might be a decent human being."You are a wonderful guy," Theddy ran a fingernail over my free hand. Clearly I was 'wonderful' enough to risk Obsidian's anger over. The screen went blank as the last credits scrolled away and the room was plunged into darkness. Five seconds later, the lights snapped on.Pain!"Fuck," I hissed. It wasn't any extra physical trauma causing me discomfort. No, a metaphysical dam had burst within and my stream of conscious thought had been turned into a white-water rapids. The competing cyclones of thoughts in my mind had stopped cooperating and my hypothalamus was letting me know I was in danger."Cáel", "Cáel", "Bro", and "Ishara" all came in rapid succession. I needed some space both tangible and social."I need to step outside," I eased Obsidian off me and stood up. My sense of my personal danger was ratcheting up. While I had been studying Obsidian, so I could screw her, I had discovered more and more Alal-badness.The light display had ignited a series of pressing implanted memories which had been clamoring for my attention. Things like not all 'divinities' were stewards of the Weave. Some even wanted its destruction, preferring risking all on a chaotic restructuring of reality over what existed now ~ things like Obsidian. They weren't attempting to do so because they thought they had no chance.But there was. A real serious chance to unravel reality existed; and it was staring her in the face. It wasn't 'me' as in 'I was the Anti-Christ'. But with the torrent of memories pouring forth, I knew where the peril lay and I was completely responsible for it. Hell, I was a prime ally of Armageddon and hadn't even known it.'Holy Shit!'I blinked. Timothy was shaking me. We were out in the lobby."Oh my God, Timothy," I nearly wept. "What am I going to do?""I have no idea what you are talking about. Is there someone you can talk to about this?" he suggested. Normal folks were around us. Obsidian was at my side. Sovann was behind Timothy with an arm around Theddy's shoulder."Theddy," I looked at her. "Can I catch up with you later? I just realized I've screwed up something fierce." I put my best 'really don't want to go but I gotta' face on. Her worried look brightened, she slipped around Timothy and gave me a tingling French kiss."I'll hold you to that, Cáel," she murmured when we parted."Timothy, go home, I got shit to deal with," I hoped my grin didn't become as feeble as I felt it to be."I," he started to say something. "Time not to ask questions?""Yeah.""Okay.""Wait." I pulled us to the side and went on to my toes, leaned in and whispered in his ear, "Tell Pamela 'he' sent Ajax to kill the Professor, his family and the sisters. They were the targets all along. It wasn't me, or the other women. Just in case,""Okay," Timothy patted my arm. It was cryptic. It was the best I could do. See, I wanted to cry so badly.{2:09 pm Sunday, September 7th ~ Last day}Where to begin:Every mythology across the globe has some creature, or creatures, which threatens Existence. Usually a God, or a Hero-God, slays the creature and everything is right with the world, except such a being, being older than Existence itself, can't really die, so they are carved up, buried ~ what have you.Illuyankamunus was one such manifestation of this underlying cancerous desire to destroy reality. He'd had a far more real child, SzelAnya, and she's never quite given up on her dad. Of far greater critical importance, she was 'part' of Illuyankamunus, somewhat in the way I was part of Alal and Baraqu. And yes, that meant all the offspring of Bolu, the guy I'd praised a few hours earlier, held the seeds of that malignant deity as well.And Alal knew it. He hadn't been killing off the descendants. He'd left that task up to a group far more capable of the task, the Egyptian Rite, who knew a fucking threat to existence when they saw it. Lest I forget, No secret society are the 'good guys'. Also lest I forget, I alone decided to go after the Arinniti sons to fulfill Vranus' quest. I had no divine mandate I was aware of nor any real world orders.Inadvertently, I had rounded up the last five mortal remains of Illuyankamunus in one place for convenient disposal in a remote Transylvanian town. The only problem was: if someone didn't get to them quickly, I was also about to whisk them into the loving (and heavy-armed) protective embrace of the Amazon Host, where the completion of centuries of culling would have suddenly become a cast-iron bitch instead of a simple disposal.Enter Ajax. Yeah, I bet the Egyptians were trying to figure out how I stopped him as well as Alal. I thought I was being clever by not telling most of the world. In fact, they most likely suspected; and the reality of SzelAnya watching over me was much more terrifying. Ishara had put a serious curse on the Amazons, yet her curse only affected her followers, the Amazons, who were fair game.SzelAnya had killed someone for me, and I hadn't been one of her followers. Thus I had committed a blasphemous act only a magician of some significant ability could have managed. I wasn't a sorcerer, but I had a cornucopia of mystic knowledge rolling around in my noggin. Trying to figure all this out was one of my major headaches.The others?I even suspected I knew who betrayed me ~ kinda. They didn't do it on purpose. At least I hope they didn't, because my odds-on favorite was my Mother by way of Captain Delilah Faircloth. Realistically, there was only one secret society who might help her against Grandpa and that was the Egyptian Rite, and they did send three people to Dad's funeral including two 'somebodies'. I'm an idiot.I'd chatted away in fluent New Kingdom Egyptian and it never occurred to me how odd it was for two of them to also be so fluent in it. Know it, sure, but as fluent as Kimberly had taught me to be? That should have been a Red Flag.The Earth & Sky had sent Iskender, who should have been the benchmark I judged the other delegations by, damn it.Three Condos? They'd killed my Dad and their guys had been flunkies.The 7 Pillars had been nobodies, which they'd proven by their inaction.Now I had to question why I had 3 actual  9-Clans  assassins at my dad's funeral too. Holy Ishara, I wasn't nearly paranoid enough.Anyway, why would the Amazons be aiding and abetting the End of All Life on Earth? Normally, they wouldn't be, but 3000 years ago, the majority of Human life did a colossal dump on the Amazons. And when they needed help, they got it in the form of SzelAnya and her dual-sex followers. I seriously doubt they told the Amazons their purpose was to resurrect SzelAnya's daddy. I imagine the Amazons didn't pry too much either.It turned out almost to be okay. During the 2nd Betrayal, the Amazons betrayed SzelAnya and almost short-circuited her plans by exterminating her lineage.Except for the Arinniti elders and Bolu. Good old 'except'.I can imagine when the Egyptians heard about the 2nd Betrayal, they figured they were 'okay'. Those wacky Amazons had inadvertently done the world a favor. Except an act of maternal love kept a slender hope of Illuyankamunus' return alive. By the time the Egyptians realized they'd been prematurely hopeful, Bolu's descendants were all over the Balkans and hunting them down had proven difficult.But, it gets worse. Much worse.When those Gods shattered Illuyankamunus, they scattered him in the relative certainty no one would ever gather the parts back together.His flesh was scattered across the land, modern day Turkey, but encompassing everything from Pakistan to Italy and Egypt to Poland. The flesh became soil, then plants, the things that eat plants, then food for humans. Get the picture.Whoops. SzelAnya had been doing just that for centuries upon centuries every time she mated with a mortal of Illuyankamunus' line and had offspring, they accumulated his energy, which made hunting down the few remaining ones easier to find, since they were 'beacons of badness', except...There were two key pieces missing which SzelAnya could never get. After all, you would think burying them on the far side of the world would matter, right?The 'breath of Illuyankamunus' ~ his cosmic fire ~ they buried in a volcano in a distant land far across the Great Sea. His spirit 'body' they imprisoned in a great river, again, across the Great Sea.But wait, it gets worse.The being standing next to me knew precisely where the 'breath of Illuyankamunus' was. Seems Mesoamerica is laced with volcanos. They'd discovered 'the breath' long ago and used it as a weapon called Xiuhcoatl. Better yet, Alal suspected she and her buddies were more than happy to reunite it with the rest if they thought the Weave itself wouldn't annihilate them for daring to do so.In their current, weakened state they were vulnerable to such a karmic backlash. In theory, a reborn Illuyankamunus would have access to power beyond the bounds of the Weave, older and more terrifying. Still, without the mortal remains to anchor the energy, giving it to the spirit would be pointless.Alal knew where the spirit body was (in general), but that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was where it was,Of all the places the Arinniti sons could have fled to, they had to choose Brazil, the burial place of the restive spirit body of Illuyankamunus. Mother-fucker.And Ildiko 'Alkonyka' aka Dusk Lovasz had sworn she'd travel to Brazil to fulfill Bolu's side of the quest in the same way I was holding up Vranus' end. If I tried to stop her, SzelAnya would know something was up. Fuck.I was processing all of this when Obsidian violently yanked me out of the way. A cabby had swerved to avoid a flurry of trash and nearly run over us. It was the third near-concussive experience in the past five minutes she'd help me avoid while she had walked by my side. I'd been mumbling like a madman."That would be my Goddess wanting to talk with me," I looked her way."I know," she gave me a clever smile."She's really not going to like that," I shook my head."I know that too," she kept smiling. "Where is your mind?""Five lives away from making the world a safer place," I sighed."Safer for who?" she purred. Where were all the bimbos? Not only was it an insightful question, it cut straight to the heart of my dilemma.What decision could I make? If I elected to help my fellow Amazons, I risked screwing with the world. In truth, I was risking everything even if I did nothing. Well Dad was always clear that things didn't change by themselves. You needed to do something that would have an effect. So, 'What are you going to do?'More to the point, I wasn't Grandad. Killing the last five of the line of Illuyankamunus wasn't 'me', so it wasn't going to be something I'd worry about.SzelAnya wanted to bring back her Dad, I could understand that. I'd have to figure out a way for her to believe this world sticking around was more important. How? Well, I had a goddess-like creature right in front of me to probe for ideas."You are an immortal," Obsidian commented. She'd been weighing her opinion for some time. I could tell by the wonderment with which she gifted each word."What? No. I can die.""No. I don't think so. Your wounds. Normally the wounds I inflict flow freely for some time. Yours have already scabbed over," her eyes flickered to the various minor scars she'd imparted to me in the few hours we'd been together.Of course, her idea was insane, Oh God No! I was in Grandad's body. Well Duh! His body was supposed to be immortal."Are you sure?" I looked deep into her eyes."You are a young immortal, the youngest I've ever met, but you are an immortal," she seemed to be convincing herself as much as me.Stupid Assumption (on my part)! I wasn't in Alal's body. I was in Cáel's. Because the Cáel soul shard was young, Alal hadn't been able to find it because it had moved through Time, to me, sonofabitch! 'I' hadn't been around for him to find. No! I was making yet another damn assumption.What did I know? When Pamela found Baraqu, it had been in an object, not a person, though she had been short on details. When the Alal-shard went to the Land of the Endless Black Sands to bring Saku back, the Cáel-shard had been in reality, so it had been allowed to create a body, 'me'. Still, the curse Sarrat Irkalli placed on Baraqu was on Alal and myself as well, which meant I might just be immortal.My Alal-mind agreed with Obsidian's assessment. In his first years, his healing had been slow, still taking days for what took mortal people weeks. I'd stupidly attributed my swift recovery to Amazon medicines, ugh. Because I got wounded more than most Security Detail trainees while concurrently entertaining two and three sex partners."Can you talk with Dot Ishara?" I asked her."Yes, but why would I?""Sex?""We are going to have sex anyway," she smiled. I'd tricked her. Set her up with the right so I could now drop her with the left."I can bring the mbo  tat  back to life," I pledged. That was not what she was expecting at all. "If you bring the Xiuhcoatl, I can bring the flesh and we can unite the three." Mbo  tat  was the Tupi name for the legendary 'fiery serpent' of the Amazon Basin. In Portuguese, it had become Boi-tat , a will-o-wisp with a confused, Christianized mythology ~ a serpent dwelling in darkness, devouring the eyes of corpses, glowing in the forests at night."Where is the flesh?" she whispered."In his mortal children," I replied."Who?""You are a monster, Ītzpāpālōtl. I'm not going to tell you and you don't have the time to drag the information out of my mind before my allies drop on you like a nuclear detonation," I drew my body tightly to her."Why would the Amazons do this?""They are not. This is a deal between you and me," I kissed her lips. I pulled back. A few seconds later she kissed me back."Why?""My grandfather had my father murdered and I would avenge him. In the end, despite my father's Amazon heritage, my 'Sisters' will let his death go unavenged for the greater good of the Host. He was a man and they will never look beyond that ~ they will never value his life as they would that of a woman.""Your mother's father?""Yes. Cáel O'Shea of the Illuminati.""We are not at war with the Illuminati," she murmured. It was a casual observation, not a protest."You are at war with Cáel O'Shea.""He was slain.""He didn't stay dead.""You know much more than you are saying," she was finally catching on."Absolutely.""I need much more than a few names to convince my kin to help," she purred, a cocktail of sexual immersion and flesh-flaying pain."I don't work for you. You are agreeing to work for me," I was hard as iron in more than one way. Why? Boundaries. She lived in a world where only the fundamentals of reality constrained her. Having a human, no matter how polished my pedigree, or how much I might appear to be 'special', tell her 'you are not the boss' in a reasonable fashion was new and very unwelcome."What would make you think that?""My mentor taught me knowledge is a curse. It is our inability to forget, and I can see into your soul, Ītzpāpālōtl. You care not one wit for the life of an assassin. But the thought of the other 'Factors' of the 9 Clans treating you as an equal galls you almost as much as the crushing reality that you need them."You have lived 500 years in chains and I'm offering you a desperate grab at freedom," I added."Your brief glimpse of immortality gives you no insight into my existence," she bristled."Oh, how many have given up? How many have decided the fight was no longer worth it and faded from the Sunlight to make their final trip into the Underworld, never to return? Do you even visit them?" I spoke with a voice tinged with compassion and loss. I pulled upon the pitiless, blank memories of a childless Alal all those centuries and imprinted on them my own fears of fatherhood and failure."How do you know so much?" she let her fa ade crack, then blow away, in the hollowness of her own sorrow. How could I pity such a monster? I could because I was me and I wouldn't surrender that to the barbaric past and most likely horrific future. I pulled her close, resting my chin on the top of her head."You are not the first, wonderful, very bright woman who has stepped into my life, Obsidian," I whispered. "You are not even the first divinity. For all the millions of differences enforced by power and time, I think love, hate and the conflict between the two wear upon us all. If anything, you face an endless parade of hope and misery. Even if you chose to ignore it, you have seen it and perhaps it leaves its marks ~ water scarring the rocks of a riverbed."We paused. I was able to peripherally scan about and realize we'd made it to Central Park ~ the Ramble and off the beaten path."Your Goddess is a fool for not keeping you closer," she murmured."She does keep me close. You have been actively keeping me from her," I reminded my guest. "She also plays by the rules, so is of limited help in my plans for vengeance."Translation: I could enlist Ītzpāpālōtl's aid while still remaining loyal to my matron Goddess. Ishara could not provide what I needed and my Amazons wouldn't agree with my scheme, so I needed her. Three hours ago, she wouldn't have considered me a worthy supplicant, much less an allied equal, yet here she was conspiring with me to shake the foundations of Creation.Personally, I was thanking Mamitu, Destiny. Had I not been having my worst Sunday ever when we first crossed paths and then acted like a total cockhead, pissed her off and led her to holding Sarrat Irkalli's dagger, thus putting her life in my hands, and not had Timothy as a best friend, I wouldn't have taken her to the movie, and my mind wouldn't have wandered down those dark corridors of Alal's memories to piece things together.Whatever itinerary Obsidian had approached me with, my abrasive behavior had forced her to it cast aside. Dagger, movie, revelations, I was now so much more in her eyes than she had envisioned."Share my need and share with me an ounce of your sorrow," I murmured to her as I gently curled my fingers in her hair and directed her head up until she faced me."The dagger," she rumbled. While she was stroking my hard-on, I knew she was using it as a double meaning."I was pinned to an onyx sacrificial table," I began my tale. We worked off pants to mid-thigh then 'got busy'. Penetration was only going to be possible by turning her around. Ground-breaking was her ready acceptance of my instruction. I leaned against a tree, then pulled her onto my lap. She guided my phallus home.One locomotion and I sunk in deep. It was warm molasses until I hit and pressed against her cervix. For a second Obsidian trembled, then her muscles clamped down tightly, gripping my manhood firmly in a vise, keeping me still."Ah," I groaned. Obsidian had her neck twisted, so we were kissing with eye contact as I described my adventures with the Gong tau sorcerers. She shot me a quick twinkle of delight, a connection. She'd relayed physical pleasure in the way I was giving her cerebral gratification, aka hope.I rolled up her shirt, and gave both nipples a brutal tweak in response. She gasped. I was applying a little 'rough' with my tender intercourse. She rolled her tush against my groin, an invitation to double-down on my nipple-play. I kept my left hand working over each tit while working my fingernails down her abdomen. As I described the terror in old Tsu's face as he shouted out 'M iyǒu! (Mandarin for 'No!') as he recognized too late the curse he was invoking. She relished the visual of the Han necromancer's terror.'Me' smacking two fingers down on her clit earned me a squeal and a small gush of fluids on my nut-sack. Her look of astonishment was something I'd always cherish. Before me, sex was something she demanded from her followers/victims and definitely orchestrated. Her partners being fearful/worshipful must have limited their initiative."A-a-a-ah, we are being observed," she groaned, her lips less than an inch from mine. It took me a second."Which direction?" I kept pumping her, strumming her clit and treating her tit like taffy on a hot Coney Island summer afternoon. Her hooded eyes flickered to our right. I gave it ten seconds. I had to get Obsidian refocused on what I was going to do to her next, in case this was innocent voyeurism. Nope. It was Chaz.Why Chaz? See, I'm an idiot. My cryptic warning to Timothy for Pamela had been good for all of one minute. He'd called her and she'd gathered what she could and come looking for me.Why was she concerned? I was babbling to Timothy then wandering off with a 'beyond-freaky' chick I had just met named 'Obsidian' who came my way courtesy of another chick with the name of Estere.Let me see, Estere was Hashashin and for Timothy to describe someone in my life as 'beyond freaky' was bad news. Timothy was seriously worried about me and Timothy was an emotional rock ~ he didn't panic. Lest we forget, I was in a federal taskforce. A quick peek into New York traffic cameras revealed me and Obsidian wandering into Central Park from the south, so in the rescue party went, splitting up and Chaz 'lucked-out'.I still had two, no, three problems. I was really enjoying my sexual excursion with Obsidian and she was seeming to truly enjoy her experience with me. Oh, and Central Park is big, Pamela had been pressed for people, so she had pressed some unlikely participants into my rescue party."He's," smooch, "my brother, by adoption," I headed off the whole idea she'd been briefed on me already."Visual, Peacekeeper Six, OS2, L-11," Chaz muttered into his headset before taking up a casual stance on the path overlooking our trysting spot. Sex with an audience didn't bother her, so, we worked out as much action from twist, turns and two inches of in-and-out motions (she liked to keep our bodies tight) as we could. Obsidian was humming along in no time. Her vaginal walls were undulating, wearing away at my self-control.Panting, not from us,"Is he o, are they, who is she?" huffed and puffed a trio of voices from Chaz's locale. Oh. Pamela had recruited my 'Hounds'.I accidently (from a timing perspective) took that moment to grind my nails into her left nipple, pinched her clit and hammered her as hard as I could. Obsidian howled. Her vocalization exited the human realm in a cataclysmic manner.The noise scared avians a mile away into terrorized flight. Cats hissed, then raced for cover. Dogs tucked tail and ran. Streetlights a hundred yards away shattered in sprays of glass. Better yet, for the entertainment of my viewing public, she lashed out with her right hand at the closest Black Cherry sapling, exploding it into a mist of sap and pulverizing the bark and wood fiber into pulp.On the downside, her cervix gave my balls an ultimatum ~ release my seed at once, or she was going to twist off my head. My cock and balls have a long history of making decisions without me. I began lavishing her. Before I finally got the feeling I was out of the danger zone. She was back to rubbing against me and purring in blissful satisfaction."Onun g zleri," whispered Belgin, one of the Turks. 'Her eyes'?"Cáel, are you aware of the alternative nature of your liaison?" Chaz coolly cautioned me. Translation: 'mate, do you know you have your cock in a demon?'"Yeah," I coughed. I had a face full of her hair. I was working on some post-coital nuzzling along with slowly helping her get her pants back up."Ininzqueoccehpa," she hummed to me, ignoring our gathering. That was 'let's do this again'."Tehuatlcochitlehua," I replied with some fondness. She studied me for a second before deciding my term was one of endearment, thus 'you are what dreams are made of', not 'nightmares'.Obsidian had another issue to deal with. Timothy would call it a righteous cocking. Whatever it was, her hold on her human mein had slipped and her inhumanity was slipping through, mainly in her glass-like, black, multi-facetted eyes and her fingers which now ended in molten obsidian talons. On the subconscious level, her predatory nature was setting everyone close-by on edge. I could also make out the high pitched, ultrasonic pipping of her chiropteran cries ~ purpose unknown.Obsidian made her way off farther into the underbrush leaving me a few precious seconds to appreciate her retreating posterior while holstering my equipment. More people were arriving. I had one more thing to take care of before, oh look, Nikita had brought her Mom along, the NYPD Sergeant."Chaz, I need to have a quick chat with Dot before I can explain things. She's been waiting and that's unwise," I looked to the Brit. He nodded."Cáel? Mr. Nyilas? Prince?" all came my way. I relaxed as best I could. Chaz went to a body blow to stagger me, then an epic upper cut to send me to Lullaby Land.Dot & the DragonessDot and SzelAnya, in dragon form, were waiting as I tumbled forward. By the state of my haziness, I knew my unconsciousness wouldn't last long."You gave her your seed," came the accusation."Yes," I staggered, "and now you should be able to track her," I pointed out the bonus part of the arrangement. No comment."I've got to make this quick, SzelAnya, I've found your father, geographically speaking," I dropped the bomb."Don't," Dot Ishara commanded. After all, she and her divine cohorts had done the killing and corpse-dividing eons ago. Undoubtedly, they'd executed their own oaths to one another to 'never reveal what they had done' as well."Too late," I shook my head. SzelAnya's attention was magnetized. "I owe you and I'm paying my debts. I'm not blind to the dangers, believe me.""You have no idea what power you are invoking," Dot's undercurrent of displeasure was the worst I'd experienced."Wrong. I've got thousands of years of Alal boiling around in my head, Plus the rest of you betrayed her 2600 years ago. It doesn't mean I have to. And now, given the chance, I'm not. Even if you kill me, she's got enough toBack in the Ramble"Really expect me to believe," Nikita's mom was growling."Man down," I waved a weak arm skyward."Mr. Nyilas, what is going on here?" the Sergeant addressed me. I was reclining in a circle of my 'Hounds'; most were kneeling. Chaz was in a tiny bit of trouble for having clocked me."Umm, thanks for coming out and looking for me. I assure you, Mr. Tomorrow did what he did as a matter of his professional duties ~ intelligence gathering." As I struggled to stand, my ladies helped me. I saw Pamela with three Hounds coming up fast from one direction and Virginia with three more coming from the other. The gang was all here.The mutterings in non-English tongues suggested a bit of explaining was already going on."You've been bleeding," Nikita pointed out with an unspoken 'again'."This?" I pulled my shirt out and looked at the first bloodstain of my encounter. "This is the just the start of the bad news." I shed my windbreaker and then t-shirt.The professionals shouldered aside the others to take a closer look."All of these are from noon and less than an hour ago," I identified the damage. Sarge was skeptical. Chaz, Nikita and Virginia less so."They look older," the senior lawman noted."I've been curious about that," Chaz frowned."I've inherited my Grandfather's curse. My soul fragment was in the 'Here and Now' twenty-three years ago while his was, 'over there', so I was allowed to come into creation. According to my recently departed guest,""You are immortal," Virginia mumbled to finish the thought. Had the speaker not been a member of the FBI, who knows how the thought would have been received."From the memories I've been gifted with," I tapped the tiny divot on my forehead, "his healing abilities started out rather slowly too. I certainly don't want to test this theory, so no worries there," I scanned the group."How do you explain seeing your Grandfather in Hungary and again in Rome?" Virginia wondered."Again, that woman who just left," I got out."Was no woman," Nuray, another one of my Turkish Hounds interrupted. "Her eyes..." she tried to explain, "and look what she did to that tree," she pointed to the greatest piece of evidence of supernatural wrongdoing. The other two witnesses nodded."We all saw the same thing. Her eyes were, bottomless, definitely not human," Belgin affirmed. The veteran players looked to Chaz."She had a collapsed nose-bridge, lacked a blink response, her dental work was carnivorous and her tongue was extremely clipped and showed prehensile qualities," he reported calmly. Pause. Chaz was a freaking intelligence operative, after all."If her hands were a type of glove weaponry, I've never seen it s like before. While I know it is possible for a human to exert the force-pounds necessary to snap a two inch diameter tree trunk in one blow, it is a rare skill and requires intense discipline. This appeared to be done spontaneously, without preparation of any kind and as a reaction to other stimuli," he added."It was also your assessment he needed to be knocked unconscious?" Nikita's mom countered."Mr. Nyilas' psychological constructs are something the whole team has to work around. At times, he seeks 'insight' from his mind in a deliberately unconscious/non-sleep state," he replied."He claims to be talking with spirit powers. I know when he returns to consciousness, he delivers useful intelligence. I'm not a psychologist, psychiatrist, or psychic. I don't know why his mind functions that way. I do know results. And I know I work with people who would achieve those results by other means if it were at all possible. Since we haven't found another method, we accept that from tim

In this episode of the Talking Recruitment podcast, Neil Carberry speaks with Laura Clark, CEO of OA Group and an REC business member. They explore the journey of scaling a business from 6 to 50 people, navigating an MBO, and the vital role of communication in building a successful company.

Edición #1279 del paraiso del house de la FM mezclado y presentado por Diego Castillo aka 4DELUXE con novedades de Riva Starr bajo el remiz de RUZE, Aaron Smith bajo el remix de Tony Arzadon, Armin Van Buuren & Bon Jovi, Bruno Furlan, Dario Nuñez & Felix Da Funk, Dj Georgie Porgie, Drake bajo el remix de Hills, Elliot Starr bajo el remix de Discoplex, ESSE, Gorillaz bajo el remix de Ape Rave, K!MBO, Paul van Dyk xPaul Thomas & Ekko, Robbie Rivera x Dual Beat x PAUZA y Robert Owens x DJ Matt Black.

In this episode, David Scott, non-executive director at Tepnel Pharma Services Limited and Trustee at Tepnel Life Sciences Trustees Limited, explains the decision behind the move to employee ownership in 2022 and why an MBO route had to be taken initially.

What if your next training session became the highlight of your recruiters' week rather than just another calendar obligation? We explore how innovative recruitment leaders transform traditional onboarding into engaging experiences that drive performance and retention. In this episode, a tenured recruiter and recruitment business owner shares his experience in training hundreds of recruiters in this career. For David, “training and developing people is fun!” David Bloxham is the CEO of GCS Recruitment. With over 30 years of experience, David is passionate about connecting innovative technology companies with the expert talent they need to drive their businesses forward.  In 2017, he led a successful management buyout (MBO) with nGAGE Talent, further solidifying his leadership in the industry. Under his guidance, GCS Recruitment has expanded globally with a team of 100 consultants and 7 offices including London, Reading, Amsterdam, Berlin, Dublin, Orlando and Philadelphia.   Episode Outline and Highlights [02:12] How did David get started in recruiting? [04:30] Has productivity in recruitment remaining relatively constant over time? [13:08] Effective and efficient team structure to increase productivity. [20:23] Hiring and developing hundreds of people over the years, what key training elements David wishes to share? [36:05] David and his team use tools and technology for reports and gamifying objectives. [40:27] Core focus of recruiters despite technological advances: telephone first and networking. [49:31] Discussion on David's Management Buyout (MBO) experience and learnings. [56:53] Should your recruitment firm get an investment from a Private Equity?   Training and Developing People is Fun!   David started in the recruiting industry in 1996, and both of us agree that training back then was almost as simple as “here is a phonebook, and a phone, start calling.” We both understand the value of effective training as a key ingredient to successful recruiting results.    Having hired and developed hundreds of recruiters over the years, what is David's approach to training, especially in this age where technology can overwhelm the human factor of a new recruiter? For David, it is about going back to basics and focusing on what a recruiter really does. Phone first, and building a network. He utilizes existing technology and tech stack, especially when monitoring and gamifying performance as part of training and development. Most importantly, his mindset says a lot about his success, “Training and developing people is fun!”   Below are some of the takeaways he shared on this topic:   Passion for Teaching – He genuinely enjoys training people, seeing them "get it," and watching their progress. His enthusiasm makes training engaging and impactful. Gamification and Fun—He introduces friendly competitions, small challenges (like mentioning random topics in calls), and a team environment that keeps training lively and engaging. Hands-On Learning – He believes in learning by doing, allowing trainees to make calls early, experience rejection, and develop resilience. Focus on Fundamentals – Despite industry changes, he emphasizes that the core of recruitment remains the same: connecting clients and candidates. Creating a Supportive Environment – He fosters a collaborative setting where trainees can share wins, struggles, and experiences. Emphasizing Resilience – He prepares recruiters for the challenges of the job, especially handling rejection and navigating modern recruitment complexities. Adapting Training to Modern Challenges – He acknowledges changes in recruitment (e.g., difficulty reaching candidates, compliance hurdles) and tailors training to address these new realities.   What Does a Recruiter Do? Despite technological advances in AI, David strongly believes that focusing on the human factor by understanding what a recruiter does is still the key success factor in this field. He believes that two things are essential: Telephone First Building a Network   Regardless of what AI or other tools can do to improve your recruitment process, it is still a recruiter's human factor of connecting with candidates and clients that drives the decision of whether you will win the business or not. As he puts it,  “And, and that's really where I kind of come to with, with what does a recruiter do? What a recruiter does is it has the human interaction, the human touch, right? And if we can really get that into the heads of recruiters, this is where your value is. This is what you do, right? You meet people, you talk to people, you network, you find out things.”   Indeed, recruiters who rely too much on automation risk becoming replaceable. But those who master the human side of the business—building relationships, influencing decisions, and adding personal value—will always be in demand.   Learnings from an MBO (Management Buyout) As one of the first employees at GCS, David was deeply invested in the company's growth. When it reached an eight-figure valuation, the decision was made to exit certain owners and transition leadership. Since David didn't have the capital to buy out the founder, they sought backing from nGAGE, an investment company that specializes in recruitment businesses. The process involved intense due diligence, financial scrutiny, and planning to make GCS an attractive investment.   David's learnings also apply to recruitment business owners who plan to exit and sell their business through acquisition. You may be interested in the following topics that David elaborated on:   Know Your Numbers Focus on Profitability & Efficiency Investors Want Focus & Justification Culture & Brand Matter The Shift from Employee to Shareholder   David Bloxham Bio and Contact Info   David Bloxham is a seasoned recruitment professional and the CEO of GCS Recruitment. With over 30 years of experience, David has a passion for connecting innovative technology companies with the expert talent they need to drive their businesses forward. In 2017, he led a successful management buyout (MBO) with nGAGE Talent, further solidifying his leadership in the industry. Under his guidance, GCS Recruitment has grown significantly on a global scale, helping clients to "Employ the Future to Create it." David's expertise in the recruitment industry and his dedication to fostering strong client relationships have made him a respected figure in the field.   David on LinkedIn GCS Tech Talent website link GCS Connect Leaders podcast nGAGE talent website link   People and Resources Mentioned   LinkedIn Recruiter Lusha Crunchbase Daxtra PowerBI   Connect with Mark Whitby Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call Mark on LinkedIn Mark on Twitter: @MarkWhitby Mark on Facebook Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach   Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter   If you've been enjoying the podcast, please take two minutes to leave a review. Your review is greatly appreciated because it helps us attract a bigger audience and help more recruiters.  

Der Fahrrad-Markt durchläuft in den letzten Jahren einen Wandel, zum einen durch den Trend der E-Bikes und zum anderen durch den Trend zum E-Commerce. Little John Bikes geht dabei einen anderen Weg, indem sie sich ein Nano Buy & Build-Konstrukt aufgebaut haben und damit vielen Fahrrad-Einzelhändlern nicht nur eine adäquate Nachfolge anbieten, sondern auch eine starke Marke für die Zukunft. Dr. Robert Peschke ist 2017 bei Little John Bikes eingestiegen, heute verantwortet er als CEO genau diese Nano Buy & Build-Strategie. Er verrät uns, wie Little John Bikes dabei vorgeht, welche Chancen und Herausforderungen sie in dieser sehr spannenden Nische sehen und was wir für die Zukunft des Fahrrads erwarten dürfen. Wir beleuchten in dieser Episode:Roberts unternehmerische Vergangenheit und seine Learnings daraus,warum und wie Little John Bikes durch Nano Buy & Build wächst,wie ihre Dealsourcingstrategie und Targets aussehen,welche Besonderheiten der Fahrradmarkt mitbringt,was nach der Übernahme zu beachten ist,und vieles mehr... Viel Spaß beim Hören!***Timestamps:(00:00:00) Intro(00:03:04) Vita Robert(00:10:52) Eigene Gründungen(00:14:35) Aufbau einer tunesischen Supermarktkette(00:16:41) Learnings Aldi Süd-Zeit(00:21:36) Weg zu Little John Bikes und Entwicklung bis 2021(00:27:54) MBO in 2021 und weitere Entwicklung(00:32:10) Marktlage Fahrradeinzelhandel(00:35:38) Buy & Build Strategie(00:39:17) Rolle von E-Commerce und Digitalisierung(00:45:41) Multiples(00:48:40) Herstellung der Skalierbarkeit(00:50:36) Auswahl der Targets(00:52:25) Post Merger Integration(00:56:38) Besonderheiten des Fahrradeinzelhandels für Buy & Build(00:58:39) Strategischer Ausblick LJB(01:02:40) Ausblick Fahrradmarkt***Alle Links zur Folge:Kai Hesselmann auf LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kai-hesselmann-dealcircle/Close the Deal auf LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/closethedeal-podcastDr. Robert Peschke auf LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-robert-peschke/Little John Bikes auf LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/little-john-bikes/Website Close the Deal: https://dealcircle.com/ClosetheDeal/***AMBER ist die Plattform für sichere Unternehmensnachfolgen. Schaut bei AMBER vorbei, wenn ihr keinen relevanten Deal mehr verpassen oder die Reichweite eurer Verkaufsmandate zusätzlich erhöhen wollt: www.amber.deals***Du bist M&A-Berater im Small- oder Midcap-Segment und suchst einen Überblick über alle relevanten Deals?Jetzt schnell den

Er wordt deze week veel gerectificeerd, maar ook evenzoveel vanuit de heup geschoten. Dus eigenlijk is het dweilen met de kraan open. Over o.a. de volgende onderwerpen worden u deze week bevrijdende inzichten aangeboden: Hoe ga je om met de overal oprukkende meeuw? Levende mascottes verboden vanwege het dierenleed, vader van Nutella overleden, Albufeira verbiedt zwemkleding op straat, kajakker opgeslokt en weer uitgespuwd door bultrug, MBO'ers verdienen tegenwoordig meer dan hogeropgeleiden, vrouw in Japan gearresteerd vanwege te hard knijpen in sesambroodje. Waarom eten we een zak chips altijd in één keer leeg? Meer dan 20 beautysalons in één straat in Schiedam en alles over je wc schoon laten maken door knoflook.Wil je ad-free naar Wat een week! luisteren én de hele aflevering op beeld bekijken? Word dan abonnee van Podimo via deze link en je krijgt de eerste maand gratis! Zie het privacybeleid op https://art19.com/privacy en de privacyverklaring van Californië op https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Episode Summary  In this episode of Building Better Cultures, Scott McInnes sits down with Jonathan Reed, CEO of Paddy and Scott's Coffee, to discuss the company's incredible transformation over the past three years. Jonathan shares his journey from employee to owner through a management buyout (MBO) and the challenges he faced in reshaping the organisation's leadership and culture.  With a strong focus on communication, trust, and a people-first approach, Jonathan highlights how visibility, vulnerability, and fun play crucial roles in creating an engaged and motivated workforce. He also delves into the company's commitment to social impact, ensuring that business success translates into meaningful contributions to coffee-growing communities.  This episode is packed with insights on leadership, resilience, and the power of responsible commerce to create real change.    Key Takeaways  Transitioning from employee to owner is a profound leadership shift.  The MBO process is challenging but ultimately rewarding.  Clear communication and trust-building are crucial for a successful transition.  Leaders must be visible, present, and engaged with their teams.  A great workplace culture includes fun as a key performance indicator.  People—not just coffee—are at the heart of Paddy and Scott's business.  Strategic planning should involve and empower employees.  Vulnerability is a strength, not a weakness, in leadership.  Businesses have a responsibility to make a positive social impact.  The future of Paddy and Scott's is built on responsible commerce and community support.    Chapters   00:00 Introduction and Background   08:54 Impact of MBO on Leadership and Culture   19:45 Emphasizing People Over Profit   34:52 Future Vision and Social Impact  

In this episode, I sit down with Laura Clark to unpack her journey from recruiter to CEO through a successful management buyout (MBO).We dive into the challenges, lessons, and realities of taking over a recruitment business plus what to look out for if you're being promised an MBO.Connect with Laura here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauraclarkoa/-------------------------Watch the episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/xCYyP-mEejY-------------------------Sponsors - Claim your exclusive savings from our partners with the links below:Sourcewhale - Check Out Sourcewhale & Claim Your Exclusive Offer Here.Raise - Check Out Raise & Claim Your Exclusive Offer Here.-------------------------Extra Stuff:Learn more about our online skills development platform Hector here: https://bit.ly/47hsaxeJoin 4,000+ other recruiters levelling up their skills with our Limitless Learning Newsletter here: https://limitless-learning.thisishector.com/subscribe-------------------------Get in touch:Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hishemazzouz/-------------------------

Über einen MBO haben mehrere Führungskräfte rund um Axel Meythaler die Beratung Goetzpartners übernommen. Jetzt gilt es in der neuen Konstellation, die jüngere Vergangenheit abzuschließen und sich neu zu positionieren – ein erster Schritt ist das Rebranding zu Fortlane Partners. Wie die weitere Neuausrichtung gelingen soll, erklärt Axel Meythaler in diesem Spotlight.

Everyone is in favor of improving quality, but what does that mean? In this episode Bill Bellows and Andrew Stotz discuss stories of meeting requirements, missing the mark, and what Dr. Deming said about how to do better. TRANSCRIPT 0:00:02.2 Andrew Stotz: My name is Andrew Stotz, and I'll be your host as we dive deeper into the teachings of Dr. W. Edwards Deming. Today, I'm continuing my discussions with Bill Bellows, who has spent 31 years helping people apply Dr. Deming's ideas to become aware of how their thinking is holding them back from their biggest opportunities. And I guess now that we're into 2025, it's gonna be 32 years pretty soon. The episode for today is episode 10, are you in favor of quality? Bill, take it away.   0:00:33.5 Bill Bellows: Thank you, Andrew, and Happy New Year.   0:00:35.1 Andrew Stotz: Happy New Year.   0:00:36.4 Bill Bellows: Happy New Year to our listeners. And yeah, so here we are episode 10 of Misunderstanding Quality. We got up to 22 episodes in our first series and then we'll have a follow-on series. One is I would like to thank those who took the invite to reach out to me on LinkedIn. And I've just started connecting with a few new people who are doing some interesting things involved in types of work that I'm not familiar with, it's just fascinating to listen to the types of issues they deal with. And they each come to me with an interest in Dr. Deming's work. So they're following the podcast series, this one, the others that you're doing, and they listen to all of them. And I'm not sure if they've contacted the others, but they've reached out to me. So I wanna once again say for those of you that are enjoying this conversation, my conversation with you, Andrew, then please reach out to me.   0:01:50.0 Bill Bellows: If you'd like to know more, that's one thing. The last episode was called Worse Than a Thief. And one thing I wanna mention, there's a bunch of meanings relative to being worse than a thief. One distinctly from Dr. Taguchi was... And I don't... He gave examples of manufacturers that made plastic sheeting for crops to protect the crops and his complaint was that they made it to the minimum side of the requirement. So there was a requirement on the thickness, so again, even if you have a 1mil thick here, we have in the States, there's you can buy plastic 1mil, which is 0.001 inch or something heavier. And so, and obviously, in the world of manufacturing, you're not gonna get exactly 0.001, it's gonna be a little low, a little high. So what Dr. Taguchi was referencing is companies in Japan that were making plastic sheeting that would be used for a number of things. But in particular, he talked about it, what if it's being used to protect crops?   0:03:19.8 Bill Bellows: And what if the manufacturers, to save money because they're buying the plastic by the pound, selling it by the yard, so they're gonna make it as thin as possible. And his concern was, so how much are you saving to make it as thin as possible? And what is the impact of being on the thin side when a crop is lost? And that was his reference to being worse than a thief, that you're saving a few pennies but costing the farmer the... Right? And so that could be... So that's a situation where there's a requirement, the requirement is met minimally. You and I reference that as leaving the bowling ball in the doorway, delivering to the absolute minimum, or I mean delivering to the minimum, the maximum of the requirement, whatever best suits me. So if I'm delivering to you a term paper and you as the professor say, "It must be between five and 10 pages," and I say, "Well, I'm gonna make it five pages."   0:04:23.9 Bill Bellows: If in another situation, [chuckle] an example, I guess is if when our daughter was in high school and we said, "Allison, make sure you're home between 10:00 and midnight," then she may move that to the high side of the tolerance and come home at 10:00 or 11:59. But in either case, what Taguchi is referencing is in the world of acceptability, the requirements have been met. But the worse than a thief aspect is, is what is the personal gain versus the impact to others in the system. So that could be picking up the nail in the parking lot or deciding not to do it. So I just wanna point out that I see that as a very broad statement, not just in terms of meeting requirements, but within your organization are you... To what degree are you focusing on your department at the detriment of the organization? That's another way of being worse than a thief.   0:05:28.7 Bill Bellows: It could be you're spending all of your budget just before the end of the year. 'Cause you know what happens, Andrew, if you don't spend all of your budget.   0:05:38.0 Andrew Stotz: Gonna get taken away.   0:05:38.9 Bill Bellows: So if you're 10 percent under, the next year you're gonna get 10% less. So I used to kid people is, so what will I spend... Again, so you learn the hard way, if you don't spend the entire budget then your boss the next year says, "Well, Andrew, you only spent 80% of the budget, so we're only gonna give you 80% of last year." So what's the... What message does Andrew learn? I tell people is you go a little bit over the 100%, right? You go a little bit over. And so even that I would say is worse than a thief 'cause what are you doing? You're withholding your resources that others may find. So I just wanna say that that statement is not as narrow as looking at a set of requirements, it is looking at things from what's good for me versus good for the system. All right, have fun to that one.   0:06:30.0 Andrew Stotz: Right.   0:06:31.0 Bill Bellows: So relative to the title you mentioned. Are you in favor of quality? What inspired that? There's another thing I've been looking at recently, whether on LinkedIn or elsewhere on the internet. I'm a member of ASQ, the American Society for Quality, so I get regular notes from them. And I go off and look, and I'm just reminded of how most organizations think about quality, which is meeting requirements, and it could be much more than that. But anyway, in The New Economics, Dr. Deming's book, first edition, came out in 1993. In there in the first chapter, he says, let me pull it up, and I wanna read it exactly from the good doctor.   Near the end of chapter one of the New Economics, Dr. Deming, in bold text, our listeners will find a statement, “a look at some of the usual suggestions for improvement of quality.” And Dr. Deming says, "There's widespread interest in quality. Suppose that we were to conduct next Tuesday a national referendum with the question, are you in favor of improvement of quality? Yes or no? The results." predicted Dr. Deming "would show, I believe," and again, I'm quoting Deming, "an avalanche in favor of quality. Moreover, unfortunately, almost everybody has the answer on how to achieve it. Just read the letters to the editor, speeches, books. It seems so simple. Here are some of the answers offered, all insufficient, some even negative in results."   0:09:17.9 Bill Bellows: "Automation, new machinery, more computers, gadgets, hard work, best efforts, merit system, annual appraisal, make everybody accountable, MBO, management by objective as practiced, MBR, management by results." And I'll just pause. Dr. Deming, when he would read this list in a seminar, would also make reference to MBIR, management by imposition of results. All right, back to Dr. Deming. "Rank people, rank teams, rank divisions, rank salesmen, reward them at the top, punish them at the bottom. More SQC, statistical quality control, more inspection, establish an office of quality, appoint someone as VP in charge of quality, incentive pay, work standards," in parentheses, "quotas," comma, "time standards," end quote. "Zero defects, meet specifications, motivate people." And then in bold print, Dr. Deming adds, "What is wrong with these suggestions?" He says, "the fallacy of the suggestions listed above will be obvious from subsequent pages of the text," meaning The New Economics.   0:10:36.1 Bill Bellows: "Every one of them ducks the responsibility of management," Andrew. "A company that advertised that the future belongs to him that invest in it, and thereupon proceeded to invest heavily," 40 million, no, 40 billion, I'm sorry, that's ten to the ninth. "40 billion in new machinery and automation, results, trouble, overcapacity, high cost, low quality. It must be said in defense of the management that they obviously had faith in the future." And I asked some people that knew Dr. Deming far better than me. Once upon a time, I said, "So who was Dr. Deming talking about, the company that invested $40 billion?" He said, "Oh, that was General Motors." And I used to think when I was at Rocketdyne that you could not ask for a better competitor than one that would invest $40 billion to lose market share, right? Talk about self-inflicted gunshot wounds that they're gonna go off, invest heavily in technology gadgets. That's what Dr. Deming's calling 'em, gadgets.   0:11:55.2 Andrew Stotz: Gadgets.   0:11:55.8 Bill Bellows: Did you ever hear what Dr. Deming said about, he says, there's a couple of things he said. This is one of the things I heard him say live. He said, "Where's the data in the computer? Gone forever." And then he'd say, "the hardest thing in all the world to find..." You know what he said, Andrew, was the hardest thing in all the world to find?   0:12:24.0 Andrew Stotz: No, what was that?   0:12:27.3 Bill Bellows: "A piece of paper and a pencil." 'Cause his mindset was just put the data that you wanna plot on a piece of paper, as opposed to in the computer, gone forever. Now, I worked with a company as a consultant for three years. And one of the first things they had me work on, of course, was trying to learn about a problem that happened a few years earlier. A problem, meaning something that did not conform to requirements. And in the middle of working on that for about three months and working on that, and the issue was, let's learn about what happened a couple of years ago so it doesn't happen again. And what happened a few years ago was a very stringent set of requirements for this aerospace hardware, missed the requirement by 10%. It was close. It was close, but the customer would not buy it. And it was a multimillion dollar asset that they held onto 'cause they were hoping they can convince the customer to buy it. And the customer just said, "You keep it, you keep it." So the issue was, "Come over and help us understand what happened. We don't do that again."   0:13:54.1 Bill Bellows: Well, in the midst of that, the same product being produced a few months later, instead of missing the requirement by about 10%, missed the requirement by about 70%.   0:14:12.9 Andrew Stotz: Oh.   0:14:13.2 Bill Bellows: Oh, oh. It was a nightmare. And the company spent a whole lot of money chasing that. In the long run, it may have been a bad test. We never found exactly what it was. And when I caught up with them years later, they eventually went back into production. But the reason I bring that up is, after the incident, I was called over. It was a very intense time to go figure out what's going on, only to find out that the data was in a computer. So, the data was not being plotted real time. So after the incident, one of the things that happened within a few days of the incident was to go back and plot the data. So when I was in a meeting and they showed the data and I knew what they were saying was they had pulled it out of the computer. I thought, "Dr. Deming's not kidding. Where's the data, in the computer? Gone forever." So I wanted to...   0:15:23.8 Andrew Stotz: I had something I wanted to add to that, and that is I have a couple of great classic pictures in our family that were made 100 years, 120 years ago.   0:15:36.8 Bill Bellows: Oh wow. Lucky you.   0:15:39.9 Andrew Stotz: Great grandma, those old, really old pictures. And I was just showing them to my, to some of the ladies that take care of my mom and they just can't. And I said, "Now think about all the improvements that have been done in photography. What is the chance that one out of your 10,000 pictures on your iPhone that you've taken is going to survive 120 years like this picture?" And the answer is zero. There's zero chance.   0:16:14.4 Bill Bellows: That's right. Because even if you have kids, they don't want 4000 photos then... 4000...   0:16:25.0 Andrew Stotz: Nobody can deal with that.   0:16:26.4 Bill Bellows: No one could... You're absolutely right. They will not. Unless that photo is printed and turned into a keepsake. Gone forever.   0:16:38.7 Andrew Stotz: Yeah.   0:16:39.0 Bill Bellows: Yeah. No, that's a good point. That's a very... And the fact that these photos lasted that long is pretty damn amazing.   0:16:47.2 Andrew Stotz: Well, there's a great book. I forgot the name of it, but I'll remember it. There's a great book about how slow this... The pace. It's called "Future Hype" is the name of it. It's all about the slow pace of innovation. And this is a great example. Going from no photo to a great photo 120 years ago was true innovation.   0:17:12.0 Bill Bellows: Oh, yeah. Yes.   0:17:13.8 Andrew Stotz: Just coming up with ways to do thousands of photos. And the author just basically crushes everything that you think is innovation. That there's millions of patents now that are coming out. We're much more innovative than we were in the past. And then his whole point is, "Yeah, and go and look at them, and what you see is that they've changed the color a little bit, they've changed this, they've changed that, and they're just doing modifications." So, every single area that you think there is innovation. And I think that's part of what Dr. Deming's talking about, about it's in the computer that doesn't. Tools and gadgets don't solve the problem.   0:17:56.1 Bill Bellows: No, it's... Well, they are tools. And as we've talked about in this series, in the first series, there are tools and techniques. Cell phones, computers, automobiles. These are tools. Techniques are how to use them. And tools, to borrow from Ackoff, are about efficiency, doing things well. But not to be confused with effectiveness, also from Ackoff, which is doing the right thing. And what I admire... I think what we both admire about Dr. Deming's work is the ability of the System of Profound Knowledge to provoke the question of whether or not something is... Doing something is worthwhile to do. And that has to do with not doing things faster, but stepping back and asking, "Why am I doing this in the first place?" Dr. Deming talked about. I think he used to say... He phrased it as, be, Dr. Deming saying, "Andrew, do you know how companies make toast?" And Andrew says, "No, Dr. Deming, how do companies make toast?" You ever hear that?   0:19:16.0 Andrew Stotz: No.   0:19:17.1 Bill Bellows: He says, "First, they burn it, then they scrape it." [laughter] And so what I see in organizations is the people who make the toast pass it off to the next person who does the inspection, and then upon the inspection, is sent to the toast scraper, then the toast scraper scrapes the toast and then sends it to somebody else, which could be a second toasting. [laughter] And then on to the next. And the person who makes the toast in the first place is none the wiser that X percent of the toast, they're just passing it on and so the technology is used to speed that up. And what's not happening is some type of feedback on adjusting the controls. It's just, it's... And this is what I saw when I worked in Connecticut, was immense toast scraping. Oh, it was just phenomenal. We had a machine making these plates for a heat exchanger for the Army's current main engine battle tank. A 1500 horsepower gas turbine engine. And half the volume, Andrew, of the tank is a heat exchanger to capture the exhaust heat to preheat the compressed air to improve the fuel economy.   0:20:52.4 Bill Bellows: Even when half the volume of the tank engine is a heat exchanger to capture every ounce of excess energy and convert it back to the efficiency of the engine. Even with that, the fuel economy of the Army's today main battle tank is measured in gallons per mile 'cause it drinks gasoline. Now, it's phenomenal performance. But they can't move too fast to outrun the tankers. So, these heat exchanger plates have, in the original design, I'm not sure what design is nowadays, had roughly 2 miles of welding in the heat exchanger. And the welding was what's known as resistance welding. And these very, very thin plates were welded together with a little dot of current to melt the metal to create a little bead, and then another one on, and they were overlapping melts, and that created a seam. And after these plates were welded together, you know, two together, each of them was put on to this under a bright light, a literally a Lazy Susan.   0:22:11.0 Bill Bellows: This thing had a 27 inch outer diameter and there'd be a bead around the outside and a bead around the inside. Two different diameters. And on a given plate one inspector would look under a magnifying glass to see, are there any gaps in the beads? And then flip it over and look at the other side, and then hand off to the next person to look at the same plate again.   0:22:37.1 Bill Bellows: So, every plate was 200% inspected. There were 10 machines making these plates. There was no traceability from the inspector. All the problems might have been coming from machine number one. There was no such awareness. And so, after the inspector, "I found a quarter of an inch where you... " "Okay. Then we send it to Andrew for a re-weld." There's no feedback and is that system any better today? I'm aware of systems today that are very similar to that. So, anyway, that's what Deming's talking about relative to the... Yeah. How do companies make toast? Well, the other thing I want to jump to, relative to this "Are you in favor of quality?" Which got it on my one is, I thought, is something really neat to include in this series that we're doing Misunderstanding Quality. But as I'm getting these prompts from ASQ on a regular basis, I was reminded of a few things that are near and dear within the world of the American Society of Quality. And one is what's known as Quality 4.0. Not, 1.0, Andrew, 4.0. 4.0.   0:24:00.1 Andrew Stotz: So, we're out of the crisis.   0:24:01.1 Bill Bellows: Oh, and so the phrase, Quality 4.0, this is today, right? And actually, the incentive, "Quality 4.0," this is actually five years old. So maybe they're on to Quality 5.0, Andrew. The phrase, "Quality 4.0," derived from the German industrialization program called Industry 4.0, is an evaluation of the role of quality in the increasing digital and automated world. One question surrounding Quality 4.0 is where increasing automation will leave quality professionals in the future. Technology, Andrew, has changed quality work and now offers useful statistical software that allows the Six Sigma quality movement to grow. Tons of data that allow quality professionals to act on quality issues in almost real time and new statistical methods. So, what I find is, "Quality 4.0" is artificial intelligence. It's the Internet of Things. It is technology. So if Deming was writing the, you know, the chapter on that we just mentioned earlier, the list of all the things on that list would be pretty much everything I see in "Quality 4.0." Right.   0:25:23.9 Bill Bellows: So, how far have we come in the professional world of quality? At least I am... I find there's a lot missing relative to what Dr. Deming was talking about 30 some years ago. So, that's what I wanted to put on the table is, you know, we're again not... None of us have said we're against tools and techniques. Whether it's chat GPT, artificial intelligence, those are fantastic. But if they're not guided with a System of Profound Knowledge, then you're going to improve uniformity in isolation.   0:26:09.8 Bill Bellows: And we've talked about that in this series and that is the difference between precision and not accuracy. It is making things uniform. Then you have to ask, again when I... What I challenge for those that are in the Six Sigma world is everything I've seen and I've been reading a lot about Six Sigma for the last 30 years. Everything I see about it when it comes to reducing variability, it is about reducing variability to shrink the distribution such that, what, Andrew? Such that we end up with acceptability 100% all. No red beads, all white beads. And then we get into... I went in preparation for a call today to the ASQ website to learn, just a reminder, refresher on Quality 4.0 and again, nothing wrong with advanced digital technologies, but what if we coupled that with a strong foundation that we're trying to offer people in the Deming ??? who are interested in what Dr. Deming's ideas bring to improve, to guide that technology. So anyway, that's, you know, Quality 4.0. Also, I'm on the ASQ website and their glossary section if anyone wants to go look there. If you're a member, you get free access to this. "Quality, a subjective term for which each person or sector has its own definition."   0:27:42.7 Bill Bellows: Okay. "In technical usage, quality can have two meanings. One, the characteristic of a product or service that bears on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs. Two, a product or service free of deficiencies." Excuse me. "According to Joseph Juran, quality means fitness for use. According to Philip Crosby, it means conformance to requirements." And I don't see in here a reference to Dr. Deming and how he defined quality, Andrew. Huh? Interesting. What I enjoyed about being a member of the... In fact I'm still a member of the American Society for Quality. The reason I joined is I was excited by quality. Everything I was learning about Dr. Taguchi's work and then Dr. Deming's work and then began to wonder if the American Society for Quality was advancing and doc... So if anyone listening has access to the American Society for Quality and people that make decisions there, you might want to include Dr. Deming's definition of quality.   0:29:00.2 Bill Bellows: Where Dr. Deming would say a product or service possesses quality if it helps someone and enjoys a sustainable market. And what I find is unique about that is my interpretation, as Dr. Deming is saying a lecture I deliver, a podcast we present, that we are not the judge of the quality that our listeners, students are. The people downstream are the judge of that. So, it's not me handing off a part that meets requirements saying this is good. Even when Juran says fitness for use, what I would ask is fitness absolute or is fitness relative? And so that's... So anyway, I just thought it'd be fascinating to remind our listeners of the simplicity of Dr. Deming's message from The New Economics. You know, is everyone and anyone in favor of quality? Yes. And again, nothing wrong with tools and techniques, but what a Deming organization, a Blue Pen Company, a "We" organization. What they could do, guided by the Deming philosophy, with computers, where computers make sense, with AI, where AI makes sense, would seriously outpace what other companies are doing. It's interesting, but it's just not enough to compete with companies who will do that.   0:30:32.3 Bill Bellows: So, if nobody is following the Deming philosophy, then you can get by with Quality 4.0, doing AI and doing those things. But if you've got competitors and what Dr. Deming would say, Andrew, is be thankful for a good competitor, one who raises your game, right. And so, if you and I are playing tennis and you know, we're out there to become better tennis players, and as soon as I find out that you're out there so you can go brag to your mom about how you beat me last night, then I say, "Andrew, find somebody else to beat." But if you're interest and my interest is, you know, getting a lot of exercise and improving our game. That's a different story. So, that's what I just wanted to share with our ongoing listeners, is there's a lot to be gained by continuing to study the Deming philosophy. Add it to your repertoire, build a foundation guided by what The Deming Institute is doing and sponsoring podcasts like this, as well as DemingNEXT is, there's just a lot of opportunities for what Dr. Deming is offering. And I'm reminded of that on a regular basis that people are saying, "Boy, why didn't I learn about this a long time ago, what this can bring organizations?" So that's what I wanted to bring to the table today.   0:31:50.1 Andrew Stotz: That's wonderful. Well, Bill, on behalf of everyone at The Deming Institute, I want to thank you again for this discussion and for listeners, remember to go to deming.org to continue your journey. You'll see DemingNEXT there and the like. If you want to keep in touch with Bill, just find him on LinkedIn and reach out to him because he is responsive. This is your host, Andrew Stotz, and I want to leave you with one of my favorite quotes from Dr. Deming. I just never stop talking about this quote 'cause I love it. "People are entitled to joy in work."  

Carla Kabamba, gemeenteraad Amsterdam, Spoken word artiest, radio presentatrice en politieke wetenschapper en Chander Peroti, A.K.A. Kiddo Cee: hiphop artiest, leraar op het MBO en begeleider LIO en onze eigen NineG Music, SCW en artiest, spraken over opgroeien in Nederland zonder acceptatie van je identiteit. Je voelt je vaak niet gehoord en gemarginaliseerd. Hoe gaan wij dit oplossen? Host/ redactie: Anaïs Cortez- Reina Host/ techniek: Nine G Music

東証、東京都中央区経営陣による自社買収で、東証が買い付け価格の根拠に関する説明を上場企業に義務付けるルールを今年春にも導入する方針を固めたことが８日、分かった。 The Tokyo Stock Exchange plans to tighten its management buyout, or MBO, rules for listed companies as early as this spring to protect the interests of minority shareholders, informed sources said Wednesday.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange plans to tighten its management buyout, or MBO, rules for listed companies as early as this spring to protect the interests of minority shareholders, informed sources said Wednesday.

歷時六年的醞釀，眾所期待的《張忠謀自傳：下冊》終於問世，距離上冊出版已經相隔26年。這本自傳記錄了張忠謀33歲回到德儀工作到2018年從台積電退休為止，長達50多年的歲月。 有趣的是，張忠謀在自傳中對於台積電近十多年來的風光其實談得不多，反而是德儀後期的痛苦掙扎，以及工研院、台積電草創時期的奮鬥過程，寫得很仔細。 在台積電草創前後，張忠謀的角色定位以及當時的政治和經濟環境有哪些變化？他如何思考股權結構和控制權等等問題？而面對高盛集團的管理層收購提議（Management Buyout, MBO），他又如何做出最後決定？ 主持人：天下雜誌總主筆 陳良榕 來賓：中研院人文社會科學研究所兼任研究員 瞿宛文 製作團隊：李洛梅、劉駿逸 ＊訂閱阿榕伯科技電子報：https://bit.ly/42A6BWj ＊意見信箱：bill@cw.com.tw -- Hosting provided by SoundOn

Close the Deal wünscht allen Hörerinnen und Hörern frohe Weihnachten und einen guten Rutsch!

What happens when a recruitment entrepreneur turns 30 years of hard work into a £17 million exit? And what comes next?This week on The RAG Podcast, I'm joined by Gary Redman, former CEO of Now Education and now its Chairman. Just 18 months ago, Gary shared his vision to grow the business and exit. Now, with the dust settled on his incredible MBO success, we revisit his journey.Here's what you'll learn:

Auf dem M&A-Markt ist zum Jahresendspurt 2024 viel los – so auch bei Syntra Corporate Finance, den meisten Hörern wohl besser bekannt als Sonntag Corporate Finance. Patrick Seip und Julian Will haben Sonntag vor 4 Jahren per MBO übernommen und Ende November den Rebrandingprozess zu Syntra abgeschlossen. Gemeinsam beleuchten wir heute, wie M&A-Boutiquen sich als Marke positionieren können und wie der Prozess bei Syntra genau abgelaufen ist. Und natürlich geben uns die beiden auch ein Update zum Small- und Midcap-M&A-Markt und den Transaktions-Aktivitäten bei Syntra und Nachfolgekontor seit ihrem letzten Besuch im Podcast im Juni 2023. Wir beleuchten in dieser Episode:den M&A-Markt im Small- & Midcap-Segment 2023/24,was uns im nächsten Jahr im M&A-Markt erwartet,wie der Rebrandingprozess zu Syntra ablief,welche Rolle die Marke im M&A spielt,und vieles mehr... Viel Spaß beim Hören!***Timestamps:(00:00:00) Intro(00:03:33) Vita Patrick(00:06:14) Vita Julian(00:10:04) Syntra Marktrückblick 23/24(00:12:34) M&A-Marktrückblick 23/24(00:15:12) Pipeline & Branchen(00:19:30) Smallcap- vs. Midcap-Segment(00:28:06) Markt-Ausblick 2025(00:31:00) Rebranding-Prozess Syntra(00:41:10) Markenpositionierung & Strategie(00:44:37) Zusammenspiel Syntra & Nachfolgekontor(00:46:34) Nachfolgescout(00:51:42) Rückblick Sonntag(00:55:55) Rolle der Marke im M&A(00:58:44) Learnings aus Rebrandingprozess(01:01:29) Ausblick Syntra***Alle Links zur Folge:Kai Hesselmann auf LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kai-hesselmann-dealcircle/Close the Deal auf LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/closethedeal-podcastPatrick Seip auf LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-seip-60807197/Julian Will auf LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julian-will-301744104/Syntra Corporate Finance auf LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/syntra-corporate-finance-gmbh/Episode 20: https://bit.ly/3D4vl0VWebsite Close the Deal: https://dealcircle.com/ClosetheDeal/***AMBER ist die Plattform für sichere Unternehmensnachfolgen. Schaut bei AMBER vorbei, wenn ihr keinen relevanten Deal mehr verpassen oder die Reichweite eurer Verkaufsmandate zusätzlich erhöhen wollt: www.amber.deals***Du bist M&A-Berater im Small- oder Midcap-Segment und suchst einen Überblick über alle relevanten Deals?Jetzt schnell den

What does it take to grow a global recruitment company, secure private equity investment, and aim for a £100M valuation – all by the age of 31?On this week's The RAG Podcast, I'm sitting down with Joe Jani, founder and CEO of Metric Search, one of the world's fastest-growing recruitment firms.Here's what we uncover:

Join Jen and Toni McKnabb, LMSW from Mind Body Optimization, and learn how you can embark on a journey towards a healthier, happier you. MBO creates accessible, tailored wellness solutions that seamlessly integrate into your unique lifestyle. It's not about drastic changes, but about sustainable practices that empower you to thrive.

When I think of HP, three things quickly emerge in my mind: Deskjet and laser printers, the 12C calculator, and David Packard's The HP Way.The HP Way is one of my top 25 books written by CEOs. In this conversation, we're rolling with a book club format with a special guest who writes book summaries on his blog. Dan Lebrero is a software engineer based in Spain, and he'll help us unpack concepts such as MBO, management by walking around, profit-sharing plans, corporate offsites, growth frameworks, and philosophies on debt management. 

This week on The RAG Podcast, I'm sitting down with Jim Sloan, CEO and founder of Navartis a specialist recruitment agency in the infrastructure sector. Jim's journey is an incredible story of growth to a team of 110+ across multiple countries and significant profits of £2M EBITDAHere's what we discuss:

Te gast is Jan Jaap Hubeek en we spreken over pedagogiek en goed onderwijs in tijden van AI. Jan Jaap is leraar geweest in PO, MBO en HBO, podcaster en bestuurder. Momenteel is hij directeur-bestuurder bij NIVOZ. We beginnen met zijn pedagogische fascinatie voor AI aan de hand van het boek Frankenstein en de pedagogiek van Philippe Meirieu. De fout van dokter Frankenstein was dat hij de mens die hij maakte niet wilde begeleiden in de wereld, zelfs niet toen deze er zelf om vroeg. Zo is het ook de vraag wat AI vraagt van de pedagogische rol van de leraar. In het vervolg deelt hij zijn voorlopige visie op goed onderwijs, pedagogiek en didactiek. Eerst via biografische ervaringen als leerling en meester, daarna via zijn ervaringen met het vrijeschoolonderwijs en zijn rol als NIVOZ-directeur-bestuurder.  Goed onderwijs is voor hem altijd contextgericht en levensecht, waarbij de rol van didacticus en pedagoog samenkomen. Help het kind verder en zie het kind. Omdat onderwijs per context verschilt, moet onderwijs congruent zijn met wat je daarmee bedoelt.  Voor Jan Jaap heeft die bedoeling te maken met vorming, geïnspireerd als hij is door Jan Bransen, en met leerlingen de gelegenheid bieden te verschijnen in de wereld met een eigen wil. Die wilsgedachte heeft hij van Gert Biesta en van het vrijeschoolonderwijs. Van Rob Martens leerde hij het belang van spelen, motivatie en de zelfdeterminatietheorie. Tot slot gaat goed onderwijs over inclusie, medemenselijkheid en samen congruent en wakker zijn. Deze podcast is mede mogelijk gemaakt door schoolleidersopleiding ATTC, onderwijsadvies School Matters en rustplek De vallei van het goede leven.

２０２４年１１月１５日放送　「町田徹のふかぼり」 前半はニュースカウントダウン！気になるニュースをわかりやすく、コンパクトに解説します。 番外１中国社会の共産党支配への報復か？ 番外２木曜日、関電の高浜原発一号機が国内初めて「運転日数５０年」を超える 第５位水曜日、セブン＆アイに創業家の資産管理会社がMBOを提案 第４位月曜日夜、半導体などへの１０兆円規模の経済支援を表明 第３位木曜日、１０３万円の壁を巡る与党と国民民主党の見直し協議がスタート。 第２位木曜日、ペルーで開かれるAPEC首脳会議などに出席のため、石破総理が８日間の外遊に出発。 第１位 アメリカの次期大統領に決まったトランプ氏。閣僚などの重要人事を次々と決定。円相場は財政赤字拡大を懸念し、３ヶ月ぶりの円安水準に。 そして後半、今日のふかぼりは、、、 「難しさばかりが露呈する地球温暖化対策。月曜日からアゼルバイジャンで開幕したCOP29の焦点は？」 地球温暖化対策を話し合うCOP29（第29回 国連気候変動枠組み条約締約国会議)が11日＝今週月曜日からアゼルバイジャンで始まりました。振り返ると、UAE（アラブ首長国連邦）で開催された昨年のCOP28は、期待された化石燃料の「段階的廃止」を合意文書に盛り込むことに失敗、化石燃料については「およそ10年間で脱却を加速する」という表現にとどまりました。 その半面で、 2030年までに再生可能エネルギーを現状の3倍に拡大する、 排出削減対策をとっていない石炭火力発電を段階的に削減する、 ゼロエミッション車導入など陸上輸送の脱炭素化を加速する、 途上国を支援する基金への先進国のさらなる貢献を呼びかける、 ことなどを合意文書に盛り込み、高く評価した海外メディアもありました。 ただ、世界の気候変動の現状については、UNEP（国連環境計画）が先月24日、対策が現状のままなら、2050年の産業革命前からの気温上昇が最大3.1度に達するとの報告書を発表。パリ協定の目標である1.5度以内に抑えるために残された猶予期間は「数年」と指摘し、各国に対し、即時に、より大規模な温暖化ガス削減に取り組むよう求めています。そこで、今日は、アゼルバイジャンで開催中のCOP29にどこまでの合意形成が求められているのかを専門家に伺っていきたいと思います。 ゲストは、東大客員教授も小林光さんです。小林さんは、1997年のCOP3で「京都議定書」の取りまとめに奔走され「ミスター京都議定書」の異名も持つ、元環境事務次官です。 番組公式X！！（旧Twitter）「町田徹のふかぼり3兄弟」 @tetsu_fukabori3 をフォローして、番組に関する情報をどんどんキャッチしましょう！ 動画コンテンツはこの下をクリック 町田徹の経済チャンネル 町田徹の税金チャンネル

The Anti-Woke Job Board Revolution: How Red Balloon Recruiter is Fighting Back – The Sharkpreneur podcast with Seth Greene Episode 1097 Andrew Crapuchettes Andrew Crapuchettes is a pioneer in the labor market data and analytics industry, and he is the visionary behind RedBalloon. Mr. Crapuchettes began his career as a young Silicon Valley entrepreneur, building business process automation and selling 3D modeling software. In 2001, Mr. Crapuchettes became a founding member and later CEO of Emsi (now Lightcast), which he transformed from a little-known consulting company of three employees to an international economic data firm with over 250 employees worldwide. Mr. Crapuchettes not only pioneered the operational tenets that rocketed Emsi to success, but led the company through four successful transitions to two private equity firms, a strategic buyer, and a national non-profit, with each transition producing significant returns for the investors. Mr. Crapuchettes has also contributed his talents to numerous other companies, some of which have led to additional strategic and MBO exits. He has taught graduate-level classes on 3D modeling and software architecture, and has served on the board of multiple non-profit organizations. He and his wife live in Idaho with their five children. Listen to this informative Sharkpreneur episode with Andrew Crapuchettes about how RedBalloon Recruiter is leading the anti-woke job board revolution. Here are some of the beneficial topics covered on this week's show: - How RedBalloon was created in response to cancel culture and corporate environments that penalize personal beliefs - How RedBalloon helps create workplaces where employees can align their work with their values without fear of retribution -Why the recruitment process includes an extensive onboarding call to understand their values and the culture they seek - How using these insights ensures job postings and candidate outreach align with the client's mission and culture - How the business model and success of RedBalloon challenge the prevailing norms in the recruitment industry by offering a values-driven approach Connect with Andrew: Guest Contact Info X: @RedBalloonWork Instagram: @redballoonwork Facebook: Facebook.com/RedBalloonWork LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/redballoonwork Links Mentioned: https://www.redballoon.work/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Andrew Crapuchettes is a pioneer in the labor market data and analytics industry, and he is the visionary behind RedBalloon. Mr. Crapuchettes began his career as a young Silicon Valley entrepreneur, building business process automation and selling 3D modeling software. In 2001, Mr. Crapuchettes became a founding member and later CEO of Emsi (now Lightcast), which he transformed from a little-known consulting company of three employees to an international economic data firm with over 250 employees worldwide. Mr. Crapuchettes not only pioneered the operational tenets that rocketed Emsi to success, but led the company through four successful transitions to two private equity firms, a strategic buyer, and a national non-profit, with each transition producing significant returns for the investors. Mr. Crapuchettes has also contributed his talents to numerous other companies, some of which have led to additional strategic and MBO exits. He has taught graduate-level classes on 3D modeling and software architecture, and has served on the board of multiple non-profit organizations. He and his wife live in Idaho with their five children. Listen to this insightful RIA episode with Andrew Crapuchettes about how RedBalloon Recruiter is leading the anti-woke job board revolution. Here is what to expect on this week's show: - How RedBalloon was created in response to cancel culture and corporate environments that penalize personal beliefs. - How RedBalloon helps create workplaces where employees can align their work with their values without fear of retribution. -Why the recruitment process includes an extensive onboarding call to understand their values and the culture they seek. - How using these insights ensures job postings and candidate outreach align with the client's mission and culture. - How the business model and success of RedBalloon challenge the prevailing norms in the recruitment industry by offering a values-driven approach. Connect with Andrew: Links Mentioned: https://www.redballoon.work/ X: @BedBalloonWork Instagram: @redballoonwork Facebook: Facebook.com/RedBalloonWork LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/redballoonwork Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Drop 1: Samsung adds Blockchain to secure AI powered appliances https://news.samsung.com/my/samsungs-ai-powered-home-appliances-are-becoming-more-secure-with-knox-matrix Drop 2: Bitcoin OS launches bridge to Cardano https://www.bitcoinos.build/blog/cardano-comes-home-to-bitcoin-in-groundbreaking-bos-grail-bridge-integration Drop 3: AgroToken will use Polygon CDK to drive agricultural RWA tokenisation in Brazil https://br.cointelegraph.com/news/polygon-forms-partnership-to-boost-agricultural-rwa-tokens-in-brazil More: Stripe acquires Bridge for 1.1B USD https://news.bitcoin.com/stripe-acquires-stablecoin-platform-bridge-in-record-1-1-billion-crypto-deal/ https://x.com/Stablecoin/status/1848390039975469094 Imersão gratuita para desenvolvedor Solidity em PTBR: Ethereum developer pack, aos sábados, de 16/Nov a 21/Dez https://www.linkedin.com/posts/activity-7254571306271068162-oq-9 Kraken announces new L2, ink https://blog.kraken.com/news/announcing-ink R3, the builders of Corda DLT, is looking for a buyer https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-10-24/intel-backed-blockchain-startup-r3-considers-options-including-a-sale Zuvia to use Nuclea Chain for tokenized receivables https://www.blocknews.com.br/financas-corporativo/zuvia-fecha-acordo-para-usar-nuclea-chain-em-tokenizacao-de-duplicatas/ Stand with Crypto UK adds 9 universities to its members list https://www.linkedin.com/posts/standwithcryptouk_standwithcryptouk-activity-7254829842276204546-fjrP Emurgo is working with Axelar to bridge Cardano do 70 other Blockchains https://x.com/emurgo_io/status/1849073508531544344 Intersect, Cardano's MBO, finalizes first global member elections https://www.intersectmbo.org/news/celebrating-the-completion-of-intersects-first-ever-full-scale-elections Nova Labs, makers of Helium, reduces team to focus on its crypto-native offerings https://www.cryptopolitan.com/nova-labs-cuts-36-workforce/ ONE Championship, one of the most popular martial arts leagues on the planet have partnered with blockchain Sui https://newsletter.sportingcrypto.com/p/one-championship-tap-sui-in-blockchain-partnership The EEA Enterprise Ethereum Alliance is hiring an exec director. Are you that person? https://x.com/EntEthAlliance/status/1843640534327537719 . Redes sociais / comms.. Instagram.com/blockdropspodcast.. Twitter.com/blockdropspod.. Blockdrops.lens .. https://warpcast.com/mauriciomagaldi.. youtube.com/@BlockDropsPodcast.. Meu conteúdo em inglês twitter.com/0xmauricio.. Newsletter do linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=7056680685142454272.. blockdropspodcast@gmail.com

Drop 1: Samsung adds Blockchain to secure AI powered appliances https://news.samsung.com/my/samsungs-ai-powered-home-appliances-are-becoming-more-secure-with-knox-matrix Drop 2: Bitcoin OS launches bridge to Cardano https://www.bitcoinos.build/blog/cardano-comes-home-to-bitcoin-in-groundbreaking-bos-grail-bridge-integration Drop 3: AgroToken will use Polygon CDK to drive agricultural RWA tokenisation in Brazil https://br.cointelegraph.com/news/polygon-forms-partnership-to-boost-agricultural-rwa-tokens-in-brazil More Stripe acquires Bridge for 1.1B USD https://news.bitcoin.com/stripe-acquires-stablecoin-platform-bridge-in-record-1-1-billion-crypto-deal/ https://x.com/Stablecoin/status/1848390039975469094 Imersão gratuita para desenvolvedor Solidity em PTBR: Ethereum developer pack, aos sábados, de 16/Nov a 21/Dez https://www.linkedin.com/posts/activity-7254571306271068162-oq-9 Kraken announces new L2, ink https://blog.kraken.com/news/announcing-ink R3, the builders of Corda DLT, is looking for a buyer https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-10-24/intel-backed-blockchain-startup-r3-considers-options-including-a-sale Zuvia to use Nuclea Chain for tokenized receivables https://www.blocknews.com.br/financas-corporativo/zuvia-fecha-acordo-para-usar-nuclea-chain-em-tokenizacao-de-duplicatas/ Stand with Crypto UK adds 9 universities to its members list https://www.linkedin.com/posts/standwithcryptouk_standwithcryptouk-activity-7254829842276204546-fjrP Emurgo is working with Axelar to bridge Cardano do 70 other Blockchains https://x.com/emurgo_io/status/1849073508531544344 Intersect, Cardano's MBO, finalizes first global member elections https://www.intersectmbo.org/news/celebrating-the-completion-of-intersects-first-ever-full-scale-elections Nova Labs, makers of Helium, reduces team to focus on its crypto-native offerings https://www.cryptopolitan.com/nova-labs-cuts-36-workforce/ ONE Championship, one of the most popular martial arts leagues on the planet have partnered with blockchain Sui https://newsletter.sportingcrypto.com/p/one-championship-tap-sui-in-blockchain-partnership The EEA Enterprise Ethereum Alliance is hiring an exec director. Are you that person? https://x.com/EntEthAlliance/status/1843640534327537719 . Redes sociais / comms .. Instagram.com/blockdropspodcast .. Twitter.com/blockdropspod .. Blockdrops.lens .. https://warpcast.com/mauriciomagaldi .. youtube.com/@BlockDropsPodcast .. Meu conteúdo em inglês twitter.com/0xmauricio .. Newsletter do linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=7056680685142454272 .. blockdropspodcast@gmail.com

Joanna Yellowlees-Bound joins Iain for this special episode as we cover her 40-year career in the ski industry, graduating from resort rep to managing director of Erna Low - one of the oldest ski companies in the UK.   Joanna is one of the most experienced professionals in the UK ski industry, with a career that spans the first halcyon days of the ski business in the 80s to our post-Brexit world today, including a key role in the development of Arc 1950. We also discuss her new role working with her husband, Mensun Bound, the marine archaeologist who discovered the wreck of Shackleton's ‘Endurance' under the Antarctic ice. Intersport Ski Hire Discount Code Save money on your ski hire by using the code ‘SKIPODCAST' at intersportrent.com, or simply take this link for your discount to be automatically applied at the checkout.    SHOW NOTES  Currency restrictions applied on foreign holidays (2:30) Club Med beads are back! (3:00) Joanna started working for Erna Low in 1982 (7:00) It was the days of the Telex (12:45) Erna Low's original advert appeared in The Times in 1932 (15:00) Erna Low represented La Plagne in the UK market in the 1980s (21:00) Joanna became MD of the company in 1996 (23:30) The ERM collapse led to large currency losses (24:30) Joanna took over ownership of Erna Low in 2002 (27:00) In 2003, Joanna founded Erna Low Property (27:30) The Arc 1950 project was developed by Intrawest (29:45) In 2023, Joanna sold Erna Low Property to Francois Marchand in a MBO (31:00) 2012 was the 80th anniversary of Erna Low (31:30) Listen to our special podcast episode on Erna Low with Mark Frary (31:45) Take a look at some of Erna Low's vintage film footage (34:30) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5B02thqhkQ In 2019, Joanna sold Erna Low Travel to NUCO Travel (35:30) Mensun is a marine archaeologist who found the ‘Endurance' in March 2022 (37:30) Look out for ‘Endurance' coming out on Disney+ later this year (39:15) Mensun's book is called ‘The Ship Beneath The Ice' (39:45) Feedback (41:30) I enjoy all feedback about the show, I like to know what you think, especially about our features so please contact on social @theskipodcast or by email theskipodcast@gmail.com  robsmith0179 (IG): “Listened to Episode 217 this morning...I'm now adding St Martin to my visit list!” mattmglx: “I finally got round to clicking 5 stars on Spotify! Thanks for keeping me sane on my commute to work” Pat from Ireland (BMAC): “I really enjoy the podcasts. I mix current episodes with those from your back catalogue. As someone who found skiing in middle age I am completely hooked. Keep up the brilliant work and here's to winter.” If you like the podcast, there are three things you can do to help:    1) Review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify  2) Subscribe  3) Book your ski hire with Intersport Rent using the code ‘SKIPODCAST' or take this link There are now 230 episodes of The Ski Podcast. There is so much to listen to in our back catalog: just go to theskipodcast.com and search the tags and categories. Our equipment specials are being published on the Skipedia YouTube channel. You can follow me @skipedia and the podcast @theskipodcast

In het regeerprogramma van het kabinet-Schoof struikel je over het woord innovatie. 85 keer roepen ze deze totempaal aan, meer dan enig regeerakkoord ooit. Zelfs Arjen Lubach heeft het erover. Nu precies 25 jaar geleden vonden Frans Nauta en Joeri van den Steenhoven zulke holle praatjes bij weinig actie al hoogst irritant. Met Nederland Kennisland begonnen ze een kleine revolutie. Ze publiceren nu een essay erover. En met Jaap Jansen en PG Kroeger praten ze over toen en nu. En opnieuw: over de toekomst. Van Nederland.***Deze aflevering is mede mogelijk gemaakt met donaties van luisteraars die we hiervoor hartelijk danken. Word ook vriend van de show!Heb je belangstelling om in onze podcast te adverteren of ons te sponsoren? Zend een mailtje naar adverteren@dagennacht.nl en wij zoeken contact.Op sommige podcast-apps kun je niet alles lezen. De complete tekst en een overzicht van al onze eerdere afleveringen vind je hier***In 1999 was Nederland erg zelfgenoegzaam. "Het geld klotste tegen de toonbank", schampert Frans Nauta, maar het toekomstbeeld van ons land was laagwaardig. Men zette in op 'dozen schuiven' van Rotterdam naar Duitsland, de Betuwelijn, Mainports, een vijfde baan bij Schiphol. Joeri van den Steenhoven dook met hem in de data. "We schrokken ons wild. Onderwijs bleek hier gewoon middelmatig, R&D-investeringen waren laag, onze plaats tussen de slimme landen daalde gevaarlijk.”Het klonk gek, want: “Het onderzoek was wereldtop, universiteiten en hogescholen deden het uitstekend - daar lag het niet aan." Waaraan dan wel? Kennisland ging zelf op zoek. "We wilden niet de zoveelste denktank beginnen die rapportjes maakte. We wilden ook actief dingen in gang zetten." Digitale trapveldjes in achterstandswijken, de Kafka Brigade tegen gekmakende bureaucratie. En kijken waar in de wereld het wél lukte met een kenniseconomie.Frans Nauta en Joeri van den Steenhoven vertellen vol vuur over vele lessen die zij leerden en naar ons land vertaalden vanuit Finland – “Leraren kregen daar de ruimte voor hun vak en bleven permanent zélf leren” - en vanuit Silicon Valley, Japan, Canada en zelfs bij de startup scene in Nepal. Het verhaal van Geoffrey Hinton - een nogal aparte geleerde in Toronto waar, dacht men toen, nooit iemand iets van zou horen - is er emblematisch voor. Vorige week won hij de Nobelprijs. Van den Steenhoven kan precies vertellen hoe dat kwam.Het tweede kabinet-Balkenende omhelsde de thema's 'kenniseconomie' en 'leren van Finland'. Nauta werd de eerste secretaris van Het Innovatieplatform. Zijn Haagse avonturen leverden veel schrammen op, maar feit bleef dat hun thema kreeg perspectief, 'kennis' werd breder en dieper begrepen.Het is veel meer dan knappe koppen knuffelen. Mbo is cruciaal. Maar zeker ook hbo, startups, praktijkgericht onderzoek, Leven Lang Ontwikkelen, slimmer mkb en ambitieuze steden en regio's als Brainport Eindhoven, Twente en Amsterdam. Een spectaculair beleidssucces als Platform Bètatechniek bewees hoeveel hier met durf gerealiseerd kon worden. Maar ook hoe zoiets dan een beetje blijft hangen.Lessen hoe het nóg beter had gekund blijven na 25 jaar knagen. In Finland zijn de lijntjes kort, in Nederland loop je vaak vast in ‘bestuurlijke spaghetti'. Nederland kiest nooit radicaal. Stevige instituten de ruimte te geven in plaats van tijdelijke projecten - dat durven we zelden. Nauta zag hoe het DARPA-concept in Amerika - dankzij de Spoetnik-paniek - daar wel in slaagde.De kabinetten-Rutte voerden vaak uitstelbeleid. "En als je dingen voor je uitschuift, komt het moment dat ineens alles tegelijk moet; dat een crisis je overvalt. Haast is dan duur, inefficiënt en nooit erg leerzaam”, moppert Nauta. Liefst ziet hij een Deltaplan komen voor de 'valorisatie' van kennis naar de grote vraagstukken van economie en samenleving. En dat plan mag net als toen in Zeeland ook 30 jaar tijd kosten. Het kabinet-Schoof draait hier de klok juist terug.Het eerdere succes met het onderwijsniveau zien Nauta en Van den Steenhoven in rap tempo wegzakken. "Dat dit geen loeiend alarm doet klinken is onbegrijpelijk." Intussen worden hbo, universiteiten, R&D en LLO met mooie woorden bediend, terwijl hun kas leeggeroofd wordt. "Groot denken durft men niet." Heel anders dan in Europa. Van den Steenhoven vertelt hoe Kennisland daar 'opschaalde' met de vergelijkbare club the Lisbon council.Enthousiast herkent hij veel van die ideeën in het rapport-Draghi. Daar snel op insteken biedt juist Nederland enorme kansen. Met ASML, met de ruimtevaart rond ESTEC – ‘de grootste nooit aangeboorde bron van groei in ons land' - met Leiden Bio Science en Wageningen heeft Nederland goud in handen. Maar net als dat edele metaal moet je dat dan wel actief bewerken.Draghi en Kiezen voor later: de vier scenario's van het CPB dwingen hoe ons te doen wat we in Nederland graag vermijden. Kiezen. En de vergrijzing doet dat niet minder. Want met veel meer ouderen zullen jongeren en andere nieuwkomers productiever moeten zijn, willen we het welvaartsniveau en de leefbaarheid voor iedereen op peil houden. Nauta vertelt hoe hij daar al mee bezig is in Japan. En oh ja – Mario Draghi mag bellen, als hij hulp nodig heeft.***Verder lezenFrans Nauta & Joeri van den Steenhoven - Nederland als kennisland: 25 jaar onderweg***Verder luisteren446 - Doe wat Draghi zegt of Europa wacht een langzame doodsstrijd78 - Roberto Viola: Shaping Europe's Digital Future381 - Het Betrouwbare Bronnen Kenniscoalitie debat 2023371 - Banen op zoek naar mensen. Hoe in Europa bedrijven en beroepsonderwijs intensief samenwerken324 - Nederland loopt vast door tekort aan jongeren met technische opleiding, hoe lossen we dit op?278 - Frans Leijnse over de belabberde staat van ons onderwijs en hoe je dit oplost216 - Crisis op komst: Nederlandse economie loopt vast door tekort aan technisch geschoolde arbeidskrachten201 - Het geheim van het hbo-succes183 - Samen slimmer worden: het Leidse kennisecosysteem als aanjager van duurzame groei227 - Structureel extra investeren in onderzoek en ontwikkeling helpt de Nederlandse economie enorm vooruit126 - De kracht van hoger onderwijs379 - Migratie: het werkelijke verhaal154 - Watergezant Henk Ovink: 'Negentig procent van alle rampen in de wereld heeft met water te maken'137 – Joeri van den Steenhoven: maak het Groeifonds slimmer, beter en doeltreffender47 - Harvard-topman Richard McCullough bezorgd over wetenschap in VS en Nederland***Tijdlijn00:00:00 – Deel 100:30:00 – Deel 200:45:28 – Deel 301:33:36 – Einde Zie het privacybeleid op https://art19.com/privacy en de privacyverklaring van Californië op https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On this week's Stansberry Investor Hour, Dan and Corey welcome Jonathan Shaffner to the podcast. Jon is a retired U.S. Army colonel with 25 years of service who currently works as the director of federal business development at MBO Partners. MBO specializes in delivering solutions that make it safer and easier for enterprise organizations and top independent professionals to work together. Jon kicks off the show by discussing NATO's increased presence in Europe, through the lens of his own military experience. He posits that modern wars are more ideology-based than previous ones. This leads to Jon talking about his years in Afghanistan and Iraq. After, he shares what MBO does and how it helps companies (especially in defense and health care) build better workforces. (1:00) Next, Jon puts government spending into an investing context. He notes that through all the inefficiency and bloat, there are definite winners and losers of government contracts. He also breaks down his and MBO's involvement in helping to create value for the companies that have been awarded these contracts. Jon cites data usage as the biggest need he's seeing right now. Companies have massive amounts of data but don't know what to do with it or how to implement it. (23:05) Finally, Jon talks about how MBO finds contractors, the possibility of it going public someday, and its research on the gig economy. He then explores what could happen with the two major ongoing wars affecting the U.S. today: Russia versus Ukraine and Israel versus Hamas. Jon predicts that the war in Ukraine will be over within 18 months, but he says the war in the Middle East is much more complicated thanks to the Houthis. (42:41)

On this week's Stansberry Investor Hour, Dan and Corey welcome Jonathan Shaffner to the podcast. Jon is a retired U.S. Army colonel with 25 years of service who currently works as the director of federal business development at MBO Partners. MBO specializes in delivering solutions that make it safer and easier for enterprise organizations and top independent professionals to work together. Jon kicks off the show by discussing NATO's increased presence in Europe, through the lens of his own military experience. He posits that modern wars are more ideology-based than previous ones. This leads to Jon talking about his years in Afghanistan and Iraq. After, he shares what MBO does and how it helps companies (especially in defense and health care) build better workforces. (1:00) Next, Jon puts government spending into an investing context. He notes that through all the inefficiency and bloat, there are definite winners and losers of government contracts. He also breaks down his and MBO's involvement in helping to create value for the companies that have been awarded these contracts. Jon cites data usage as the biggest need he's seeing right now. Companies have massive amounts of data but don't know what to do with it or how to implement it. (23:05) Finally, Jon talks about how MBO finds contractors, the possibility of it going public someday, and its research on the gig economy. He then explores what could happen with the two major ongoing wars affecting the U.S. today: Russia versus Ukraine and Israel versus Hamas. Jon predicts that the war in Ukraine will be over within 18 months, but he says the war in the Middle East is much more complicated thanks to the Houthis. (42:41)

Interrogations partagées au Forum international Science4action organisé par l'IRD (l'Institut de recherche pour le développement) à Marseille. L'occasion de croiser les regards, les parcours et les approches de chercheuses engagées sur tout le continent africain... Émission enregistrée dans le cadre du Forum international Science4Action pour les 80 ans de l'IRD à Marseille Ravis de vous retrouver à Marseille depuis le palais du Pharo qui surplombe le Vieux Port avec une vue imprenable sur la Méditerranée, pour une émission spéciale recherche au Sud et pour les Suds, enregistrée au Forum International Science4Action, la science au service de l'action, organisé par L'IRD, l'Institut de recherche pour le développement, pour célébrer ses 80 ans, en partenariat avec RFI. Comment mettre la science la plus innovante au service d'un développement durable et partagé par tous ? Comment croiser tous les savoirs pour répondre aux défis majeurs environnementaux, économiques et sanitaires de notre humanité ?Avec- Valérie Verdier, présidente-directrice générale de l'Institut de recherche pour le développement- Valérie Masson-Delmotte, paléoclimatologue, directrice de recherche au CEA- Adèle Ouédraogo, chercheuse à l'Institut de recherche en sciences appliquées et technologies du Burkina Faso (IRSAT), fondatrice de l'association Faso Compost et lauréate 2023 des Trophées de l'Innovation de l'IRD- Michèle Mbo'o-Tchouawou, directrice adjointe du Réseau des femmes africaines pour la recherche en agriculture. Ainsi que Valérie Verdier, présidente-directrice générale de l'Institut de recherche pour le développement depuis le 12 février 2020.

Interrogations partagées au Forum international Science4action organisé par l'IRD (l'Institut de recherche pour le développement) à Marseille. L'occasion de croiser les regards, les parcours et les approches de chercheuses engagées sur tout le continent africain... Émission enregistrée dans le cadre du Forum international Science4Action pour les 80 ans de l'IRD à Marseille Ravis de vous retrouver à Marseille depuis le palais du Pharo qui surplombe le Vieux Port avec une vue imprenable sur la Méditerranée, pour une émission spéciale recherche au Sud et pour les Suds, enregistrée au Forum International Science4Action, la science au service de l'action, organisé par L'IRD, l'Institut de recherche pour le développement, pour célébrer ses 80 ans, en partenariat avec RFI. Comment mettre la science la plus innovante au service d'un développement durable et partagé par tous ? Comment croiser tous les savoirs pour répondre aux défis majeurs environnementaux, économiques et sanitaires de notre humanité ?Avec- Valérie Verdier, présidente-directrice générale de l'Institut de recherche pour le développement- Valérie Masson-Delmotte, paléoclimatologue, directrice de recherche au CEA- Adèle Ouédraogo, chercheuse à l'Institut de recherche en sciences appliquées et technologies du Burkina Faso (IRSAT), fondatrice de l'association Faso Compost et lauréate 2023 des Trophées de l'Innovation de l'IRD- Michèle Mbo'o-Tchouawou, directrice adjointe du Réseau des femmes africaines pour la recherche en agriculture. Ainsi que Valérie Verdier, présidente-directrice générale de l'Institut de recherche pour le développement depuis le 12 février 2020.

Send us a textEpisode 228 – Sydney Reece, LPC – Mind Body Optimization TexasSydney Reece resides in Texas, she is a Licensed Professional Counselor and currently serves as the VP of Operations at the Mind Body Optimization Clinic in a few locations in Texas. The leadership team is committed to empowering those willing to make a change with the tools needed for long-term fulfillment. They create a healthier community by enabling individuals to reach their full potential. The team is committed to challenging the status quo of patient experience. It is their goal to shape a community where every interaction reflects their unwavering dedication to integrity, transparency, and the pursuit of transformative well-being. Their programs “put people first,” and their focus on values is driven by integrity, autonomy, community, and empowerment.Sydney said this during our episode: “ I chose the mental health field because I want to help eliminate the stigma around asking for help.”She enjoys getting to walk alongside someone going through the self-discovery process and seeing the light bulb go off when a client has a new realization about themselves and their mental health journey. When she's not working, she's spending time with friends and family. She's also a true crime podcast and documentary junkie. More info on the MBO clinic is here:  https://mindbodyo.com Her email is: Sydney.Reece@MindBodyO.com Contact Phone Number is: (972) 590-9909acourageousrecovery.com

In this episode, host Farzana Baduel speaks with Richard Fogg, Managing Director of CCGroup, to explore his 25+ year journey in the B2B technology PR and marketing industry, discussing how he's helped shape some of the world's largest tech companies and challenger brands. Richard is a renowned figure in the tech PR space, having grown CCGroup into an award-winning, global B2B PR agency. From his early days as an account executive to leading a successful MBO, Richard's career is a testament to resilience and innovation in the fast-evolving tech sector. In This Episode, We Explore: Richard's journey from intern to CEO of CCGroup Leading the MBO of CCGroup and transforming it into a global tech PR powerhouse How CCGroup is evolving to meet changing client needs in the fast-paced tech landscape The role of data and behavioural science in shaping marketing and sales strategies. How Richard and his team are leveraging AI to stay ahead in the industry Connect with Richard: LinkedIn: Richard Fogg Website: CCGroup Follow Farzana on Social Media: Twitter & Instagram: @FarzanaBaduel Executive Producer: David Olajide - david@curzonpr.com Podcast Manager and Editor: Ikechukwu Mgbenwelu- ike.mgbenwelu@prca.org.uk  Disclaimer: Views expressed by the guest are their own and not necessarily endorsed by the Fuse podcast.

Deze zomer moest het kabinet-Schoof met zijn coalitie grond onder de voeten vinden. Er gebeurde van alles, maar te veel ook niet. Waarop moet je letten om de politieke verhoudingen op weg naar Prinsjesdag scherp te krijgen? En wat staat ons daarna allemaal nog te wachten? Jaap Jansen en PG Kroeger duiken erin nu het nieuwe politieke seizoen begint. ***Deze aflevering is mede mogelijk gemaakt met donaties van luisteraars die we hiervoor hartelijk danken. Word ook vriend van de show!Heb je belangstelling om in onze podcast te adverteren of ons te sponsoren? Zend een mailtje naar adverteren@dagennacht.nl en wij zoeken contact.Op sommige podcast-apps kun je niet alles lezen. De complete tekst en een overzicht van al onze eerdere afleveringen vind je hier***4 juli, Independence Day, bleek voor Dick Schoof Afhankelijkheidsdag. De Regeringsverklaring eindigde in een vernedering en chaos. De nieuwe premier kon geen stempel drukken op zijn ploeg, noch op zijn opdracht. In de weken daarna leek de coalitie stuurloos. Geert Wilders zocht op X de grenzen op. Caroline van der Plas zei dat ze zich schaamde. De VVD zweeg omineus. Pieter Omtzigt stelde dat hij helemaal niet in een coalitie meedeed, maar meer in een 'samenwerkingsverband'. En hij opende een pot met pieren voor de premier over de toekomst van het Oranjehuis. Intussen moest er een 'regeerprogram'' worden opgesteld als product van de ministersploeg. Maar bewindslieden gingen eerst op vakantie en de premier knuffelde olympische sporters. Het opstellen van dat stuk werd dan ook een warrig en traag proces. Ministers als Marjolein Faber en Reinette Klever poogden er zelfs onderuit te komen door eigen producten te lanceren. De 'asielcrisis' bleek leerzaam. Faber misbruikte ontheemde Oekraïners voor eigen doeleinden. Schoof floot haar terug. Wilders floot Schoof terug. Een tiener werd geofferd op het altaar van politiek onvermogen. Brussel wacht af en kijkt toe. Pas in december is er een nieuwe Eurocommissaris voor Migratie.De PVV heeft overigens nog wel enkele vuiltjes weg te poetsen. De positie van minister Dirk Beljaarts is hachelijk. En Wilders eigenzinnige buitenlandbeleid destabiliseert dat van het kabinet, zodat Caspar Veldkamp, Ruben Brekelmans en Schoof keer op keer puin moeten ruimen. Het Centraal Planbureau daagt uit: durft dit nieuwe kabinet met zijn ruime meerderheid in de Tweede Kamer écht te saneren? Havik Eelco Heinen op Financiën profileert zich als strenge schatkistbewaker, maar Schoof, NSC en BBB doen voorlopig liever niets. Maakt dit de VVD de verliezer van deze zomer? Intussen negeert het kabinet hét probleem voor de economie, de publieke diensten en onderwijs: het enorme tekort aan menskracht voor bijna elke sleutelfunctie. Sterker nog, de eerste signalen duiden erop dat het nieuwe beleid de noodsituatie nog erger gaat maken. Hogescholen, universiteiten, MBO, studenten en bedrijven vrezen een hete herfst met harde klappen.Op Prinsjesdag moet Schoof ook Europees leveren. Beleid rond mest, stikstof, opt-outs en kortingen zal concreet moeten worden. Ursula von der Leyen houdt de kaarten tegen de borst zolang Nederland vaag blijft. Haar troefkaart heet Wopke. Het Grote Gerucht zou de coalitie moeten doen sidderen. Wie slaat waar wanneer toe?Binnen de coalitie zijn wantrouwen en spanningen permanent aan de orde. De nasleep van Afhankelijkheidsdag 4 juli werkt diep door. Discipline tussen de vier fracties vereist nieuwe machtsmiddelen. Binnen NSC zien ze een electorale afgrond opdoemen. Zijn bewindslieden zijn blij nu 'eigen baas' te zijn, los van Omtzigt en 'de mantelzorger'. En 'de acht dommies' proberen er met elkaar nog wat van te maken. Wilders ziet dat natuurlijk. Hij vernedert NSC met schimpscheuten die de Basislijn over de rechtsstaat inhoudsloos maken. Wat kunnen ze hem maken? Hij is pas écht extraparlementair en dat wilden ze toch zo graag?***Verder luisteren438 –Het nieuwe kabinet als kleuterklas. De koning kun je niet spelen436 - Nieuwe bestuurscultuur: de Tweede Kamer is alvast begonnen433 - Op weg naar het bordes428 – Dick Schoof, de 'premier van buiten', is de ultieme insider426 - Een doodgewoon meerderheidskabinet met een allesbepalende financiële plaat425 - Een oprecht akkoord423 – Eerst zien, dan geloven – Rekenkamerpresident Pieter Duisenberg over de controle op de rijksuitgaven420 - Wilders formeert in Boedapest, niet Den Haag379 - Migratie: het werkelijke verhaal367 - Wantrouwen in de wandelgangen: het Binnenhof van moederschoot naar betonnen bunker324 - Nederland loopt vast door tekort aan jongeren met technische opleiding, hoe lossen we dit op?***Tijdlijn00:00:00 – Deel 100:17:29 – Deel 200:48:54 – Deel 301:39:01 – Einde Zie het privacybeleid op https://art19.com/privacy en de privacyverklaring van Californië op https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hoe voorkom je dat je kind al zijn spaargeld in memecoins gooit? Bedrijven en instanties worstelen met het bereiken van een jongere doelgroep. Met een berg aan influencers op social media die verkondigen hoe je snel rijk kunt worden, is het extra belangrijk om jongeren les te geven over crypto en web3. Te gast is Raoul Esseboom, oprichter van Cryptotakkies. Dit educatieve platvorm biedt online cursussen en richt zich vooral op jongeren. Raoul geeft ook fysiek les op basisscholen en het MBO. Hoe weet hij complexe onderwerpen als Bitcoin uit te leggen aan groep 7 en 8? Een vraag die mooie anekdotes naar boven brengt over basisscholieren die hun hand opsteken niet om een vraag te stellen, maar om iets met de groep te delen. Hoe denken docenten eigenlijk over crypto? Leeft een onderwerp als Bitcoin bij Gen-Z? Merkt Raoul een verschil hoeveel aanvragen hij krijgt in een bear market of bull market? Een samenwerking waar hij trots op is, is die met de OBA (Openbare Bibliotheek Amsterdam). Tegenwoordig nemen ze hun podcast Cryptotakkies op in OBA Bijlmerplein. Alsof dat nog niet genoeg werk oplevert zou je denken, maar Raoul geeft ook nog een lezingen aan bedrijven. Past hij zijn boodschap aan als hij voor een volwassen doelgroep staat, of lijkt het eigenlijk verassend veel op zijn lessen voor de basisschool? De vorige keer dat Raoul in deze podcast aansloot was midden in de bear market van 2022 (aflevering 248 B). Hoe is Cryptotakkies verandert? Is hun hoeveelheid abonnees gegroeid en hoe hebben ze dat gedaan? Zijn er problemen waar ze tegenaan lopen? Herbert en co-host Daniël Mol blikken terug op de afgelopen anderhalf jaar van dit bedrijf en kijken vooruit naar de doelen die Raoul Esseboom nog voor ogen heeft. In andere woorden, een aflevering van de Cryptocast die je niet wilt missen! Gasten Raoul Esseboom Daniël Mol Links Cryptotakkies Host Herbert Blankesteijn Redactie Daniël MolSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From corporate misery to microdosing mentor - Matt sold his business in 2014, and took the path of service, via an Ayahuasca journey in Costa Rica... Author of 'Worth The Fight', you can connect with Matt on linkedin.com/in/matt-simpsonwtf or at https://worththefightbook.org Today's show is sponsored by https://growthpresenter.com because, believe it or not, you can improve your situation remarkably, with one choice.  Although my client, Robert, sold his company for 1 billion, money was never his guiding force; his guiding value was steady focus on this one choice.  Robert had humble working-class origins, but as he grew, from Engineer to Manager, to CEO, and eventual successful exit, he chose to focus on one thing that most avoid, due to their fears or discomfort…  What was it Robert prioritised?  Communicating… Specifically, Robert invested in guidance for public speaking, storytelling and presenting throughout his career.  Why choose to repeatedly put himself through this process?  Because, Robert told me, communication confidence and capability (and enjoying it!), is a number one priority for winning; from initial promotions, to his MBO finance deal… to competitive pitch wins with his new venture, and then the market differentiation story, which led to his eventual acquisition.   Now semi-retired, Robert still refers clients to me, at all stages of their career, because he knows they will enjoy growth in confidence and results with me. To choose your communication focus, and enjoy it, like Robert did, go to GrowthPresenter.Com for your free confidence call. *** Disclaimer: None of the ideas or opinions on this podcast are medical advice. Most Psychedelic medicines are still illegal schedule 1 substances in the UK and U.S. Before making any changes, please consult your own medical professionals and laws.

I'm joined by an old client of mine, Paul Smith. Paul is the Managing Director of Deploy Recruitment, a specialist infrastructure and technology recruitment business heavily invested in the rail sector. Paul started the recruitment side of this business just over 10 years ago. In this episode, he tells me about the last year and how he completed the MBO to buy out the original Partners and fully own the company. Today, so many recruitment founders partner with other people — whether business partners, back office providers, solutions providers, or investors. And I see so many get to a point when, a little bit down the line, it doesn't feel like the right fit anymore. Paul is open about why he decided to buy out his partners, the risks (personal and professional) he faced, and how he ultimately got it done. He also shares the emotional side of the process and how he's felt since taking ownership. A super honest guy who does not mince his words. That's what I love about Paul.For anyone who's thinking about selling to their employees as an MBO, completing an MBO in the future, or buying out a business partner, you've got to listen to this episode.Chapters00:00 Introduction to the RAG podcast00:29 Overview of Deploy Recruitment01:27 Paul's decision to buy out the company03:23 Paul's experience with laser eye treatment04:21 Overview of Deploy Recruitment's services05:20 Expansion into other industries and territories06:17 Challenges and opportunities in the industry07:15 The importance of infrastructure maintenance08:12 Issues with technology and connectivity09:08 Benefits and challenges of electric vehicles10:34 Introduction to Paul Smith and Deploy Recruitment11:04 Paul's background and decision to join Deploy Recruitment12:19 Joining a non-recruitment company and leveraging their resources13:44 The growth of Deploy Recruitment14:41 Finding clients by observing train stations18:12 The challenges of cash flow in the industry20:08 Expanding into different sectors and offering additional services22:14 The importance of process and procedure in the rail industry23:13 Servicing internal projects and external clients24:09 The 24/7 nature of the business26:06 Managing on-call responsibilities27:44 Understanding turnover, gross profit, and net fee income28:14 Offering flexible payment options to clients30:09 Expanding services and finding new ways to work with clients31:55 Using data to provide real-time insights to clients35:11 Taking over the business36:12 Timing and circumstance37:07 Impact of COVID-1938:41 Opportunity to buy the business39:05 Transition and management buyout42:02 Executing the buyout44:14 Personal risk and commitment46:00 Challenges and considerations49:30 Being a leader50:26 Vision for the future57:26 Hiring good people58:11 Streamlining operations01:00:03 Importance of content on LinkedIn01:02:51 Continuous learning and growth__________________________________________Hoxo MessageReady to find 25+ warm leads within 7 days on LinkedIn?As a recruiter, most of the working day is spent chasing people via cold outreach on LinkedIn.This method is super time-consuming and most people don't reply because they simply don't know or trust you.But it can be different...If you follow the process in this document you will hack the LinkedIn Algorithm in just 15 minutes per day and drive warm leads whenever you want...

Join this week's episode of Helping Organisations Thrive, as we delve into the intricacies of navigating HR implications during a business sale or MBO. Whether it's succession planning, change management, or talent retention, the process involves multifaceted challenges and considerations. We are joined by David Mellard, owner of Bedrock HR, as we explore the critical role of HR in facilitating smooth transitions, preserving organisational knowledge, and safeguarding employee morale. David shares his expertise and offers practices from an HR perspective to effectively manage this transition in a transparent, strategic, and considerate way.   Connect with David: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidmellard/ Website: http://www.bedrockhr.co.uk/     ##########   If you are looking for a Blueprint to help you and your business manage uncertainty, deal with failure and navigate change then reach out to Julian at: julian@julianrobertsconsulting.com   ##########

The whole point of operating as a solo PR pro or small agency is the ability to build the business that is right for you. But let's face it, there are many people out there who are only going to be comfortable with a certain budget level. In this episode, we want to help you to think creatively about when someone comes your way and they maybe don't have the budget that you desire.   Bonus: information about the exciting Solo PR Pro offer courtesy of Lettuce.   Transcript Michelle Kane (00:03): Thank you for joining us for this episode of That Solo Life, the podcast for PR pros and marketers who work for themselves, people like me, Michelle Kane, with The VoiceMatters and my ever wonderful co-host, Karen Swim of Solo PR Pro. Hello, Karen. We're here. It's another wonderful episode. Karen Swim, APR (00:22): We are here in the dead of winter, but thankfully here, the sun is shining today. How are you doing, Michelle? Michelle Kane (00:31): I'm doing well. Sun is shining here as well in southeastern Pennsylvania, thank goodness. And what are we, I forget what the name of it is, but we're technically at the halfway point, so spring is on its way. I believe the Phillies equipment truck is leaving for Clearwater today for spring training. Karen Swim, APR (00:53): That's nice. Michelle Kane (00:54): We had Phil doing his thing a couple weeks ago and that's all well and good. He predicted in early spring. But the true mark for us, Philly people is when the truck leaves baseball's on its way, Karen Swim, APR (01:08): Baseball is on its way. And you know what? That is good news for all of us because we look forward to spring the new season with hopefully some milder weather and longer days. So that's good. Yay. Baseball. Michelle Kane (01:23): That's good. It's good. Karen Swim, APR (01:25): Right. The start of our baseball season is typically a bit nippy, sometimes snowy, but it's okay because we know that when baseball starts up, spring is on the way. Michelle Kane (01:37): Yes, and we'll be complaining about the heat soon enough. But when I think of spring, I think of opportunity and that's a bit of what we're going to talk about today because sometimes you're presented with client work, a client who has, it sounds like it's going to be a great project to work on. You really want to help them because if PR people, most of us, we love to just help people, but we also need to make money and sometimes the budget's not the best fit. So we're just going to chat about how you maneuver that, how you might make that work for you, or how you just might say maybe next time. I know we have often had those situations where, and I know it's crossed my path as well, where you'll be presented with a budget that's just like, it's just a no, it's a non-starter. You'll have those $500 tire kickers who say, well, my budget's very small. I either don't know what it's, or well, last time we had $500. And you think, no, first of all, we recommend, unless God forbid, unless you have an electric bill that's overdue, don't do that to yourself. And secondly, my point of view with that is always I can't do the job you need for that low of a budget. So you're better off. Karen Swim, APR (03:08): And I think one of the things that we want to make sure that we do on this show is we want to always be upbeat, positive and support you in having the business that you want to have. And so I want to be clear that we are never about hustle culture or you have to want to be a millionaire. That is not us at all because we want you to be happy and that definition of happiness is different for all of us, but we also want you to value the work you do and the expertise that you bring to the table. But let's face it, there are many people out there who are only going to be comfortable with a certain budget level. So we want to help you to think creatively about when someone comes your way and they maybe don't have the budget that you desire. Are there creative things that you can do without selling yourself short? So perfect example, $500 of course, please don't be out there running PR campaigns for $500, but can you consult with the client? Can you do an hour long conversation and provide some recommendations? That doesn't mean that those recommendations are then followed by some big PowerPoint or big report. They would have to pay for that. But is that something that you can offer them for a $500 budget? If somebody has a couple thousand dollars, can you write a press release for them and say, listen, I can't really pitch for this amount, but here's something that I can do. So it's okay. I don't want anyone to feel bad when you are just wanting to take projects that might be easy for you to do, but do it within. The one thing that we always preach in Solo PR Pro is that you should never negotiate your rate. Whatever your minimum rates are, don't negotiate those, but you can negotiate a scope of work. So yes, even within a very small budget, sometimes there are things that you can do. Now, these are individual decisions. What I highly recommend is that you have your own rate sheet, and it doesn't have to even be shared publicly, but putting something in writing, having a typed rate sheet, maybe you post it in your office somewhere or have it on your computer of your minimum project budget, of your minimum hourly. What is your hourly rate? Knowing that and having it written down and designing your business around those things. User rate calculators, solo PR pro has resources. There are lots of rate calculators out on the web. MBO partners has one that you can utilize so that you're factoring in your overhead expenses. We forget about that. Remember, you've got to pay taxes, you've got to buy business insurance, you have to take care of your entity, you need to have savings for your business, you need to pay yourself all of those things. Sometimes people are not charging enough to really allow them to live. You are putting yourself in a hole. So having what you need to live and what you need to pay your bills and take care of your business written down, gives you those boundaries. And then you can make decisions smartly when people come to you with a lower budget about, okay, what can I really do for that? If anything? And if you cannot help them, that's okay too. It's okay to say no, but we wanted to address this because again, we talk a lot about upping your budget and how to sell yourself into those bigger accounts, but we don't often talk about is there something that you really can do with small budgets and small projects? And yes, the answer is absolutely. Michelle Kane (07:15): Yeah. And you might choose to engage for a number of reasons and it could be this person that's contacting you has business relationships with other people you'd like to know you. That could be it. And I'm a massive fan of scaling to the budget. It's like, okay, well we can scale it to this and it'll still be effective for you. Anything beyond that? No. But if I can be of help to you and I still receive payment for my value, that's absolutely true. And I loved what you said about have a rate sheet, even if it's not something you publish or want to make known publicly, that's a promise to yourself. And it's a reminder in these times where you might look, because look, days are busy, we have distractions, we have deadlines. We might just get stuck and think, oh no, I really want to, and now I have to think about it. And energy drain, energy drain, energy drain. Do you have that rate sheet that you can pull up and go, no, this is what I do and this is how much I will do it for. If we can make this work great if not, and that's okay. And I know we've been talking lately about, it's interesting. I personally have been finding a power in saying no, that no longer interests me having to twist myself into a pretzel to accommodate something that may not serve me entirely. I'm going to take a pass on that and that's fine. You never know what that is going to free you up for around the corner. Karen Swim, APR (08:55): Yeah, I will say it's that leaning into the power of no and really looking out for yourself is something that we don't all start off in business with, right? Because we feel some people, you're new when you're a new entrepreneur and you almost feel like you're at the mercy of others. But really learning to take care of yourself and your business just as everybody else takes care of themselves and their business is truly empowering. I also want to make sure that we caution you that whatever budget levels you're working at, it is so crucial to have a very defined scope of work. And if a client comes to you with a small budget and you decide that you have a scope of work that can fit that, don't be afraid. First of all to say that is below what I normally do for PR work. I can do this for you, but I cannot do these things for you. If you want these things, I'm happy to do them, but they cost X and quote them your rate so that they understand. It's also important to not only set the client's expectations but your own. Do not ever take on a small tiny project that's below your minimum rates, devaluing yourself doing a bunch of work by saying, well, I can grow the account 90% of the time. That's not true when somebody hires you for cheap and trust me, they know that it's a budget rate because people are not stupid as to what PR costs. Not all the time. There's too many other people out there and they may have gotten to other people and gotten quotes and then they happen upon you kind sold who's willing to give it to them on the cheap, cheap. People don't pay more money. They just don't. That's almost like telling somebody who shops religiously at the dollar store, you know what? I want you now to go and pay retail prices. They're not going to do it because they're cheap. And let's face it, there are clients out there who are just cheap and they're price conscious and they are never going to pay you more money. So you will be stuck in this cycle of somebody who constantly wants to pay you on the cheap. So set your own expectations. If you take on something, fix the scope of work, stick to it, put it in writing, set the expectations about what you can actually do for that budget and don't move off of that. And if they ask you to do more, then charge them more and let them know it'll cost more. Michelle Kane (11:39): Sorry, go ahead. Karen Swim, APR (11:41): No, I mean that's important. Michelle Kane (11:44): Yeah. There's another factor to this too. Maintaining parity within our industry. When we start lowering our prices just to meet a specific need, that's a detriment to all of us across the board, especially in this world where I'm sure many of you out there have had this have where people think, oh, I post to social media. I have ai, I can do your job, we can all this is a profession. And if you don't have your a PR and if you work more in integrated comms, no, we're not licensed like teachers. We don't have a doctor in front of our name. But it is a valuable skill laden experience season requiring profession. And one way to combat against reducing that or minimizing that is to charge what we as industry peers are worth charge what the work is worth. Karen Swim, APR (12:54): Yes. And I mean, here's the thing I love, love, love what you just shared because that is a good consideration. And many of us advocate for pay parity, for gender pay parity Also, which is, our industry is overwhelmingly female. Think about as a whole what you do when you devalue yourself, you bring down the entire profession, as you said, we have to stop letting people believe that somehow when you hire a smaller agency that you're getting budget rates, budget pop, budget, Betty, we are not that also you said it, you hit it on the nose, people are not paying you for the task. Stop making yourselves tacticians. They are paying you for the depth and breadth of experience that you bring for the value that you offer, which is not just an hourly rate. And if I were honest over the years, I've talked to far many small business owners, n PR and out, who basically would make more money if they went to go work for Burger King because when you look at what they're doing per hour, their hourly rates, you would be better off. Listen, you can go get a job at Target these days for $25 an hour. You would make more money, you would take home more pay, but you don't even realize it because you're not doing that calculation for yourself and you're undercutting yourself. You're doing so much. There are people out there, I'm just going to throw out a number, charging $2,000 a month for pr. They're doing media relations, they're writing press releases, they're writing bylines, they're managing social media, and they're meeting with the client for an hour. I want to tell you that I'm not trying to make you guys feel bad, and I'm not trying to value you, and I'm not saying that I don't want you to feel bad about the budget, but you're doing too much work for that budget. And so again, if that's, Hey, listen, if you want to charge $3,000 a month, but do you in a way that respects the value that you bring to the table, and that means the scope of work needs to fit that budget and adjust your scope of work. You're not giving them the world. And if you ever hope to grow your business and scale up and be able to have fewer clients to make more money, then you really have to think about your rate structure. Michelle Kane (15:42): Yeah. Yeah. And I think we're at a point in the economy right now where it's a good time to take a look at that. Really, they keep dangling the carrot of interest rates going down. And I was just on a call with a client who they perceive it's going to be a good spring. So now's the perfect time. We're coming the pandemic's farther in the rear view mirror, thank goodness. And it's just an ideal time. As we do, we look out the window and the sun is shining and it's feeling a little warmer. It does give you that energy, and we just encourage you to take a look at how your prices are structured, what kind of work you're either looking for or taking on, and just make sure that you are getting the best that is due to you. And if you've appreciated this time together, please tell other people. Check out solo pr pro.com. Is the membership door still open, Karen? Karen Swim, APR (16:43): The membership door is still open. And also I have kind of a sneak preview announcement today. So we are partnering up with lettuce, L-E-T-T-U-C e.co. We will have links in the show notes for a special promotional offer for our Solo PR Pro family. And we're also, stay tuned. If you're not on our email list, hop over to our site and join our email list. Keep listening to the show because we'll promote it here as well. But we are doing a special workshop with them all on S Corp. So whether you're going to start your business this year, you're at the start of your business, or you've been in business and you've been in business a million years ago and you never went the S Corp route because there's too many steps, this workshop is definitely for you. And the promotional offer is fantastic. So our partnership with them, they're doing something special for our family. So visit that landing page, we'll drop it in the show notes, and we're so excited about this and I'm happy this is the first time that I've talked about it out loud. So hey, hot off the presses. Michelle Kane (17:52): Fantastic. That's wonderful. Well, hey, see, it's worth blah, blah. I can't even talk right now. I'm so excited. It's always worthwhile checking in with us here at That Solo Life. And until next time, thanks for joining us.

A management buyout, or MBO, offers an attractive option for selling a middle-market company to the people who know it best – the management team. B.G. and Geordie Lemmon discuss how their family office views these businesses as partners and share insights on what can make an MBO successful. They discuss what the family office looks for in a company, how the finances work, how the management team is involved, how the company can grow over time, and what this means for the next generation of management owners. View the complete show notes for this episode. Learn More Business Broker and M&A Advisor Fees: A Comprehensive Guide SBA Financing When Buying or Selling a Business M&A Basics | Why Do Business Owners Sell Their Business? Additional Resources: Planning to sell your business? Schedule a free consultation today. Download a free PDF copy of The Art of The Exit: The Complete Guide to Selling Your Business and Acquired: The Art of Selling a Business With $10 Million to $100 Million in Revenue. Purchase your copy now of A Beginner's Guide to Business Valuation | The Exit Strategy Handbook | Closing the Deal Contact Morgan & Westfield to request a free copy of Jacob Orosz's latest book, Food and Beverage M&A: An Insider's Guide to Selling a Food or Beverage Manufacturing, Distribution, or Grocery Business. To suggest guests, topics, or questions for future podcast episodes, contact Morgan & Westfield. Listen to Other Episodes:  Behind the Scenes of a Family Office Why You Should Consider Selling Your Business to a Family Office Selling Your Company to a Private Equity Firm vs. a Family Office

This episode came together at ~4 hrs notice since Dylan had just landed in SF and we had to setup quickly; you might notice some small audio issues in some segments, we apologize. We're currently building our own podcast studio for 2024!

Alejandro Rivas-Micoud believes that user experience (UX) eats strategy for breakfast. As the Founder and CEO of Userlytics, Alejandro helps companies optimize their user experience by making it easy to test the user experience of their prototypes, websites, mobile apps, etc. Join Jim and Alejandro as they explore why user experience holds a key position in determining the success and widespread adoption of any product or service. 3 Key TakeawaysThe Irrefutable Power of User Experience: If you don't think that UX is critical to a company's success, then just think of Zoom. Their product and pricing wasn't that different to competitors. Yet Zoom's user experience was so seamless and intuitive that it quickly became the go-to video conferencing platform for millions of people around the world. Sorry Webex…

Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Frank Slootman is the CEO at Snowflake. Frank has over 25 years of experience as an entrepreneur and executive in the enterprise software industry. Frank served as CEO of ServiceNow from 2011 to 2017, taking the organization from $100M in revenue, through an IPO, to $1.4B. Prior to that, Frank served as President at EMC following an acquisition of Data Domain Corporation, where he served as the CEO, leading the company through an IPO to its acquisition by EMC for $2.4B. He's also the best-selling author of Amp It Up. Notes: Frank's work ethic was developed as a child in the Netherlands. In his teens, he had summer jobs harvesting tulip bulbs and walking behind a tractor ten hours a day. He also cleaned factory toilets one summer in the plant where his dad worked. “The Man In The Arena” Theodore Roosevelt – Frank put this at the beginning of Amp It Up.  After retiring from ServiceNow in 2017, Frank had no intention of taking another CEO role, but people like him “have a hard time leaving the arena.” It's exciting to be back in a CEO role with Snowflake. Hiring -- “Hire people ahead of their own curve.” Hire more for aptitude than experience and give people the career opportunity of a lifetime. NO MBO -- “Another source of misalignment is management by objective (MBO). Which I have eliminated at every company I've joined in the last 20 years.” Push the pace -- Leaders set the pace. “Instead of getting back to me in a week, I asked, “Why not tomorrow?” Change the cadence. Push the pace. The leadership "must-have" qualities: A need to prove something Unbalanced They want to show the world something... They have passion High trust Need some ego, but it has to be in check Legacy? "I don't think about legacy much. When you're dead, you're dead." Frank's leadership team: We are not balanced, we are available to each other 24/7. Drivers vs. Passengers -- “Passengers are people who don't mind simply being carried along by the company's momentum …They are often pleasant, get along with everyone, attend meetings promptly, and generally do not stand out as troublemakers … While passengers can often diagnose and articulate a problem quite well, they have no investment in solving it.” Frank wants front-seat drivers who'll take ownership, make trouble, and help navigate. Raise Your Standards -- Push for insanely great. A leader must always push the standard higher. Focus -- “Founders don't have a mindset around operating companies. Focus is one of our number one things. You need to learn to have extreme, machine focus, and most people don't even know the beginning of what that means. They think they do, and they don't.” “I'm more of a Patton than an Eisenhower,” he says, known for constantly driving the troops forward. Sequoia's Carl Eschenbach remembers, “When we brought Frank into Snowflake, at our first board meeting he said, ‘Let me tell you how I'm running the board meetings and how you're going to participate. We're going to keep this very simple. I'm not even gonna tell you anything about the good stuff that's happening because you already know that—I'm going to dive into the shit that's broken and how we're going to fix it.'” Very Brief Retirement -- In 2017, Frank spent time regatta sailing, winning the iconic ocean race, Transpac. Race from Los Angeles to Oahu. (To win, “We focused on recruiting talent”). Put The Success of The Company Ahead of Your Own – If you want to build a Snowflake-sized company,  you can't be about the celeb-CEO lifestyle. “That's not real life. Real life is you're terrorized and uncomfortable every day of the week. People always ask me, ‘Is this normal?' I'm like, yep.” Snowflake - Hit the ground running on April 26, 2019.  Good news: They were on already on a tear. The bad news: “The company was quite impressed with itself.” Growth in all areas (revenue, retention rate, total customers, $1m Customers, Forbes Global 2000 Customers, Customer Satisfaction). The first 90 days as a new leader. It's a combat zone. You must quickly assess what's working, and what's not. Who should stay on the bus, and who should get off?