Podcasts about playbooks

From $10M to almost quitting — to $143M in one year. These are the luxury real estate tips Manhattan's top agent wishes he knew sooner. Michael Franco started in real estate in 2008 with a law degree, 14 years of closing experience, and zero idea how to actually build a business. He sold $25 million his first full year. Then sat back and waited for the phone to ring. By 2012 he was down to $10 million and almost walked away from real estate entirely. Then he found coaching. And everything changed. Today Michael is one of Manhattan's most respected luxury real estate agents at Compass — with $1.5 billion in career sales and $143 million closed in 2025 alone. In this episode Tom Ferry sits down with Michael to unpack the luxury real estate tips, mindset shifts and business decisions that made the difference — including: • Why being a former attorney gives you an unfair advantage in luxury real estate • The 3 decisions that transformed Michael's career from $10M to $143M • How to earn trust with wealth managers, accountants and family offices • What luxury clients are really hiring you to do — and how to deliver it • The psychology of getting comfortable at a higher price point • The co-listing strategy that gets you into luxury real estate fast • The biggest pricing mistakes luxury agents make — and the scripts that fix them • The pre-launch phone and email campaign most agents completely skip • Where Michael is investing his marketing dollars in 2026 — and why print is out "Everybody has imposter syndrome in the beginning. You gotta get a little confidence, remove the ego, and just serve the customer." — Tom Ferry If you want to break into luxury real estate or take your high end business to the next level — this episode is for you. --------------------- Let's Connect: Get Your Real Estate Coaching Consultation → https://www.tomferry.com/free-coaching-consultation/ Attend A Tom Ferry Event → https://store.tomferry.com/ Free Tools & Playbooks for Real Estate Agents → https://www.tomferry.com/agent-tools/ Visit My Website → https://www.tomferry.com/ Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/tomferry Facebook → https://www.facebook.com/ TomFerry X → https://www.instagram.com/tomferry  

What happens when the rules no longer apply? In this episode of One Sharp Sword, Dr. Wayne Pernell sits down with transformational CEO Julie Peck to explore leadership in a rapidly changing world. From AI disruption to shifting business models, Julie shares why traditional “playbooks” are breaking down—and what today's leaders must do instead. They dive into navigating uncertainty, building organizational courage, and leading with clarity when the path forward isn't obvious. If you're leading through complexity, this conversation will challenge how you think about risk, strategy, and success. Key Takeaways: You can't risk-mitigate your way to success Chaos isn't a threat—it's an invitation Old leadership playbooks are becoming obsolete Organizational risk = individual risk tolerance scaled into policy The best leaders balance vision (zoom out) and execution (zoom in) Failure, when used well, accelerates success Leadership today requires courage, clarity, and adaptability Memorable Quotes: “You can't risk-mitigate your way to greatness.” “Chaos isn't a threat—it's an invitation.” “Playbooks have become our security blankets.” Topics Covered: Leadership under pressure AI and organizational transformation Letting go of outdated strategies Building cultures that embrace failure Decision-making in uncertainty Vision vs. planning Connect with Julie Peck:LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/juliepeckceo About the Show:One Sharp Sword cuts through to what matters most—helping leaders think clearly, act decisively, and lead powerfully.

Design firm leaders are rewriting their 2026 playbooks to tackle AI liability gaps, climate resilience, and complex contracts. Discover the proactive strategies, from complete risk audits to cyber coverage, that separate thriving firms from the rest in an evolving environment. Risk Specialty Group City: Houston Address: 675 Bering Dr. Website: https://riskspecialtygroup.com/

Most realtors sound like everyone else — and it's costing them clients every single day. Joanna Wiebe built a $30M business on client communication tips for realtors that actually work. Everything a realtor does every day is writing. Emails. Texts. Listing descriptions. Offer letters. Your bio. Your website headline. Your Instagram profile. And yet almost nobody in real estate was ever trained in the art and science of using words that actually get clients to say yes. That changes today. Tom Ferry sits down with Joanna Wiebe — the woman who coined the term "conversion copywriting" and built a $30 million business helping brands communicate better — to unpack the client communication tips every realtor needs right now. Here is what you will learn: • Why your homepage headline is almost certainly wrong — and the one fix that changes everything • How to write a realtor bio that makes clients feel understood instead of sold to • The voice of customer method — how to use your clients' own words to attract more clients • The Instagram bio formula every realtor should be using: "I help [blank] do [blank]" • Problem-Agitation-Solution vs Desire-Obstacle-Solution — which framework to use and when • Why AI produces generic copy — and what to do instead to stand out • The rehab center headline that got 400% more clicks and 20% more signups overnight • How one word change made people 4.6x more likely to act — and what that means for your listings "Value and differentiation are at the heart and soul of all marketing, all copywriting, all advertising." — Joanna Wiebe If you are a realtor who feels invisible online, sounds like every other agent, or just wants more clients to call back — this episode is for you. Get Joanna's Book: The Copy Selling System: https://copysellingsystem.com Follow Joanna Wiebe on Instagram for daily copywriting tips Tom Ferry Success Summit: https://www.tomferry.com/success Free Tools & Playbooks: https://www.tomferry.com/tools #TomFerry #ClientCommunicationTips #RealtorTips #JoannaWiebe #RealEstateMarketing

Podcast: OT Security Made SimpleEpisode: Pragmatismus im OT SOC: Wie Anlagen-Monitoring in der Praxis funktioniert | OT Security Made SimplePub date: 2026-07-07Get Podcast Transcript →powered by Listen411 - fast audio-to-text and summarizationKlaus Mochalski und Ali Yekta (Yekta IT) diskutieren die enormen praktischen Herausforderungen beim Aufbau eines Security Operations Centers (SOC) für die OT. Erfahren Sie, warum klassische IT-Reaktionen wie das blinde Isolieren von Systemen in industriellen Anlagen hochgefährlich sind, weshalb selbst im Jahr 2026 noch infizierte USB-Sticks ein reales Problem darstellen und wie Betreiber durch die kluge Kombination aus Logdaten, Netzwerksensorik und trainierten Playbooks schrittweise ein effektives OT-Monitoring aufbauen können.Mehr zum Thema OT Security Made simple findet Ihr auf rhebo.com oder schreibt uns mit Euren Ideen, Fragen oder Gastvorschlägen an podcast@rhebo.com.  The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Klaus Mochalski, which is the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Listen Notes, Inc.

Klaus Mochalski und Ali Yekta (Yekta IT) diskutieren die enormen praktischen Herausforderungen beim Aufbau eines Security Operations Centers (SOC) für die OT. Erfahren Sie, warum klassische IT-Reaktionen wie das blinde Isolieren von Systemen in industriellen Anlagen hochgefährlich sind, weshalb selbst im Jahr 2026 noch infizierte USB-Sticks ein reales Problem darstellen und wie Betreiber durch die kluge Kombination aus Logdaten, Netzwerksensorik und trainierten Playbooks schrittweise ein effektives OT-Monitoring aufbauen können.Mehr zum Thema OT Security Made simple findet Ihr auf rhebo.com oder schreibt uns mit Euren Ideen, Fragen oder Gastvorschlägen an podcast@rhebo.com.  

Bradley Tusk, CEO of Tusk Ventures, talks with TITV Host Akash Pasricha about AI regulation and the OpenAI & Anthropic playbooks. We also talk with Leo Schwartz about the White House lifting export controls on Anthropic's Fable 5 model, Aaron Holmes about Anthropic prepping a Claude agent inside Microsoft Teams, and we get into Elon Musk's secret $55 billion "Terrafab" chip project at Tesla with Grace Kay.Articles discussed on this episode: https://www.theinformation.com/articles/elon-musk-building-terafab-team-inside-teslahttps://www.theinformation.com/briefings/u-s-plans-ease-export-curbs-anthropics-fable-modelSubscribe: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theinformation The Information: https://www.theinformation.com/subscribe_hSign up for the AI Agenda newsletter: https://www.theinformation.com/features/ai-agendaTITV airs weekdays on YouTube, X and LinkedIn at 10AM PT / 1PM ET. Or check us out wherever you get your podcasts.Follow us:X: https://x.com/theinformationIG: https://www.instagram.com/theinformation/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@titv.theinformationLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/theinformation/Chapters:00:00 - Introduction01:13 - White House Eases Anthropic Fable 5 Export Controls 09:12 - Anthropic Preps Claude Agent in Microsoft Teams 17:15 - Inside Elon Musk's $55B Terrafab Team at Tesla 23:15 - Bradley Tusk on OpenAI vs. Anthropic's D.C. Playbooks

Every time I make a meal in a bowl, it's like I'm writing a love letter to myself. And dinner bowls are wildly helpful in the summer. Having a dinner bowl formula that you can personalize for your own set of summer dinners is going to be a huge help when you are too hot and tired to think about dinner, much less cook it.  Helpful Companion Links Order my book The PLAN or ask your library to consider carrying a copy. Find out everything about The Playbooks here. Sign up for our every-other-week podcast recap email called Latest Lazy Listens. Sign up for my once-a-month newsletter, The Latest Lazy Letter. Sign up for The Book List to get all my monthly book reviews. Grab a copy of my book The Lazy Genius Kitchen or The Lazy Genius Way! (Affiliate links) Download a transcript of this episode. Want to share your Lazy Genius of the Week idea with us? Use this form to tell us about it or record your idea and share your voice on the show. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For Sonia Raman, becoming head coach of a WNBA basketball team wasn’t originally in the plans. Sure, she grew up playing the sport. But when her college career ended, she went on to earn a JD/a degree from Boston College Law School. And then, she did what many of us do: she got a regular office job. So how do you go from working for the US Department of Labor, to starting this year as head coach for the Seattle Storm? Guest: Seattle Storm head coach Sonia Raman Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/soundsidenotes Soundside is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to Dealer War Room from Car Dealership Guy, where we sit down with top operators to break down how they're navigating the biggest challenges in auto retail. These three rural store owners share the specific moves working right now: Scott Simons bought a Chevy store for $6.9M and tripled sales & fixed ops in under a year. Rob Ruth built a street-sourcing machine buying 300 cars/month from consumers at a 7% cost advantage over auction. Kyle Coleman launched a $59.99 oil change, driving a 20% jump in customer-paid service visits in 30 days while the industry shrank. Three models, three playbooks, built for today's market. Topics: 14:20 Nissan Is The Fastest Growing Brand. 25:10 Simple Stair Steps Win Every Time. 31:45 A '50s Building Selling 400 Cars. 42:30 Pickup & Delivery Solves Service. 55:20 The FTC Crackdown Is A Gift. This episode is brought to you by: 1. CDG Dealer Platform – Benchmark your performance against thousands of rooftops. Give your dealership a competitive edge at https://cdgapp.ai/. 2. Guidepoint Systems – Guidepoint Systems is becoming a dealer's most important retention tool. Visit @ ⁠here⁠ for more info. 3. TARGIT – TARGIT is an end-to-end business intelligence platform that gives car dealers worldwide complete visibility and control over all their operational data. Learn more about TARGIT @ ⁠here⁠. Check out Car Dealership Guy's stuff: For dealers: CDG Circles ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://cdgcircles.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Industry job board ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://jobs.dealershipguy.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Dealership recruiting ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.cdgrecruiting.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Fix your dealership's social media ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.trynomad.co⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Request to be a podcast guest ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.cdgguest.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ For industry vendors: Advertise with Car Dealership Guy ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.cdgpartner.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Industry job board ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://jobs.dealershipguy.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Request to be a podcast guest ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.cdgguest.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Car Dealership Guy Socials: X ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠x.com/GuyDealership⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠instagram.com/cardealershipguy/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ TikTok ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠tiktok.com/@guydealership⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠linkedin.com/company/cardealershipguy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Threads ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠threads.net/@cardealershipguy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Facebook ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠facebook.com/profile.php?id=100077402857683⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Everything else ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠dealershipguy.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Recorded live at the Thomson Reuters Advisory Symposium 2026 in Huntington Beach, CA on June 2, 2026, this special live episode of Pulse of the Practice features hosts Paul Miller (founder and owner of Business by Design, a firm specializing in advisory services and tax strategies for small business entrepreneurs) and Mo Arbas (Advisory Services Lead and thought-leadership presenter at Thomson Reuters events, passionate about challenge and change in the advisory space).In this high-energy, audience-driven session, Paul and Mo tackle the most pressing challenges facing tax and accounting firms right now — and lay out a compelling vision for what's coming next. They walk through a firm life cycle framework built around three concurrent cycles: the client cycle, the firm cycle, and a pre-cycle focused on prospecting — including the often-overlooked reality that your existing clients are prospects too.The conversation dives deep into three critical observations shaping the future of accounting firms:Capacity vs. Complexity — Client and firm complexity is increasing faster than most firms can keep up with, creating a bandwidth crisis that no amount of hustle alone can solve.The Knowledge Transfer Problem — Decades of expertise live in people's heads, and there's no easy way to transfer that institutional knowledge to new staff — until now.The AI Inflection Point — AI is no longer a future concept. It is actively reshaping firm workflows, and the next wave of agentic AI will bring more advancement in the next six months than the past ten years combined.Paul and Mo introduce the concept of Client Intelligence and Firm Intelligence — a framework for capturing unstructured conversational data, client context, and firm-specific knowledge to power smarter advisory workflows. They also preview Playbooks inside Ready to Advise, a feature designed to help firms standardize their advisory strategies by client persona, and discuss the vision of being able to speak a proposal into existence — letting AI do 80–90% of the scoping, pricing, and packaging work based on context gathered from real client conversations.Whether you're a solo practitioner or running a multi-office firm, this episode will challenge you to rethink your firm's life cycle, reclaim lost revenue opportunities, and start building toward a scalable, intelligent advisory practice.Topics covered:Firm and client life cycle frameworksAdvisory prospecting for new and existing clientsBandwidth and capacity challenges in accounting firmsAI and agentic workflows in tax and accountingClient Intelligence vs. Firm IntelligenceKnowledge transfer and staff training with AIAdvisory playbooks and client personasSpeaking a proposal into existencePricing strategy and scope definitionReady to Advise product updatesThomson Reuters Advisory Symposium 2026Join Paul Miller and Thomson Reuters Advisory Consultants as they have real and relevant conversations to provide you with inspirational and actionable ideas to move your firm forward — covering leadership, client relationships, firm culture, staffing, technology, and much more.

Automation as Core Strategy: Aarin Bailey on RPA, AI, and Scaling MSP OperationsOn the Evolved Radio podcast, Todd interviews Aarin Bailey, COO at Webit Services and former COO at MSP Bots, about treating automation as a core MSP operating strategy. Aarin describes how his automation focus accelerated around COVID by chaining PowerShell scripts, later expanding into Python, GUIs, and modular systems connected via RESTful APIs, with much of the computation running outside the RMM on servers (including SQL and Python) while the RMM remains mainly a monitoring and job-push layer. They discuss whether RMM is a “zombie product,” the ongoing role of PSA/ticketing as a system of record, and managing complexity through separate modules and staff literacy in Python/RPA. Aarin explains build-vs-buy decisions driven by ROI and fit, cites automated triage/dispatch with ~98% accuracy and shifting token costs, argues AI should augment rather than replace humans, and emphasizes documentation, playbooks, and focusing on operational “bad” anomalies. They also cover client tolerance for AI, limiting client-facing AI after hallucinated ticket notes, skepticism about voice AI, and concerns about AI economics and subsidies.This episode is brought to you by Opsleader Pro. A place for MSP owners and managers to get the systems and tools they need to build a stable and growing MSP. Part group coaching, part peer group, everything you need to run a successful MSP. (00:00) - Automation First Mindset (01:10) - Aaron Origin Story (05:04) - From Scripts to Platforms (05:41) - Beyond the RMM Beehive (08:35) - Is RMM a Zombie (12:14) - Managing Complexity Safely (14:33) - Build vs Buy ROI (19:39) - Token Costs and Pair Coding (23:49) - AI Security Reality Check (27:34) - Scaling with Playbooks (30:12) - Hunt the Bad Stuff (30:59) - Blueprints Before Automation (32:46) - Ticket Volume and Vision (33:32) - Saying No as Integrator (35:44) - Healthy Disagreement Dynamics (37:08) - Client Facing vs Backend AI (40:05) - AI Hallucinations and Guardrails (43:05) - Voice AI and Live Answer (46:06) - Costs and Subsidized AI Era (49:26) - Outcome First and RPA Focus (51:36) - Wrap Up and Thanks

Why does Product Marketing look so different in Europe, and why copying US playbooks often leads to the wrong outcomes?In this episode, I sit down with Rory, Product Marketing Director consultant, with 13+ years of experience in PMM, across top tech companies such as Google, YouTube and Pleo. Europe Isn't Silicon Valley: Together, we unpack what truly shapes Product Marketing in Europe today, and why this context is driving the rise of fractional PMM roles.In this conversation, you'll learn:

Josh Reid is back from vacation and Alpha Warrior is fired up because John Thune just said publicly he will not bring the Save America Act to the floor and laughed when asked if Trump can do anything about it. The duo opens with an LA Uber driver story that captures exactly what is happening on the ground. Spencer Pratt voters who hate Trump are watching Karen Bass steal the election in real time and finally calling it what it is. From there they dig into the Iran and Israel kabuki, the water treatment warning strike, why Iran keeps notifying US bases before missiles land, and the IDF eavesdropping on American peace negotiators in Turkey and Pakistan. They unpack NDAA Section 224, the bill Netanyahu personally helped write to integrate Israeli and US military tech, and Alpha drops what he learned from being on the call about the July 7 2025 cyber event that was not the CCP. Plus the first US Army firing squad executions since 1961, the Black Hawks rehearsing urban combat in LA during the stolen election, Bolton pleading guilty right on Alpha's six to nine month cooperation timeline, and the most provocative theory of the year. What if Q has always been cover for a second military playbook that nobody is supposed to see?

Stefan Lassnig spricht mit dem Wiener Psychiater und Satiriker „Blauer Elefant“ über sein satirisches Handbuch „Zum Diktator in 30 Tagen“ und die „Rezeptur“ des modernen Rechtspopulismus. Die beiden diskutieren, wie autoritäre Persönlichkeiten in Zeiten von Kontrollverlust und Dauerkrisen mit einfachen Antworten, starken Bildern und klaren Freund‑Feind‑Narrativen punkten. Ausführlich geht es um die Rolle von Social Media, Boulevard und parteinahen Paramedien, deren Algorithmen und Mechanismen (Verknappung, Emotionalisierung, Polarisierung) rechtspopulistischen Akteuren enorme Reichweiten ermöglichen. „Blauer Elefant“ erklärt, warum Nationalismus, Personenkult und die Konstruktion von Feindbildern – vom „Schrödingers Ausländer“ bis zur „Lügenpresse“ – Kernbestandteile dieses Playbooks sind. Zum Abschluss wird die Frage gestellt, warum etablierte Parteien Emotionen wie Angst, Wut und Ohnmacht zu wenig adressieren und damit jenen das Feld überlassen, die mit einfachen Erzählungen komplexe Probleme ausnutzen. Links zur Folge: Buch "Zum Diktator in 30 Tagen" (Morawa) Podcast "Braune Kinderzimmer" (Stern) Ganz offen gesagt Folge #15 2025 Über Allahs mächtige Influencer Podcastempfehlung der Woche:  Die Open-AI Story (ARD) Link zu unserem aktuellen Werbepartner "DIe Presse":http://diepresse.com/ganzoffengesagtCode: ganzoffengesagtWir würden uns sehr freuen, wenn Du "Ganz offen gesagt" auf einem der folgenden Wege unterstützt:Werde Unterstützer:in auf SteadyKaufe ein Premium-Abo auf AppleKaufe Artikel in unserem FanshopSchalte Werbung in unserem PodcastFeedback bitte an redaktion@ganzoffengesagt.atTranskripte und Fotos zu den Folgen findest Du auf podcastradio.at

Geschätzte Lesedauer: 14 Minuten Was unterscheidet einen deutschen Vertriebsingenieur von einem amerikanischen Sales-Profi – und was kann der deutsche Mittelstand aus fast zwei Jahrzehnten internationalem B2B-Vertrieb lernen? Genau darum geht es in dieser Folge. Mein Gast Olaf Detlef hat acht Jahre in Shanghai verbracht, dann elf Jahre in den USA – und ist seit Anfang 2025 zurück in Deutschland. Als Geschäftsführer von Kendrion Industrial Brakes bringt er Erfahrungen mit, die kaum jemand im deutschsprachigen Mittelstand so gesammelt hat. Und ich sage dir: Es lohnt sich, genau hinzuhören. Internationaler B2B Vertrieb: Drei Kontinente, drei Lektionen Olaf ist kein Vertriebstheoretiker. Er hat als junger Vertriebler den Finger gehoben, als sein damaliger Arbeitgeber – ein Mittelständler mit 300 Mitarbeitern – einen Aufbau in China suchte. Kein Netzwerk, keine China-Erfahrung und außerdem keine Sprachkenntnisse. Aber er war der Einzige, der sich gemeldet hat. Folglich wurden aus geplanten drei Jahren acht. Danach folgte Amerika – auch dort sollte es drei Jahre werden, doch es wurden elf. Wer in zwei Märkten, die kaum unterschiedlicher sein könnten, erfolgreich Vertrieb aufgebaut hat, der sieht danach das Geschäft in Deutschland mit ganz anderen Augen. Was Olaf mitgebracht hat, ist kein Handbuch. Es ist ein Mindset – und eine Menge konkreter Beobachtungen, die direkt auf den deutschen Mittelstand übertragbar sind. Lass uns die wichtigsten durchgehen. China: Zustimmung im Meeting ist keine Zustimmung im System Die erste große Lektion aus dem internationalen B2B Vertrieb kommt aus Shanghai. Olaf hatte ein vielversprechendes Projekt im Bereich Windkraft. Die Meetings liefen gut, die Stimmung war positiv, der CFO war dabei. Beim anschließenden Abendessen fehlte dieser plötzlich. Und am Ende wurde nicht das komplette System bestellt – sondern nur eine Komponente. Was war passiert? Olaf hatte die Zustimmung im Meeting mit einer echten Entscheidung verwechselt. In China läuft vieles über Gesichtswahrung. Ein „Ja" im Gespräch bedeutet oft nicht mehr als: Ich möchte dich nicht in Verlegenheit bringen. Die eigentlichen Entscheider sitzen im Hintergrund – die sogenannte unbekannte Einkäufergruppe. Und die hat niemand auf dem Schirm gehabt. Das klingt zunächst wie ein China-spezifisches Problem. Tatsächlich ist es das aber nicht. Denn genau dasselbe passiert täglich in deutschen Vertriebsgesprächen. Der Kunde sagt: „Schick mir mal ein Angebot." Daraufhin denkt der Verkäufer: Auftrag in Sicht. Was der Kunde gemeint hat: Ich habe keine Zeit mehr für dieses Gespräch. Der Unterschied ist also nur, dass in Deutschland niemand so höflich ist, es nicht zu sagen – und dass in China niemand so direkt ist, es auszusprechen. „Eine Zustimmung im Meeting bedeutet noch lange keine Zustimmung im System." – Olaf Detlef Stakeholder-Management: Der Spaghetti-Ball, den du verstehen musst Eine der wertvollsten Erkenntnisse aus dem internationalen B2B Vertrieb – und gleichzeitig eine, die im deutschen Mittelstand noch viel zu selten gelebt wird – ist das konsequente Stakeholder-Mapping. Olaf beschreibt, wie sein Team eine Kundenorganisation aufgezeichnet hat und am Ende vor einem Bild stand, das aussah wie ein Spaghetti-Ball. Verwirrend. Undurchsichtig. Kaum zu entwirren. Die entscheidende Frage dabei: Wer muss diesen Spaghetti-Ball eigentlich verstehen? Der Kunde selbst? Meistens weiß der nicht mal genau, wer bei ihm intern alles mitentscheidet. Es ist unsere Aufgabe als Vertrieb, das herauszufinden – und zwar bevor wir in den ersten echten Discovery Call gehen. Ein konkretes Beispiel: Olaf hatte ein Projekt, das praktisch abgeschlossen war. Doch kurz vor Projektabschluss meldete sich plötzlich der Produktionsleiter – den niemand auf dem Schirm hatte, nicht einmal der Kunde selbst. Sein Urteil: So geht das nicht. Folglich kam es zu über einem Jahr Verzögerung. Mein Tipp dazu, den ich auch in Workshops immer wieder bringe: Mach eine Stakeholder-Map. Wie in einem Tatort-Krimi – Fotos an die Wand, Fäden ziehen, fragen: Wen kennen wir noch gar nicht? Wer könnte noch mitentscheiden? Wo fehlen uns Informationen? Tools wie LinkedIn Sales Navigator helfen dabei, Entscheidungsstrukturen zu recherchieren – und gezielt Fragen zu stellen, die den richtigen Ansprechpartner ins Spiel bringen. So baust du deine Stakeholder-Map auf So erstellst du eine Stakeholder-Map für komplexe B2B-Deals Bekannte Kontakte auflisten Notiere alle Personen, mit denen du bereits Kontakt hattest – Name, Rolle, Abteilung. Entscheidungsstruktur recherchieren Nutze LinkedIn Sales Navigator, um herauszufinden, wer an wen berichtet und welche Rollen noch relevant sein könnten. Weiße Flecken markieren Wo fehlen Kontakte? Einkauf, Produktion, Qualität, Geschäftsführung – welche Ebenen hast du noch nicht erreicht? Gezielte Fragen im nächsten Gespräch stellen Frag deinen Ansprechpartner aktiv: „Sollten wir auch Herrn Müller aus der Qualitätssicherung einbeziehen?" – so eröffnest du Türen, ohne aufdringlich zu wirken. Map laufend aktualisieren Stakeholder-Maps sind keine einmalige Übung. Aktualisiere sie mit jeder neuen Information aus Gesprächen, E-Mails und Recherchen. Vom Problem hinter dem Problem: Was chinesische Verhandlungsstrategien uns lehren Olaf hatte in China das Glück, einen Mentor zu finden – einen Deutschen, der in Aachen studiert hatte, fließend Deutsch sprach und beide Kulturen wirklich kannte. Dieser Mentor machte ihn auf eine alte chinesische Verhandlungsstrategie aufmerksam, die heute noch im internationalen B2B Vertrieb angewendet wird: das Feuer vom Kochtopf entziehen. Gemeint ist: Das Wasser kocht – aber du musst nicht das Wasser abkühlen, du musst die Flamme wegnehmen. Übertragen auf den Vertrieb: Was ist wirklich die Ursache des Problems? Was will der Kunde wirklich erreichen? Will er Preisführer werden? Nach Europa exportieren? Netzwerk aufbauen? Die Symptome sind sichtbar – die eigentlichen Ursachen liegen tiefer. Das ist im Grunde das, was ich immer als „Problem hinter dem Problem" bezeichne. Ein Kunde sagt, er braucht eine neue Industriebremse. Okay. Aber warum? Was läuft mit dem aktuellen Lieferanten nicht? Welche Herausforderungen hat er? Und wenn er sagt, er ist mit dem aktuellen Lieferanten super zufrieden – was steckt dann wirklich dahinter? Genau hier liegt der Unterschied zwischen einem Vertriebsingenieur, der Features erklärt, und einem Verkäufer, der wirklich versteht, was der Kunde braucht. Amerika: Geschwindigkeit, Klarheit und der erste Call entscheidet alles Nach acht Jahren China kam für Olaf Amerika. Und der Kulturschock war in gewisser Weise noch größer – weil man glaubt, Amerika zu kennen. Tut man aber nicht. Die USA haben Olaf gelehrt: Im internationalen B2B Vertrieb zählt Geschwindigkeit. Amerikanische Kunden wollen früh wissen, ob eine Lösung grundsätzlich passt. Kein vollständiges Konzept, keine fertige Zeichnung – eine Skizze und eine grobe Preiseinschätzung reichen für einen ersten Orientierungspunkt. Während ein deutscher Ingenieur sagt „Das kann man nicht schätzen, das müssen wir genau berechnen", antwortet der amerikanische Einkäufer innerlich bereits: „Nächster Bitte." Noch entscheidender: In den USA gilt – wenn der erste Call nicht sitzt, bist du raus. Nicht etwa nach dem zweiten oder dritten Gespräch, sondern bereits nach dem ersten. Keine zweite Chance, kein Wiederanlauf. Das klingt zwar hart, bringt aber eine wichtige Konsequenz mit sich: Der Discovery Call muss so vorbereitet sein wie eine Präsentation vor dem Vorstand. Dazu kommt: Eine freundliche Gesprächsatmosphäre in den USA bedeutet keine Verbindlichkeit. Amerikaner sind von Natur aus freundlich und offen – das ist kulturell bedingt, aber kein Kaufsignal. Olaf hat das selbst schmerzhaft erlebt: Ein Meeting verlief bestens, er war am Ende überzeugend, aber er hatte das eigentliche Signal – es geht auch um einen Preisvorteil – überhört. Danach kam nichts mehr. Der Discovery Call: Das wichtigste Meeting im internationalen B2B Vertrieb Was Olaf aus Amerika mitgenommen hat und jetzt in Deutschland umsetzt, ist eine neue Ernsthaftigkeit gegenüber dem Discovery Call. Früher, als man sich noch persönlich getroffen hat, gab es ein Warm-up, ein paar Minuten Smalltalk, man konnte die Körpersprache des Gegenübers lesen. Heute hat man 30 bis 45 Minuten – manchmal mit Kameras aus, manchmal kommen kurzfristig unbekannte Teilnehmer dazu. Und in dieser Zeit soll man sich vorstellen, den Kunden verstehen, seinen Nutzen zeigen und die nächsten Schritte klären. Das ist kein Meeting mehr – das ist ein Sprint. Und wer unvorbereitet reingeht, verliert. Cross-funktionale Teams statt Einzelkämpfer Olafs Ansatz: Cross-funktionale Teams für wichtige Discovery Calls. Nicht einer geht alleine rein, sondern zwei bis drei Personen mit unterschiedlichen Fähigkeiten. Ein Techniker, ein Kaufmann und außerdem jemand, der gut zuhört und nachfragt. Das hat mehrere Vorteile: Zum einen kannst du das Playbook wechseln, wenn sich herausstellt, dass auf der anderen Seite plötzlich ein CFO statt eines Ingenieurs sitzt. Zum anderen zeigst du Kompetenz durch Professionalität. Und schließlich kannst du auf fast jede Frage sofort antworten. Dazu hat Olaf bei Kendrion ein Setup gebaut, das einem kleinen Nachrichtenstudio ähnelt: mehrere Kameras, professionelle Beleuchtung, ein Setup, das Professionalität ausstrahlt. Im klassischen Maschinenbau ist das noch die Ausnahme – genau deshalb fällt es auf. Und genau deshalb funktioniert es. Deutschland: Ingenieure im Vertrieb – Stärke und Schwäche zugleich Seit Anfang 2025 ist Olaf wieder in Deutschland. Und was er sieht, klingt vertraut – vielleicht zu vertraut. Deutsche Vertriebsingenieure sind tief in der Technik. Sie können erklären, wie ein Produkt funktioniert, welche Toleranzen es hat, welche Zulassungen vorliegen. Das ist ein echtes Asset. Aber es ist eben auch eine Falle. Denn während der deutsche Vertriebsingenieur noch erklärt, hat der amerikanische Einkäufer schon innerlich aufgehört zuzuhören. Olaf beschreibt das sehr treffend: In China waren deutsche Ingenieure noch bewundert – die Präzision, die Tiefe, das Fachwissen haben Eindruck gemacht. In Amerika hat er manchmal erlebt, wie die Augen seiner Gesprächspartner schon an die Decke wanderten. Die Botschaft: Komm auf den Punkt. Das bedeutet allerdings nicht, dass Fachwissen wertlos ist. Im Gegenteil. Aber es muss in den Dienst des Kunden gestellt werden, anstatt als Selbstzweck präsentiert zu werden. Denn der Kunde will nicht wissen, wie eine Industriebremse funktioniert. Vielmehr will er wissen, was sie für sein konkretes Problem bedeutet. Der informierte Kunde: 60 bis 80 Prozent des Kaufprozesses sind bereits gelaufen Ein weiterer wichtiger Punkt aus der Praxis des internationalen B2B Vertriebs: Der Kunde kommt heute nicht mehr unwissend ins Gespräch. Er hat recherchiert, er hat 3D-Zeichnungen heruntergeladen und außerdem Wettbewerber verglichen – vielleicht hat er sogar schon fünf Pitches gehört. Folglich weiß er in vielen Fällen mehr als mancher Vertriebsmitarbeiter, zumindest über die Marktoptionen. Was bedeutet das für den Vertrieb? Olaf bringt es auf den Punkt: Eine Company-Presentation zu zeigen ist heute irrelevant. Der Einstieg in ein Gespräch über die eigene Geschichte, die eigenen Awards und die eigene Unternehmensphilosophie kostet wertvolle Minuten – und die hat man nicht mehr. Was der Kunde wirklich braucht: Jemanden, der die vielen Informationen, die er bereits hat, in eine sinnvolle Reihenfolge bringt. Der sagt: Das ist zwar interessant, aber das brauchst du eigentlich nicht – weil dieses und jenes dein Problem bereits löst. Das ist echter Kundennutzen. Das ist der Moment, in dem ein Discovery Call nicht endet mit „Danke, wir melden uns" – sondern mit „Das war wirklich hilfreich." Marketing und Vertrieb: Gemeinsam oder gar nicht Wer im internationalen B2B Vertrieb Leads generieren will, kann sich nicht mehr leisten, Marketing und Vertrieb als getrennte Welten zu behandeln. Olaf setzt das konsequent um: Marketing sitzt bei Strategie-Meetings dabei, ist verpflichtet, Content zu liefern, der den Kunden bereits vor dem ersten Kontakt informiert und qualifiziert. Denn wenn 60 bis 80 Prozent der Kaufentscheidung bereits gefallen sind, bevor der Vertrieb ins Spiel kommt, dann muss Marketing diese Phase aktiv gestalten – nicht nur hübsche Broschüren produzieren. Das bedeutet konkret: technische Inhalte, die echte Fragen beantworten. Dazu Case Studies, die zeigen, wie das Problem tatsächlich gelöst wurde. Außerdem 3D-Zeichnungen, die der Kunde direkt verwenden kann. Und schließlich eine Website, die nicht über das Unternehmen redet, sondern über den Kunden und seine Herausforderungen. Mindset-Change statt Training: Der Challenger-Club als Modell Wie überträgt man all diese Erkenntnisse aus dem internationalen B2B Vertrieb auf ein deutsches Team? Olaf hat bei Kendrion einen Weg gewählt, den ich wirklich spannend finde: keinen Frontalunterricht, kein externes Training, das nach zwei Tagen vergessen ist. Stattdessen: einen Club. Erst gab es eine Verhandlungsgruppe – ein freiwilliger Zusammenschluss, der Vertrieblern hilft, schwierige Verhandlungen zu meistern. Das Format: Man liest Bücher, trifft sich, diskutiert – und hilft anderen in der Gruppe mit echten, laufenden Verhandlungen. Als Olaf den Zugang begrenzte und Bewerbungen verlangte, war der Club innerhalb von 24 Stunden ausgebucht. Dieses Prinzip hat er auf den Challenger-Sale-Ansatz übertragen. Eine gemischte Gruppe – Vertrieb, Konstruktion, Logistik – arbeitet gemeinsam daran, echte Fälle zu analysieren und Playbooks für unterschiedliche Stakeholder-Konstellationen zu entwickeln. Kein Lehrbuch, gelebte Praxis. Und der Sog-Effekt funktioniert: Andere Mitarbeiter fragen inzwischen, warum sie nicht dabei sein dürfen. Warum der Chef selbst mitmachen muss Das Wichtigste dabei: Olaf macht selbst mit. Denn er ist nicht der Chef, der von oben anordnet. Vielmehr ist er ein Teil des Teams – angreifbar, offen für Fragen und außerdem bereit zuzugeben, dass er selbst nicht immer alle Antworten hat. Genau dieser Führungsstil ist es, der echten Wandel überhaupt erst möglich macht. „Erst verstehen, dann verstanden werden." – Olaf Detlef KI im internationalen B2B Vertrieb: Noch am Anfang, aber unverzichtbar Auch das Thema KI kommt nicht zu kurz. Bei Kendrion ist man gerade dabei, die richtigen Tools auszuwählen – Enterprise-Versionen, die datenschutzkonform in einem börsennotierten Unternehmen eingesetzt werden können. Ein konkretes Problem, das gelöst werden soll: Informationen wiederfinden. Was früher auf dem Server lag, dann in Teams, dann im SharePoint, dann in der Cloud – und was jetzt niemand mehr findet, wenn ein Kunde fünf Jahre später auf eine damalige Vereinbarung verweist. Parallel läuft der Wechsel aller CRM-Systeme auf SAP Cloud for Customer – mit allen Schmerzen einer Übergangsphase, in der man gleichzeitig das alte System herunterfährt und das neue aufbaut. Das kostet Kraft. Aber wer diese Phase nicht konsequent durchzieht, hat danach keine belastbare Datenbasis – und ohne Datenbasis kein vernünftiger Vertrieb. Der Vertriebsleiter als Ermöglicher, nicht als Aufpasser Einer der wichtigsten Punkte, die Olaf mitbringt, ist sein Führungsverständnis. Ein guter Vertriebsleiter im internationalen B2B Vertrieb – oder auch im rein deutschen Markt – ist kein Händchenhalter und kein Kontrolleur. Vielmehr ist er derjenige, der seine Leute befähigt. Er findet heraus, was im Werkzeugkasten fehlt, und ist bei wichtigen Calls dabei – nicht um zu übernehmen, sondern um zu unterstützen. Außerdem steht er bei schwierigen Situationen als Gesprächspartner zur Verfügung, ohne gleich eine fertige Lösung zu diktieren. Empathieverständnis ist dabei das Schlüsselwort. Wer an der Basis versteht, welchen Druck die Vertriebsmitarbeiter haben – und diesen Druck wirklich ernst nimmt, anstatt ihn weiterzugeben –, schafft ein Klima, in dem Menschen wachsen wollen. Und das ist am Ende das, was Unternehmen langfristig besser macht. Key Takeaways: Was du aus dem internationalen B2B Vertrieb mitnehmen kannst Zustimmung im Gespräch ist kein Kaufsignal – weder in China noch in Deutschland. Hinterfrage immer, welche Stakeholder noch involviert sind. Kenne deine unbekannte Einkäufergruppe – erstelle vor jedem wichtigen Deal eine Stakeholder-Map und mache weiße Flecken sichtbar. Suche das Problem hinter dem Problem – der Kunde nennt dir ein Symptom. Deine Aufgabe ist es, die eigentliche Ursache zu verstehen. Der Discovery Call entscheidet alles – bereite ihn so vor wie ein Vorstandspräsentation. In 30 bis 45 Minuten musst du liefern. Fachwissen ist kein Selbstzweck – stelle dein Wissen in den Dienst des Kunden, nicht in den Dienst deiner eigenen Präsentation. Marketing gehört in den Vertriebsprozess – nicht davor, nicht daneben, sondern mittendrin. Kulturwandel funktioniert nicht per Anweisung – schaffe Sog, nicht Druck. Mach selbst mit. Häufige Fragen zum internationalen B2B Vertrieb (FAQ) Was ist der größte Unterschied zwischen amerikanischem und deutschem B2B Vertrieb? Der größte Unterschied liegt in der Geschwindigkeit und Direktheit. Amerikanische Kunden wollen früh eine grobe Einschätzung – Skizze und Preisgefühl reichen als ersten Orientierungspunkt. Deutsche Ingenieure neigen dazu, erst vollständige Konzepte zu erstellen, bevor sie antworten. Dazu kommt: In den USA entscheidet der erste Call. Wer dort nicht überzeugt, bekommt keine zweite Chance. Was ist die unbekannte Einkäufergruppe im B2B Vertrieb? Die unbekannte Einkäufergruppe bezeichnet alle Stakeholder, die Einfluss auf eine Kaufentscheidung haben, aber im Verlauf des Vertriebsprozesses nicht sichtbar sind. Das können Produktionsleiter, Qualitätsverantwortliche, CFOs oder andere interne Entscheider sein, die im Hintergrund agieren und eine Entscheidung kippen können – auch wenn alle sichtbaren Gesprächspartner bereits zugestimmt haben. Discovery Call, Kultur und Führung – die wichtigsten Praxisfragen Wie bereite ich einen Discovery Call im internationalen B2B Vertrieb richtig vor? Recherchiere vorab alle bekannten Stakeholder, erstelle eine Stakeholder-Map und identifiziere weiße Flecken. Plane, was du in 30 bis 45 Minuten wirklich erreichen willst. Definiere, welche Informationen du brauchst – und welche Fragen dich dorthin führen. Überlege, welche Mitarbeiter mit unterschiedlichen Fähigkeiten du mitbringen kannst, um flexibel auf verschiedene Gesprächspartner reagieren zu können. Warum ist Kulturkompetenz im internationalen B2B Vertrieb so wichtig? Weil Kaufsignale, Kommunikationsstile und Entscheidungsprozesse in verschiedenen Kulturen völlig unterschiedlich funktionieren. Was in Deutschland als Zustimmung gilt, kann in China höfliche Zurückhaltung bedeuten. Was in Amerika als freundlich wahrgenommen wird, ist nicht zwangsläufig Verbindlichkeit. Wer diese Unterschiede nicht kennt, interpretiert Signale falsch – und verliert Deals, ohne zu verstehen, warum. Wie kann ich als Vertriebsleiter im Mittelstand eine echte Veränderungskultur aufbauen? Nicht durch Anordnung, sondern durch Vorbildwirkung und Sog. Mach selbst mit – sei angreifbar, gib zu, wenn du etwas nicht weißt, und zeige deinem Team, dass du Teil der Veränderung bist und nicht ihr Auftraggeber. Begrenze den Zugang zu neuen Formaten und Gruppen, um natürliche Neugierde zu wecken. Und: Schaffe ein Klima ohne Angst, damit echte Fragen gestellt werden können. Fazit: Internationaler B2B Vertrieb als Spiegel für den deutschen Mittelstand Was ich an diesem Gespräch mit Olaf so wertvoll finde: Er spricht nicht über Theorie. Er spricht über das, was er selbst falsch gemacht hat, daraus gelernt hat – und was er jetzt anders macht. Und die meisten dieser Lektionen haben nichts mit China oder Amerika zu tun. Sie haben mit gutem Vertrieb zu tun: mit Vorbereitung, mit echtem Zuhören und außerdem mit dem Mut, Dinge zu hinterfragen, auch wenn die Antwort unbequem ist. Der internationale B2B Vertrieb hält einen Spiegel vor den deutschen Mittelstand. Und was wir darin sehen, sollte uns antreiben – nicht entmutigen. Denn die Grundlagen sind da. Das Fachwissen, die Ingenieurskultur, die Qualität der Produkte – das ist alles vorhanden. Was fehlt, sind die richtigen Fragen, das richtige Timing und die Bereitschaft, sich zu verändern. Und genau das lässt sich lernen. Wie seht ihr das? Was sind eure Erfahrungen mit internationalem Vertrieb – oder mit kulturellen Unterschieden in deutschen Kundengesprächen? Schreibt es in die Kommentare. Ich bin gespannt.

Want a quick estimate of how much your business is worth? With our free valuation calculator, answer a few questions about your business, and you'll get an immediate estimate of the value of your business. You might be surprised by how much you can get for it: https://flippa.com/exit -- In this episode of The Exit, host Steve McGarry sits down with sales growth expert Mike Huey, President of Scalable Sales Solutions, to unpack one of the biggest hidden risks that can derail a business sale: founder-led sales. After spending 30 years in sales, scaling companies, and helping owners prepare for successful exits, Mike explains why buyers hesitate when revenue depends entirely on the owner and what founders can do to build a sales organization that actually transfers. Mike shares tactical advice on when business owners should finally take off the “sales hat,” how to build a repeatable sales system, and the common mistakes entrepreneurs make when scaling their teams. From compensation plans and accountability metrics to CRM systems, AI automation, and relationship handoffs, this episode is packed with practical strategies for founders looking to increase enterprise value and make their business more attractive to buyers. Whether you are preparing for an exit or trying to scale smarter, this conversation offers a roadmap to building a company that can thrive without you. -- Mike Huey is the President of Scalable Sales Solutions and a sales growth strategist with more than 30 years of experience in sales, sales leadership, and business scaling. After helping companies prepare for acquisition, Mike became SIPA certified in exit planning and now works with founders to remove themselves from founder-led sales, build scalable systems, and increase business value ahead of an exit. He is also the author of Make Your Company Scalable and Saleable. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikehueysales/ Website: https://www.scalablesalessolutions.com/ -- Key Timestamps: [00:01] Steve Introduces Mike Huey [03:05] Mike Huey's Sales and Business Background [04:16] The Importance of Transferable Sales Systems [04:51] Steps to Make a Sales Org Transferable [06:25] When to Transition Sales Responsibilities [07:36] Implementing Effective Sales Systems and Playbooks [08:44] The Role of Relationships in Business Transfer [09:40] Gradual Handoff of Sales Accounts [11:13] Common Mistakes in Sales Transition [11:53] Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make in Sales Transition [12:47] The Ego Trap in Sales Management [13:45] Importance of Compensation Plans and Structure [15:12] Restructuring Sales Teams for Growth [16:23] Buy Side: Key Factors When Acquiring a Business [17:35] Assessing Sales Team Accountability and Metrics [18:45] Organizational Structure and Industry Fit [21:31] Using CRM and AI to Increase Sales Efficiency [25:16] Leveraging Data and Knowledge Sharing in Sales Teams [25:44] Increasing Business Value Through Sales Systems [27:52] Advice to Future Entrepreneurs and Business Owners [29:46] About Mike Huey and Scalable Sales Solutions -- The Exit — Presented By Flippa A 30-minute podcast featuring expert entrepreneurs who have been there and done it. The Exit talks to operators who have bought and sold a business. You'll learn how they did it, why they did it, and get exposure to the world of exits, a world occupied by a small few, but accessible to many. To listen to the podcast or get daily listing updates: flippa.com/the-exit-podcast/

In this episode, Adam Torres interviews SC Moatti, Managing Partner at Mighty Capital. SC shares her journey from product builder to investor, discusses the Product Alpha Effect™, and explains how product-driven insights can help identify high-growth companies earlier than traditional venture capital models. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Plenty of companies have bolted AI onto how they already work and called it transformation. Far fewer have rebuilt the business around it. In this episode of The Trending Communicator, host Dan Nestle talks with Brian McHale, CEO and owner of Brandience, who bought a struggling traditional ad agency back in 2008 and spent the better part of two decades quietly rebuilding it around AI. His shop now runs eight AI agents for every human employee, cut prospect research from 45 minutes to under 10, and was among the first agencies in the country to earn AI ethics certification. And he did all of it from Cincinnati, not Silicon Valley—which might be exactly why it works. This isn't a story about swapping people for machines. Brian's approach is AI Forward, not AI First: humans stay at the center, and AI makes them better at what they already do. He and Dan get into the unglamorous reality of transformation that actually works—why ambiguity is the biggest source of AI mistakes, how guardrails free people to experiment rather than fence them in, why a leader's job has moved upstream in the content process, and what it means to know when to call a timeout. As Brian puts it, judgment only comes with experience. They also dig into agents and playbooks (and why a playbook is really just a workflow with an agent for each step), the internal bonus program that tied every employee to an AI project and delivered the best ROI Brandience has seen on anything, and the client conversations nobody saw coming—not "please use more AI," but "can I actually own this?" It's a grounded, refreshingly hype-free look at what rebuilding a business around AI looks like from the inside. Listen in and hear about... How "AI Forward, not AI First" keeps humans at the center of the work Why transparency and ethics certification became guardrails, not just signals The shift that moves a leader's role upstream in the content process Building playbooks out of single-step agents—and where to start Why experienced people know when to step in (and when to call a timeout) Notable Quotes from Brian McHale On keeping humans central: "Humans are at the center of everything we're doing still." "The first word that comes to mind for me is just transparency. Because using AI or not using AI either way is just fine." "If you don't know when to say when or when to call a timeout, which frankly really only comes with experience, then you're kind of crossing your fingers and hoping that the tool does what you want it to do." "My goal in life is not to have Brandiance be me sitting there with 50 agents. That sounds terrible." Resources and Links Dan Nestle Lilypath | Website The Trending Communicator | Website Communications Trends from Trending Communicators | Dan Nestle's Substack Dan Nestle | LinkedIn Brian McHale Brandience | Website Go Beyond | Podcast Brian McHale | LinkedIn Timestamps 0:00:00 Host's skepticism on "transformation" and intro to Brian McHale0:06:00 Brandiance's transformation: AI-forward, industry focus, balancing tech and people0:12:00 Navigating regulations, ethics, and AI adoption in healthcare and marketing0:18:00 Ethics in AI: transparency, authenticity, and employee guardrails0:24:00 Leadership responsibility: upstream involvement and AI policy guardrails0:30:00 AI operator training, evolving skills, and workplace adoption challenges0:36:00 Playbooks and agents: Brandiance's approach to AI workflows0:42:00 Agentic tools, Claude Cowork, and collaborative design system workflows0:48:00 Client expectations, ownership, and business implications of AI in agency work0:54:00 Governance challenges, AI engagement incentives, and employee-driven innovation1:00:00 Staffing, layoffs, overreaction to AI, and the value of experience in the AI era1:06:00 Closing remarks, where to find Brian McHale, show wrap-up (Notes co-created by Human Dan, Claude, and Castmagic) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Adam Torres interviews SC Moatti, Managing Partner at Mighty Capital. SC shares her journey from product builder to investor, discusses the Product Alpha Effect™, and explains how product-driven insights can help identify high-growth companies earlier than traditional venture capital models. Follow Adam on Instagram at ⁠https://www.instagram.com/askadamtorres/⁠ for up to date information on book releases and tour schedule. Apply to be a guest on our podcast: ⁠https://missionmatters.lpages.co/podcastguest/⁠ Visit our website: ⁠https://missionmatters.com/⁠ More FREE content from Mission Matters here: ⁠https://linktr.ee/missionmattersmedia Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today is a bonus episode for you that I think will help you ease into summer. We like to release favorite reruns so you don't have to go digging for an episode that would be great to listen to right now! In this episode, you'll walk through five clear steps to help you figure out what this season is going to be about for you. This is my favorite kind of planning: kindly thinking about a season, naming a few things to help anchor me, and doing what actually matters. I hope you enjoy it! Helpful Companion Links Order my book The PLAN or ask your library to consider carrying a copy. Learn more about The Playbooks or grab a Summer Playbook here Summer Break Calendar from The Essential Calendar Sign up for our every-other-week podcast recap email called Latest Lazy Listens. Sign up for my once-a-month newsletter, The Latest Lazy Letter. Grab a copy of my book The Lazy Genius Kitchen or The Lazy Genius Way! (Affiliate links) Download a transcript of this episode. Want to share your Lazy Genius of the Week idea with us? Use this form to tell us about it or record your idea and share your voice on the show. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In today's conversation, Brett sits down with CMO of Figma, Sheila Joglekar Vashee. Previously the second marketing hire at Dropbox, where she helped scale the company past $1 billion in revenue, she now leads marketing at Figma fresh off its IPO. In an industry that has spent a decade trying to turn marketing into something closer to hedge fund trading, Sheila argues the art was always the point — we just stopped talking about it. She unpacks how to run marketing as a portfolio of moonshots, why giving teams different goals breeds dysfunction, how to scale taste across an organization, and why old playbooks are obsolete, even as the fundamentals hold. In today's episode, we discuss: How to run marketing like a portfolio of moonshots The value of disruptive energy for senior marketers Why "Ubiquity is the opposite of cool" How to actually scale taste across an organization What great marketing looks like in the AI era Referenced: Apple: https://www.apple.com/ Dennis Woodside: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dennis-woodside-341302/ Dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com/ Dylan Field: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dylanfield/ Figma: https://www.figma.com Francoise Brougher: https://www.linkedin.com/in/francoise-brougher-341a72/ Gap: https://www.gap.com/ Google Chrome: https://www.google.com/chrome/ Harley-Davidson: https://www.harley-davidson.com/ HubSpot: https://www.hubspot.com/ Notion: https://www.notion.com/ Opendoor: https://www.opendoor.com/ Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/ Square: https://squareup.com/ The Web Is What You Make of It (Dear Sophie): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzOBOuyr-EU Urban Outfitters: https://www.urbanoutfitters.com/ Yamini Rangan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yaminirangan/ Where to find Sheila: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheilavashee/ X: https://x.com/sheilavashee Where to find Brett: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-berson-9986644/ X: https://x.com/brettberson Where to find First Round Capital: Website: https://firstround.com/ First Round Review: https://review.firstround.com/ Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/firstround YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FirstRoundCapital This podcast on all platforms: https://review.firstround.com/podcast Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction 00:07 What excellent marketing actually is in 2026 01:36 Why giving teams different goals creates dysfunction 02:36 The most important decision Sheila made as CMO last year 04:26 The real difference between an SVP and a CMO 06:05 Marketing is one engine - not separate pieces 07:15 The tension between brand and growth 09:25 The decisions a CMO should never be making 09:55 Running marketing like a portfolio of moonshots 12:46 "Ubiquity is the opposite of cool" 15:11 Why a few companies get a flywheel of momentum 16:44 The Silicon Valley clock and irrational perception cycles 19:25 How to actually scale taste across an org 21:09 What changes for a CMO in a post-LLM world 23:15 Why the artistic side of marketing never really left 26:05 Whether taste can ever be encoded in software 27:15 Telling an optimistic, yet realistic story about AI 30:50 You need to make people care 32:11 What surprised Sheila about being a public-company CMO 33:46 Why Figma won enterprise where Dropbox couldn't 35:25 Sheila's favorite campaign ever 37:10 Why announcement videos full of humans, lack humanity 38:55 Playbooks are obselete, but the fundamentals are not 40:25 Why marketing in 2026 demands disruptive energy 41:54 How Sheila architects her week 48:55 Where corporate politics actually come from 53:55 "Sheila, are you going to change the world in this job?" 58:09 What's unique about the CMO and CEO relationship

The MAFFEO DRINKS Podcast is a leading drinks business podcast, listened to in 120 countries worldwide with 125+ episodes. Honest conversations about how the industry actually works, from the bar and what it means for the boardroom.This Episode is hosted by Chris Maffeo and brought to you by MAFFEO DRINKS.Everyone is chasing growth. Everyone is chasing funding. Few are asking the harder question: what are we actually going to do with it?In this episode, Chris Maffeo talks to Maurice Doyle, senior drinks industry leader with decades of brand building across major global companies about why experience can become a trap, why strategy is about what you say no to, and why the leaders who build something lasting are the ones who never stop questioning themselves.Funding. Strategy. Decision-making. Brand building. Bottom up. Wanna know what the conversation above means for your team? It's in the paid section.For €100 a year you get access to Maffeo Confidential (Private Podcast) and get this analysis and access to the full archive of 125 episodes, each one translated from industry conversation into the commercial decisions underneath it. Find out more at maffeodrinks.com

Every summer, I go into the season with big plans. As my kids grow and as our season of life changes, my approach to the summer feels a little different each time. It can even occasionally feel like starting over. That's why I love using The Lazy Genius Method to think through the summer and make those plans happen in the most Lazy Genius way possible. I'm sharing what I'm doing in hopes this season and maybe you'll hear an idea or two you want to try, too. Helpful Companion Links Order my book The PLAN or ask your library to consider carrying a copy. Check out The Playbooks here Episode #409: How to Parent When Your Kid Is Annoying Sign up for our every-other-week podcast recap email called Latest Lazy Listens. Sign up for my once-a-month newsletter, The Latest Lazy Letter. Get the Book List here Grab a copy of my book The Lazy Genius KitchenorThe Lazy Genius Way! (Affiliate links) Download a transcript of this episode. Want to share your Lazy Genius of the Week idea with us? Use this form to tell us about it or record your idea and share your voice on the show. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I've got ‘em, you've got ‘em, we've all got ‘em. Annoying responsibilities like scheduling doctor's appointments, updating insurance, renewing stuff, car maintenance, making phone calls. There are a slew of things that are super responsible but also highly annoying that can make even the most organized, zen person have a full come apart. So let's talk about how to Lazy Genius those annoying responsibilities. Helpful Companion Links Order my book The PLAN or ask your library to consider carrying a copy. Use code BUNDLE to get four individual Playbooks for $50 Email us your summer reading idea or question at hello@thelazygeniuscollective.com Episode #238: How to Get Stuff Done When You Don't Feel Like It Episode #403: How I Get Stuff Done When I Don't Feel Like It Get The Book List here Sign up for our every-other-week podcast recap email called Latest Lazy Listens. Sign up for my once-a-month newsletter, The Latest Lazy Letter. Grab a copy of my book The Lazy Genius Kitchen or The Lazy Genius Way! (Affiliate links) Download a transcript of this episode. Want to share your Lazy Genius of the Week idea with us? Use this form to tell us about it or record your idea and share your voice on the show. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode of the He Said, She Said: Razor Branding™ Podcast, Jaci and Michael sit down with Andy Weiss, CMO and marketing strategist, to talk about why the playbooks that got us here will not get us where we need to go – and what to do instead. Andy brings a perspective shaped by decades of experience scaling B2B companies and working with brands like Sprint, Comcast, and Oscar Mayer, and a conviction that mental models and frameworks outlast any tactical script. He opens up about flaming out in his first in-house marketing role and how that failure led him to Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger, and a completely different way of thinking about marketing strategy. From the danger of operating like a day trader to the flattening effect of AI giving everyone the same tools and playbooks, Andy makes a compelling case for why the marketers who stop and think before they execute are the ones who will stand out. He also breaks down why B2B brands hide behind rationality when buyers are still making emotional decisions first and justifying them second. Key Takeaways Playbooks work when conditions are ideal, but frameworks and mental models give you a way to think when conditions are not Operating like a day trader in marketing – chasing quick wins without fundamentals – is not sustainable over the long haul AI has flattened execution, which means brands that cannot create a real point of difference are more vulnerable than ever If you do not know your customers well enough to describe them, your marketing will be generic by default B2B buyers make emotional decisions first and rational justifications second – the best marketers meet them on a human level The goal is not to avoid playbooks entirely, but to know when to use them and when to think beyond them Listen wherever you get your podcasts or at razorbranding.org

H8er #Dark #Psychology : How to use H8 Energy to YOUR Advantage#Attention #Economy #REWARDS #NegativityThe 5 Archetypes of H8ersH8er Atax: #Patterns & #Playbooks#pinkcloud9media #podcast #awareness #dismantle #ai

Not all advice ages well—and some never worked to begin with. In this episode, we take a breather from the intensity of executive life to laugh (and learn) from the leadership myths we've outgrown. - What's the worst leadership advice you've ever received—and how did it backfire? - Which “must-do” turned out to be totally irrelevant in practice? - What books or frameworks overpromised, and what actually moved the needle? - And what leadership habit did you finally ditch—that changed everything? This episode lightens the tone before we dive into burnout and future-facing themes, offering a refreshing reminder: growth often begins with letting go.

A huge thanks to this episode's sponsor: Hire Overseas: Exceptional Talent for Less - https://www.hireoverseas.com/value Navattic: Interactive Product Demo Software - https://navattic.com/value---In this episode, Barron Ernst, a seasoned product and growth leader, shares how his diverse career led him to navigate success in environments where his tried-and-true playbooks didn't apply.Barron discusses a pivotal moment at Showmax, a Netflix competitor in Sub-Saharan Africa, when he had to adapt his growth strategy to the unique market challenges. He reflects on early leadership struggles, from relying too much on his expertise to learning the value of trust and collaboration with his team, and how these experiences reshaped his approach to leadership and problem-solving.Things to listen for:(00:00) Intro(06:11) Early job lessons shaping leadership style(09:02) Thank you to our sponsors, Hire Overseas and Navattic(11:46) Pivoting from law to tech career(13:00) Debate skills that helped Barron lead(15:54) Why sharing mistakes leads to growth(24:31) Delegating tasks and building trust in teams(32:09) Making yourself redundant as a leader(34:56) Choosing between being right and effective(35:50) Copying growth playbooks in unfamiliar markets(37:21) Meeting the movie guy who disrupted streaming(43:29) Safari offsite as a leadership reset(46:46) From expert to problem solver mindset(50:46) Radical Candor clash between leadership styles(57:33) Balancing values and company culture differences(01:00:43) Grounding career decisions with personal values(01:05:10) The value of range over specializationResources:Connect with Barron:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barronernst/Website: https://www.barronernst.com/Connect with Andrew:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewcapland/ Substack: https://media.deliveringvalue.coHire Andrew as your coach: https://deliveringvalue.co/coaching

Scaling a big American brand globally is not a guaranteed recipe for success any more. Market localization is key to building relevance and trust, especially in Asia. Here, locally founded brands move faster, without the shackles of ‘big brand' bureaucracy. For leaders in the headquarters of multinational corporations, this type of freedom and pace may feel unusual, but as our guest today explains, it's the norm in Asia. Joining us is Singapore-based Eugene Lee, CMO of fast-growing premium tea brand CHAGEE. Eugene's transition from growing US brand McDonald's throughout Asia, to now growing a Chinese brand globally, has afforded him the chance to spot the rule differences in how brands activate across markets. And while the ideas come fast and pace of implementation even faster, Eugene stresses it's never at the expense of a long term ambition. And that, he says, is giving big global brands a run for their money.---Learn more:Looking Outside podcast www.looking-outside.comConnect with host, Jo Lepore on LinkedIn & Substack & jolepore.comConnect with Eugene on LinkedInCheck out CHAGEE https://global.chagee.com/id/en---⭐ Follow & rate the show - it makes a difference!---Looking Outside is a podcast exploring fresh perspectives of familiar topics. Hosted by its creator, futurist and strategist, Jo Lepore. New episodes every 2 weeks. Never the same topic.All views are that of the host and guests and don't necessarily reflect those of their employers. Copyright 2026. Theme song by Azteca X.

Jake Saper of Emergence Capital joins Nick to discuss Mirage PMF, What LLMs Will Take On and What They Will Avoid, Why Outcomes Will Shift Models from Software to Services, and How Pricing Playbooks Are Being Rewritten. In this episode we cover: SaaS Market Sell-Off and Future of Software Impact of AI on Established Brands like Salesforce Mirage Product Market Fit and AI Native Services Business Models and Pricing in the AI Era Challenges for Incumbents and Innovator's Dilemma Laggard Industries and AI Adoption Role of LLMs and Future of Technology Vendors Guest Links: Jake's LinkedIn Emergence Capital's LinkedIn Emergence Capital's Website The host of The Full Ratchet is Nick Moran of New Stack Ventures, a venture capital firm committed to investing in founders outside of the Bay Area. We're proud to partner with Ramp, the modern finance automation platform. Book a demo and get $150—no strings attached.   Want to keep up to date with The Full Ratchet? Follow us on social. You can learn more about New Stack Ventures by visiting our LinkedIn and Twitter.

Nick and Rob may host a Disney podcast together—but when it comes to how they actually experience Walt Disney World, their styles couldn't be more different.In this episode of The Dis-List Podcast, the guys break down the Top 5 ways they each do Disney differently from one another. From park strategy and ride priorities to dining habits and touring philosophy, Nick and Rob compare their approaches and discover just how differently two Disney fans can tackle the same parks.Along the way, they debate which methods make the most sense, share stories from their trips, and reveal the little quirks that define their personal Disney styles.If you've ever traveled to Disney with someone whose park strategy is completely different from yours, this conversation will feel very familiar.

Joseph Lee didn't follow a straight path. After spending nearly a decade building a food marketplace, he walked away and started over. What came next was Supademo — an AI-powered product demo platform that scaled from zero to $5M ARR in three years, mostly through product-led growth. In this episode, we break down exactly how that happened.We get into: How Supa Demo hit $1M ARR in under a year  The SEO + LLM strategy that drove early traction  Programmatic content and competitor pages that convert  What “product-led growth” actually means in practice  Designing virality directly into the product  Why free users are a growth engine, not a cost center  Reverse trials and onboarding that removes friction  Using AI across engineering, sales, and operations  Real internal AI workflows (including automated follow-ups)  Why most teams struggle with AI adoption  The real moat in a world where everything is easier to build  How to think about pricing without over-optimizing  Why founders should stop overthinking and just start If you're building SaaS right now, this episode is a clear look at what's actually working in today's market — and what's already outdated.

Aidan Larkin speaks with Tara Kavanaugh, a federal investigator with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) and liaison to the FBI's dark‑web opioid task force. Tara draws on a career spanning HUMINT work in the Middle East, signals intelligence at the NSA and crypto‑enabled investigations at USPIS to explain how modern crime moves across the mail system, the dark web, and digital‑asset ecosystems. She outlines the realities of mail‑based fraud, fentanyl supply chains, dark‑web vendor activity, and the growing “scamdemic,” while highlighting how postal data and blockchain analytics help identify offenders. They also discuss inter‑agency collaboration, investigative tooling and why asset recovery remains central to disrupting harm.⏱️ Timestamps00:00 – Early Career & Intelligence Background04:40 – USPIS Crypto Investigations06:45 – FBI Liaison Role & Dark‑Web Opioid Task Force12:50 – Using Postal Intelligence to Strengthen Federal Cases15:30 – Blockchain Tracing Patterns, Playbooks & Criminal Methods21:45 – Agency Readiness, SOPs & Evolving Crypto Capabilities25:45 – Crypto ATMs, Victim Risks & the Growing “Scamdemic”32:40 - The Modern Investigator's Toolkit & Global Collaboration

China remains one of the most essential -- and complex -- markets for global companies. In this episode of C-Suite Perspectives, host Steve Odland sits down with David Hoffman, Senior Advisor and China Center Leader at The Conference Board, to unpack what's really happening on the ground.  Fresh from a three-week visit to Beijing and Shanghai, David shares a nuanced view of a market in transition: slower growth, ongoing real estate challenges, and a policy environment that is becoming less market driven. Yet, despite these headwinds, China continues to offer unmatched scale, a deeply capable supply chain, and increasingly rapid innovation cycles that make it indispensable for companies competing globally.  The conversation also explores the rising strength of Chinese competitors, whose gains in design, quality, and cost are reshaping industries worldwide. Against a backdrop of geopolitical tension and trade frictions, companies are adapting through "China for China" strategies: localizing operations to build resilience while navigating a more fragmented global landscape.  For more from The Conference Board:  All China Center Research  China Economy Watch  China Consumption Quarterly Roundup 

What happens when one of HR's most seasoned leaders gets fed up with broken systems and decides to build new ones? Let's find out! In this episode, we sit down with Kristy McCann, multi-time founder, CEO, and HR powerhouse, for a wide-ranging, energizing conversation about the real state of the future of work. We dig into why change management is ultimately just project management (and why most leaders are failing at it), the growing ethics and efficacy crisis around AI adoption in the workplace, what's gone wrong with SHRM as a certifying body, and why consumer power might be the most underutilized lever we have right now. Kristy also shares how she reads pattern recognition as a superpower, and what her next chapter looks like as she works to close the skilling gap she's spent her career fighting. It's one of those conversations where we left feeling genuinely fired up and we think you will too! Also in this episode: we introduce Ask the Librarian, our new AI-powered tool built on the Inclusion Geeks resource library. {blush emoji} Chapters 00:00 - Introduction & Episode Preview 01:14 - Introducing Ask the Librarian, Our New AI-Powered Resource Tool 11:47 - Welcome, Kristy McCann Flynn 12:03 - Kristy's Career Journey, From Scranton to HR Founder 18:02 - Rethinking Change Management for a World in Constant Flux 22:00 - AI in the Workplace, Enhancement or Replacement? 28:33 - AI Ethics, Data Privacy & the No-Guardrails Problem 31:11 - Leadership Gaps, Accountability & Why Ideas Aren't Enough 33:21 - Kristy's Stealth Next Chapter, Education, Skilling & AI Efficacy 35:13 - The SHRM Problem, When Certifying Bodies Lose Their Way 44:49 - Rebuilding Critical Thinking & Trust in Institutions 50:18 - Consumer Power, Boycotts & Collective Action 52:59 - Unionization, General Strikes & Protecting Workers 57:42 - Think Globally, Act Locally 61:14 - AI Displacement, What History Tells Us 64:31 - Closing Thoughts & Where to Find Kristy Visit us at InclusionGeeks.com to stay up to date on all the ways you can make the workplace work for everyone! Check out Inclusion Geeks Academy and InclusionGeeks.com/podcast for the code to get a free mini course.

In this episode of Wavelengths, the Amphenol Broadband Solutions podcast, host Daniel Litwin sits down with Charles Dillard and Marion Nowosatko—both Training Managers at Amphenol Broadband Solutions—to share a practical, modern playbook for building broadband training programs that scale.As networks modernize faster than teams can absorb new tools, workflows, and expectations, training has shifted from a support function to a strategic advantage. Customers demand first-visit resolution, fiber footprints continue to expand, and field teams are expected to master evolving toolchains without slowing production. In this conversation, Dillard and Nowosatko break down how top operators treat training like an internal product—blending in-house capability with vendor partnerships, leveraging third-party certifications, and designing learning formats that actually stick.Drawing on decades of field and curriculum experience, the guests outline what works today across bench training, guided field time, micro-learnings, and structured mentorship—plus how to balance hands-on realism with the need for consistency at scale.Key Discussion Highlights:• Build vs. Buy for Training Programs: Dillard and Nowosatko explain why in-house training sends an immediate signal of investment in employee growth while enabling tighter alignment to company-specific specs, processes, and quality standards—something off-the-shelf vendor training often can't fully deliver.• When a Blended Model Makes Sense: Rather than treating it as “either/or,” the discussion frames internal and external training as complementary—especially when vendors can cover specialized equipment while internal teams focus on installation practices, troubleshooting workflows, and the real-world standards technicians are held to.• Partnering with Manufacturers the Right Way: The guests emphasize treating manufacturer relationships as true partnerships—not just product sales—where training is part of ensuring equipment performs correctly in the field. They highlight practical delivery methods like tech-meeting drop-ins, short-form micro-learning videos, and on-site field support that reinforces learning after initial rollout.• Why Third-Party Certifications Matter More Now: Certifications are positioned as both a workforce motivator and a transferable industry signal. For technicians, credentials provide recognition and career mobility; for employers, they reduce hiring risk by validating baseline knowledge and discipline. The guests stress the value of pairing certifications with meaningful recognition programs.• Designing Hands-On Labs That Are Realistic and Affordable: To make hands-on training feasible, they recommend leveraging vendor equipment support, repurposing retired or nonfunctional field gear for mockups, and standardizing lab builds so training stays consistent across locations—even when replicated nationally.• E-Learning That Actually Works at Scale: The episode makes the case that e-learning is essential for standardizing safety, theory, and specs across geographies—especially for dispersed teams. The guests advocate for e-learning that teaches techs how to find answers (not just memorize them), and for using digital modules as refreshers long after initial training.• Structuring On-the-Job Training Without Killing Productivity: A standout operational tip: flip the ride-along dynamic by placing new hires into production quickly so the seasoned technician assists on the new hire's assigned jobs. This reduces metric pressure on mentors and creates more intentional coaching rather than passive shadowing.• How to Think About True Blended Learning: The conversation closes by encouraging operators to bucket training into what must be hands-on versus what can be standardized digitally. Meeting learners where they are—especially younger, device-native techs—means building lightweight, mobile-accessible micro-learnings that fit into field downtime without forcing a return to the classroom.This episode delivers a practical checklist for operators building training programs in 2026 and beyond—where the goal isn't just knowledge transfer, but repeatable, scalable performance in the field.

  Alexis Kingsbury interviews Ron Baker, author and founder of VeraSage Institute, about why tracking time and billing by the hour harms professional services firms by distorting behavior, reducing margins, and undermining innovation. Ron explains the “transformation economy” as a shift beyond services and experiences toward guiding clients from a current state to a desired future identity. He argues firms should market and price around transformation rather than tasks. He describes how subscription models change pricing, KPIs, and financial thinking toward lifetime value, recurring revenue, and churn. He says the biggest barrier is unlearning cost-accounting and timesheet mentalities. They discuss how AI reduces rote compliance work, increases pressure on hourly models, and frees up time for deeper client relationships. They also explore alternative metrics such as net promoter score, turnaround time, and “high satisfaction days,” as well as the need for specialization and stronger referral networks. Timestamps 00:00 Timesheets Kill Innovation 01:13 What Is Transformation 03:33 Selling the Outcome 05:38 Subscription Done Right 08:27 Why Leaders Resist Change 13:38 Compliance AI and Opportunity 15:21 The Case Against Time Tracking 16:50 Four Timesheet Myths 18:46 Cost Accounting Is Broken 23:03 Pricing Value, Not Cost 24:21 Timesheets Kill ROI 25:07 Upfront Pricing and Cashflow 26:00 Better KPIs Than Utilization 27:07 Leading Indicators That Matter 28:44 High Satisfaction Days 29:52 Managing for Outcomes 34:10 Transformation Economy for Compliance 35:52 AI Commoditization Pressure 37:07 Specialize and Build Networks 38:17 Quickfire and Closing Takeaways 43:47 Resources and Farewell Links • Ron Baker – LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronaldbaker/ • Ron Baker – X (Twitter): https://x.com/RonBaker • Ron Baker – Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RonaldJBaker • VeraSage Institute: https://verasage.com/ • The Soul of Enterprise Podcast: https://www.thesoulofenterprise.com/ • Threshold Now: https://thresholdnow.com/ • Time's Up! The Subscription Business Model for Professional Firms (Ron Baker & Paul Dunn): https://www.amazon.com/dp/1119578881 • The Firm of the Future (Ron Baker & Paul Dunn): https://www.amazon.com/dp/1118354807 • Implementing Value Pricing – Ron Baker: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1118096301 • Pricing on Purpose – Ron Baker: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1119120842 • Wealth and Poverty – George Gilder: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1594034010 • AirManual Resources & Playbooks: https://airmanual.co/resources

AI has quietly embedded itself across the enterprise but many security teams are still guarding it like a single tool, not the shared risk it's become.On this episode of Ctrl + Alt + AI, host Dimitri Sirota sits down with Aqsa Taylor, Chief Research Officer at Software Analyst Cyber Research, to break down how AI is changing the speed, scale, and structure of modern cyber threats. Drawing from direct conversations with CISOs, Aqsa explains why AI shortens attack timelines, lowers the barrier for sophisticated threats, and forces security teams to rethink response and recovery.The conversation focuses on what security leaders are missing as AI spreads across employees and third-party platforms. Aqsa outlines why securing AI requires treating it as an ongoing lifecycle tied to core security fundamentals rather than a one-time deployment.In this episode, you'll learn:Why AI-driven attacks demand faster containment, not more alertsHow overprivileged AI access quietly expands security riskWhy cleaning data before it reaches AI should be the top of mindThings to listen for: (00:00) Meet Aqsa Taylor(00:22) Why AI risk connects directly to data security(01:15) What CISOs are focused on right now(02:23) AI use is unavoidable inside organizations(03:51) Securing models and the data behind them(04:27) How AI speeds up attacks and response pressure(06:10) Data filtering, privileges, and prompt risk(07:15) LLMs, copilots, and agents create different risks(09:31) Cleaning data before it reaches AI(11:19) Why humans should stay in the loop(14:21) AI-driven phishing and malware scale faster(18:01) Testing AI SOC tools against real incidents(21:15) Governance helps but fundamentals matter more(24:31) Managing third-party AI access and visibility(26:49) Fix fundamentals before chasing AI threats

How do you decide what actually matters in modern marketing — when everything feels fast, fleeting, and automated?Sylvia LePoidevin, CMO at Juno and creator of The Zero to One Marketer newsletter , joins Chris Savage to talk about building marketing from the ground up without getting lost in playbooks, trends, or AI hype.Together, they explore why fear drives so much modern marketing, how teams can build with the buyer in mind, and why the only content breaking through right now is either radically raw or intentionally polished. If you've ever felt burnt out on marketing noise and wanted permission to slow down enough to trust your judgment again, this episode's for you.Links to Learn More: Follow Sylvia on LinkedInFollow Savage on LinkedInSubscribe to Talking Too Loud on WistiaWatch on YouTubeFollow Talking Too Loud on InstagramFollow Talking Too Loud on TikTokLove what you heard? Leave us a review!On AppleOn Spotify

Most AI pilots fail—at least, that's the headline. But today's guest is proving that doesn't have to be true.In this Watson Weekly interview, Rick Watson goes behind the scenes with Chris Kellner, CEO of DigitalGenius, to discuss how a decade-old AI pioneer is navigating the modern LLM explosion. We move past the hype to explore how AI is actually rewriting the playbooks for sales, marketing, and customer support.In this episode, you'll learn:* The "Locomotive" Metaphor: Why DigitalGenius didn't have to reinvent itself, but rather accelerated on existing tracks.* Sales & Marketing Rewired: How Chris's team uses AI for call coaching, MEDPIC scorecards, and CRM automation to let humans focus on high-value closing.* UK vs. US Market Mismatch: Why traditional outbound playbooks failed when crossing the Atlantic and what they did to fix it.*The Competition for Culture: How an internal "Agent-Building" competition spurred unexpected creativity across the company.3 Hard Lessons in AI Support: The essential checklist for any leader deploying AI in customer service today.Chapters00:00 – Intro: Turning AI buzz into customer wins 03:15 – Chris Kellner's journey from Banking to SaaS CEO 07:40 – Acceleration vs. Reinvention: Building the AI train line 14:20 – Rewiring GTM: AI call coaching and MEDPIC scorecards 22:10 – Market Mismatches: Lessons from scaling from the UK to the US 30:45 – Culture & Internal Adoption: The AI Agent competition 38:30 – Why most AI pilots fail (and how to make yours succeed) 45:15 – Build vs. Buy: When to go in-house and when to use a vendor 52:00 – Closing thoughts and key takeaways#watsonweekly #ai #customersupportThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp

Sara Eisen and David Faber began the hour with a look at some defining economic charts of the year before breaking down the bull case for stocks with one longtime market veteran. Plus: Meta making a deeper push into AI agents with a new acquisition reportedly worth billions... hear key analysis from D.A. Davidson's Head of Internet Research - and the latest on Softbank fully funding its $40B commitment to OpenAI. Also in focus: Guggenheim's top retail picks for the new year - including some names you might not expect... Key details from fresh housing data just crossing... and a deep-dive on a new AI start-up hitting the restaurant scene. Squawk on the Street Disclaimer Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Ben breaks down his experience attending an NFL game in Madrid, what international fans get right, what they don't, and why the league's global ambitions may never capture the uniquely American spirit of football. Next, ESPN senior writer and bestselling author Seth Wickersham joins Ben to unpack his acclaimed book American Kings: A Biography of the Quarterback. Seth reveals the hidden demands and emotional realities of playing the most scrutinized position in sports. Finally, celebrated culinary mind Christopher Kimball joins Ben to talk all things Thanksgiving: cooking in a rental cabin, turkey strategy, pie mistakes, stocking a kitchen, picky-eating kids, the decline of home cooking, and how preparing food can strengthen families. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's that time of year again, when we're all feeling a bit like, “When it rains, it pours.” Most of the rain is really quite lovely, but this season, at least at our house, sometimes feels like so much. I have not been this close to full on maxed out in a long time, and I am feeling it. Today, I want to share a simple Lazy Genius path to naming what's maxing you out and tending to it well so that you can enjoy this season. Helpful Companion Links Order my book The PLAN or ask your library to consider carrying a copy. Check out our newest versions of The Playbooks! Episode #443: What's Saving My Life The Best Granola Ever Recipe Sign up for our every-other-week podcast recap email called Latest Lazy Listens. Sign up for my once-a-month newsletter, The Latest Lazy Letter. Grab a copy of my book The Lazy Genius Kitchen or The Lazy Genius Way! (Affiliate links) Download a transcript of this episode. Want to share your Lazy Genius of the Week idea with us? Use this form to tell us about it. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's time to welcome back our old friend who we get to hang out with every season. These episodes where I share what's saving my life have become such a gift to me personally. The practice of naming and sharing what is making life full and good and connected is surprisingly integral, and I'm glad this is part of our rhythm here on the podcast. So today I've got ten things I'll share that have been saving my life recently, and hopefully it will inspire you to make your own list. Helpful Companion Links Order my book The PLAN or ask your library to consider carrying a copy. Check out our newest versions of The Playbooks! Jamie, Knox, and Erin's new Patreon show called Shelf Respect Make Your Own Hamburger Helper Episode #439: Chores I Do Every Day, Part 2 Mane Ready or Knot Detangling Hair Brush Sign up for our every-other-week podcast recap email called Latest Lazy Listens. Sign up for my once-a-month newsletter, The Latest Lazy Letter. Grab a copy of my book The Lazy Genius Kitchen or The Lazy Genius Way! (Affiliate links) Download a transcript of this episode. Want to share your Lazy Genius of the Week idea with us? Use this form to tell us about it. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sometimes I feel like it'll take just one sassy comment or one missed homework assignment or one line at the store that's longer than I expected before I just lose it. Sometimes life is like that, and it's normal and okay. But most of us don't want to stay there for very long. Today, I'm going to share with you five things to remember and five things to do when everything is a little annoying. Helpful Companion Links Order my book The PLAN or ask your library to consider carrying a copy. Learn about The Playbooks here. Episode #409: How to Parent When Your Kid is Annoying Find our digital products here (which are going into the sunset at the end of the year!) Sign up for our every-other-week podcast recap email called Latest Lazy Listens. Sign up for my once-a-month newsletter, The Latest Lazy Letter. Grab a copy of my book The Lazy Genius Kitchen or The Lazy Genius Way! (Affiliate links) Check out our network's newest show, How We Made Your Mother Download a transcript of this episode. Want to share your Lazy Genius of the Week idea with us? Use this form to tell us about it. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's around this point, towards the end of October, that we all start feeling the pressure. The rest of the year is coming like a snowball rolling down a hill. Today, we're going to tend to that energy and create some ways to make the rest of 2025 easier and also more joyful, grounded, and rooted in whatever matters to you. Helpful Companion Links Order my book The PLAN or ask your library to consider carrying a copy. The Lazy Genius Collective Facebook Group! Episode #339: How to Make the Rest of 2023 Easier Episode #392: How to Make the Rest of 2024 Easier Episode #330: How I Handle a Busy Season Episode #431: 5 Things to Avoid When Planning a Busy Season Episode #364: When Life Feels Like a Firehose Episode #385: How to Manage an Odd Stretch of Time Episode #395: How to Finish Last-Minute Lists Greg McKeown's book Essentialism Episode #306: What We Need to Have More Fun Episode #347: How to Know What Brings You Joy One line a day journal One second a day app Learn about The Playbooks here. Find our digital products here (which are going into the sunset at the end of the year!) Sign up for our every-other-week podcast recap email called Latest Lazy Listens. Sign up for my once-a-month newsletter, The Latest Lazy Letter. Grab a copy of my book The Lazy Genius Kitchen or The Lazy Genius Way! (Affiliate links) Check out our network's newest show, How We Made Your Mother Download a transcript of this episode. Want to share your Lazy Genius of the Week idea with us? Use this form to tell us about it. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Part 1 Shownotes In this eye-opening first part of a special two-part episode of "Impact Theory with Tom Bilyeu," Tom sits down with Mike Benz—former State Department official, executive director of the Foundation for Freedom Online, and a leading authority on the intersection of technology, media, and soft power. Benz unpacks the tangled web of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the shifting dynamics of global influence, and how soft power has supplanted traditional warfare in the modern era. Tom and Mike go deep into the true origins and motivations behind NGOs, illuminating how many of these organizations operate as statecraft tools, intelligence fronts, and economic levers for the world's elite. From the rise of philanthropic organizations as vehicles for influence to the coordinated manipulation of global media, Part 1 shines a light on the hidden infrastructure behind democracy building, narrative control, and regime change. Mike exposes the intricate interplay between hedge funds, government foreign policy, media, and activism—detailing how policy and profit become inextricably linked through a process he dubs "drafting off of policy." If you've ever questioned who really pulls the strings behind elections, color revolutions, and the headlines you read every day, this episode will give you a radical new lens through which to see the world. SHOWNOTES00:00 NGOs as Instruments of Power02:43 History of Elite Media Control05:12 Media Manipulation and American Influence Abroad10:44 Soft Power vs. Military Might12:07 Hedge Funds, Donors, and Policy Manipulation (Soros Example)14:35 The “Blob”: Inside the Foreign Policy Establishment20:31 How Economic Interests Drive Foreign Policy23:01 Color Revolutions: Playbooks and Statecraft29:26 Can These Playbooks Be Used Domestically? (Transition Integrity Project)32:24 The National Endowment for Democracy and Modern “Democracy Building”38:28 Media, Music, and Cultural Warfare44:39 Education, Language, and Censorship as Soft Power FOLLOW MIKE BENZ:X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/mikebenzcyberYouTube: Mike Benz CyberRumble: Mike Benz CyberInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/mikebenzcyber/ SleepMe: Visit https://sleep.me/impact to get your Chilipad and save 20% with code IMPACT. Try it risk-free with their 30-night sleep trial and free shipping. Vital Proteins: Get 20% off by going to https://www.vitalproteins.com and entering promo code IMPACT at check out Hims: Start your free online visit today at https://hims.com/IMPACT. Linkedin: Post your job free at https://linkedin.com/impacttheory Shopify: Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial period at https://shopify.com/impact Tailor Brands: 35% off https://tailorbrands.com/podcast35 Found Banking: Try Found for FREE at https://found.com/impact What's up, everybody? It's Tom Bilyeu here: If you want my help... STARTING a business: join me here at ZERO TO FOUNDER:  https://tombilyeu.com/zero-to-founder?utm_campaign=Podcast%20Offer&utm_source=podca[%E2%80%A6]d%20end%20of%20show&utm_content=podcast%20ad%20end%20of%20show SCALING a business: see if you qualify here.:  https://tombilyeu.com/call Get my battle-tested strategies and insights delivered weekly to your inbox: sign up here.: https://tombilyeu.com/ ********************************************************************** If you're serious about leveling up your life, I urge you to check out my new podcast, Tom Bilyeu's Mindset Playbook —a goldmine of my most impactful episodes on mindset, business, and health. Trust me, your future self will thank you. ********************************************************************** FOLLOW TOM: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tombilyeu/ Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tombilyeu?lang=en Twitter: https://twitter.com/tombilyeu YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TomBilyeu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.