Podcasts about servicesource

Send us a textValue-based care is a great concept, providers get paid to keep patients healthy rather than just for treating them when they're sick.But it's not easy, and the results don't always meet the potential.Can technology and AI help?In this episode of the HealthBiz Podcast, host David E. Williams speaks with Jay Ackerman, CEO of Reveleer on how AI can automate time-consuming tasks, streamline fragmented workflows, and consolidate critical risk adjustment to improve value-based care.

This episode's Community Champion Sponsor is Ossur. To learn more about their ‘Responsible for Tomorrow' Sustainability Campaign, and how you can get involved: CLICK HERE---Episode Overview: How can innovative technology accelerate the shift to value-based care? According to our next guest, Jay Ackerman, CEO of Reveleer, it starts by empowering healthcare organizations with AI-driven data analytics.As a veteran enterprise software leader, Jay is focused on Reveleer's mission to streamline quality improvement, risk adjustment, and member management through their transformative platform.While together, Jay shares his vision for leveraging natural language processing and machine learning to digest clinical data at scale and he reveals how Reveleer helps health plans and providers unlock insights, enhance outcomes, and confidently execute value-based care initiatives.Join us to learn how Jay and his team are pioneering the future of data-driven healthcare delivery! Let's go! Episode Highlights:Pioneering the use of AI, NLP, and machine learning to digest massive clinical data setsHelping healthcare organizations accelerate the transition to value-based care modelsReducing administrative burdens on providers through intelligent data workflowsUnifying disparate clinical data sources to enhance quality improvement and risk adjustmentDriving the future of data-driven healthcare through advanced analytics capabilitiesAbout our Guest:Jay is an Enterprise Software executive responsible for setting the vision, strategy, and objectives for Reveleer. As a leader, he is also keenly focused on shaping and stewarding the culture at Reveleer to attract a robust collaborative team, while driving an innovation mandate to execute our mission to accelerate value-based care.He is a seasoned software and services executive with over 30 years of experience in various leadership capacities. While at Reveleer, he established the company as a leader in SaaS solutions to enable our customer set to take control of these critical value-based care programs. Before Reveleer, Jay was the Chief Revenue Officer at Guidance Software, a publicly traded software security company. He is equally proud of his contribution to the success of ServiceSource, where he was the Worldwide Head of Sales and Customer Success at ServiceSource and WNS North America. WNS, where he was the President & CEO. Both organizations grew rapidly and joined the public markets. Jay holds his MBA from NYU's Stern School of Business and a bachelor's degree in economics from Connecticut College. Jay recently concluded a ten-year stay on the Board of Trustees at Lawrence Academy, a college preparatory school he attended in Massachusetts. Jay resides in Los Angeles with his wife and two boys and can often be found on the weekend coaching or cheering on his boys.Links Supporting This Episode:Reveleer Website: CLICK HEREJay Ackerman LinkedIn page: CLICK HEREReveleer Twitter page: CLICK HERE Mike Biselli LinkedIn page: CLICK HEREMike Biselli Twitter page: CLICK HEREVisit our website:

Welcome to Episode 09 with Guro Bakkeng Bergen, VP & GM at Fivetran. In this episode, we explore how leaders navigate through significant organisational shifts, the impact of artificial intelligence on leadership, and the importance of carefully selecting battles. Guro, with her rich experience at companies like Oracle, New Relic, and ServiceSource, shares her story of overcoming challenges during periods of drastic change. She highlights how the art of leadership has evolved and shares her insights on how AI and machine learning are creating new avenues in leadership. Links to the Guest Guro Bakkeng Bergan on LinkedIn Fivetran Timestamps [00:01:18] About Guro [00:02:31] How the role of a leader has changed in the past 18 years [00:05:39] Guro's story: A big shift with skewed insights [00:21:15] The opportunities AI is bringing to leadership [00:27:11] Making tech more representative [00:34:42] How Guro picks her fights

David Parkhurst is the Chief Customer Officer (CCO) and Managing Partner for Omni Interactions. Additional roles he has served as includes Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) and Chief Growth Officer. David discusses: The differences between CCO, CGO and CRO Moving from VP to C Level and the shift in revenue responsibilities When a deal falls apart at zero hour & lessons learned David has held leadership roles at ServiceSource, Skykes Enterprises and Alpine Access focusing on customer care solutions. This has given David insight into economic cycles and client business conditions in a fresh angle. And we share our love of cold calling! Enjoy the show? Review us on iTunes- thanks! Thank you Jalan Crossland for lending your award-winning banjo skills to CXO Conversations.

Welcome to the "Secrets of #Fail," a new pod storm series hosted by Matt Brown. In this series of 2023, Matt dives deep into the world of failures and lessons learned along the way from high-net-worth individuals.  Join Matt as he dives into the world of failures and lessons.Series: Secret of #FailJay is the President and CEO of Reveleer, a leading innovator of SaaS platform solutions for clinical data collection and analytics. In his role, he is responsible for scaling operations, accelerating business growth and fostering product innovation to propel the Company's impact in the healthcare industry for health plans, providers and healthcare professionals.He is a seasoned software and services executive with over 25 years of experience in various leadership capacities, including his most recent position as Chief Revenue Officer at Guidance Software, a publicly traded software security company. Prior to this, Jay served as the Worldwide Head of Sales & Customer Success at ServiceSource, where he enjoyed a successful 9-year career as the company expanded globally and grew revenue from $25m to $265m. He was also the President & CEO of WNS North America. WNS, a well-regarded business process outsourcing organization, evolved out of British Airways and grew rapidly as a commercially focused organization.Support the show

Ben Jennings, Chief Revenue Officer, EmbrokerBen is a seasoned global technology executive with more than 25 years experience in sales, marketing, business development, customer success and alliances. He was previously the Executive Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer for ServiceSource (Nasdaq: SERV) responsible for the company's global Sales, Solution Design and Business Development functions. Ben is a seasoned global technology executive, Ben brings more than 25 years experience in sales, marketing, business development, customer success and alliances to the role. Previously, Ben was Executive Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer for ServiceSource responsible for the company's global Sales, Solution Design and Business Development functions. During his 15+ years at ServiceSource, Ben led the company's global expansion, founding and managing ServiceSource's EMEA and APJ operations, and also held a variety of customer success and operational leadership positions in the company. Prior to ServiceSource, Ben held leadership positions at Jamcracker, Loudcloud, and Transition Networks. Centered on revenue growth, Ben's career also includes marketing, go-to-market strategy, product management, networking, hardware, and managed service sales.https://www.embroker.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-jennings-8643b61/https://www.linkedin.com/company/embroker/

Tina Herzik, the Vice President of Operations for Service Source, and Brent McNeal, the Director of the Florida Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, join forces with Carol Pankow in the Manager Minute studio to chat about creative staffing solutions in the great State of Florida. Tina and Brent discuss how the Florida General agency and Service Source are partnering to meet staffing needs with a unique model. With a business relationship that spans over 22 years, the duo shares how their two organizations continue to serve as front runners of innovative staffing practices and transformational leadership.   Listen Here   Full Transcript {Music} Speaker1: Manager Minute brought to you by the VRTAC for Quality Management, Conversations powered by VR, one manager at a time, one minute at a time. Here is your host Carol Pankow.   Carol: Well, welcome to the manager minute. Joining me in the studio today is Tina Herzik, Service Source vice president of operations for the VR program in Florida, and Brent McNeal, director of the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation. Florida. General, I am so happy to have you both with me in the studio today. So, Brent, how are things going in Florida?   Brent: Things are going well, Carol. Thank you. We're definitely happy to see the end of the hurricane season here in Florida and looking forward to going through the homestretch here into the holiday break.   Carol: Yeah, I've seen you've had a lot of weather. We had our own 13 inches of snow on Monday, so at least you don't have that. Holy cow. So, Tina, how about you?   Tina: Same thing. Just getting over trying to lose that word pandemic and getting back to normalcy. But I live in Vero Beach, so happy that last hurricane didn't take us down. But we're standing.   Carol: Strong. Yeah, absolutely. Know all the Florida folks. I really you know, our hearts go out to y'all with everything that happened in that Fort Myers area. That is something else. I don't know how you deal with that all the time. That kind of those terrific weather conditions that can really just devastate a whole area. So I know you're rebuilding and people are working strong. So, Brent, it was really fun meeting you live and in person at the CC VR Leadership Forum before the conference began, and we all heard a pretty sobering message about the state of the national VR program. And we've got to spend the money. Each agency is facing different challenges, but the factor that binds us all together has to do with finding ways to expend funds. So the VR program, much like the rest of business across the country, is in the midst of a staffing crisis and trying to seek solutions to meet customer needs. Now, I know Florida General has a model that's been in place for over 20 years as a result of a legislative change. Now, this model is not really conventional, and I think you're the only people in the country doing something quite like this. But you have worked out all the kinks and have really learned so many lessons. So we thought others could benefit from the work that you all have done. And there's really a unique partnership that really is withstanding the test of time. So let's dig in. So, Brent, why don't you tell us a little about yourself, your background, how you came to VR and a little bit about Florida General?   Brent: Sure. First of all, I'm happy to be here. I echo the statements that you've made, we certainly are in the same boat as other programs around the country. And so this is a way that folks could explore to spend some of those funds and to better provide services to their customers. So my background, I came to VR first in 2009. It was my first job out of law school, actually, and did not know anything about VR or what it was, but quickly became so interested and invested because of the good work that I saw that the division was doing and so really enjoyed getting to learn the program. I also represented our Florida Division of Blind Services, so got to do a lot of interesting work and Randolph Shepherd and in other areas with that unit. So that is how I came to VR. I worked with VR in a legal capacity for around eight years and then took this director's position back in February. So coming up on one year here shortly in terms of Florida General, we're housed within the Florida Department of Education, headquartered in beautiful Tallahassee, Florida. The states broken up into seven geographical areas, and each of those has an area director. Now, we haven't always been here in the Department of Education, and we'll talk a little bit about some of the history and where the division was previously. But yeah, we've been with the Department of Education for a number of years now and are a big component of Florida DOH.   Carol: So your background really positions you nicely for this job because you know, the regs really probably pretty inside and out as being the attorney for the agency for so long.   Brent: You know that part is certainly helpful and I tap into it regularly. I have to resist the urge to just be the lawyer. And we have a very capable and wonderful deputy general counsel that leads our VR legal team. So I defer to Nicole Saunders now on legal matters, but it is nice to have that background as well as those relationships that I was able to build as the attorney, including with folks like Tina.   Carol: Absolutely. So how many people do you serve and how many staff does Florida General have?   Brent: For the past several years, it has varied between around 45000 to 50000 individuals receiving services within a state fiscal year. We have 884 full time equivalent staff that are employees of the division of the state of Florida.   Carol: Wow. That is huge. Are you in the top five programs in the country or something? As far as size, I think.   Brent: I think we must be I know that we're one of the largest. And, you know, Florida is such a diverse state, too. We talk about from the tip of the panhandle, which is where I grew up over in Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties, all the way down to the Florida Keys. And, you know, those two ends of the state could not be more different in terms of, well, just geography, but also all of the economics, you name it, just really diverse and a lot of different challenges throughout the state for such a big state as Florida.   Carol: Yeah, tough for you to just like we're going to drive to all the offices today. That can't happen. So the model I alluded to, what is this model that Florida general is working under to meet your staffing needs?   Brent: For over 20 years now, Florida VR has been working with Service Source in a successful public private partnership, and that's really added service capacity in our state. And so I'm looking forward to telling everyone more about that today.   Carol: Very cool. So, Tina, I didn't mean to leave you out.. Why don't you tell our listeners about yourself and your background and how you kind of fit into this picture?   Tina: Oh, thank you, Carol, And thanks for inviting us here today. I have been in Florida most of my life here. As I said, I live in Vero Beach. I did live where you are from in Minnesota for five years. So I've enjoyed the Minnesota life as well. I started my career out as a teacher, so working with the youth has always been very close to my heart. I obtained my master's degree while working under this contract over the years and rehabilitation counseling, I have my CRC, my Certified Rehabilitation Counseling license. I was the second employee hired under this original contract with this partnership in 2001 as a vocational rehabilitation counselor. Believe it or not, I took this job under a newspaper advertisement. Does anybody know what that is anymore? So the director that hired me to start up was the startup director for the privatization project, Steve Palumbo. Steve had worked with the state of Florida VR system for many years. He started this privatization. He was a great mentor to me. I was very green, just like Brent talks about coming in. I didn't know that much at all about what I was getting myself into. I had no idea that 20 years later I'd be as excited as I am about what we do. And as he mentored me over the years, I started out as a VRC, so I was a vocational rehabilitation counselor for a few years and then I became a unit supervisor for one of our largest units, which was one of the first units in this partnership on the Treasure Coast. It serves four different counties, and I did that for about 11 years. And then when Steve retired in 2017, I became the director for the program and have held that position ever since. I've worked with Service Source for over 20 years and I've been very excited to be part of what I always say to people, kind of the trailblazer of this type of model. And it's been great because, as Brent said, we also work together very closely when he was the attorney for VR. So it's just been a great partnership.   Carol: So Brent, what happened back in the 1999 legislative session that led to your model for meeting staffing needs?   Brent: Well, I'll give the caveat that obviously I wasn't around at this time, but I've done some research and know anecdotally that there were some similar circumstances to what we're facing now. There are very high caseloads. We had a number of vacancies that were presenting challenges and consequently we had some underserved areas in Florida where folks were having a hard time receiving VR services. In response to that problem, the Florida legislature passed Senate Bill 230 and which directed VR and I'll quote, to enter into local public private partnerships to the extent that it is beneficial to increasing employment outcomes for persons with disabilities and ensuring their full involvement in the comprehensive workforce investment system. So at that time, Florida VR was broken into 24 regions. The division was housed in another state agency at that time and had not made the move to the Department of Education. So there were 24 regions in stark contrast to our seven areas now, and initially contracts were only awarded for three of those 24 regions. Service Source was awarded two of the three contracts that were initially awarded after procurement was conducted in 2000. And just a little bit more about Senate Bill 230. It did include a section on the legislative intent, which I thought might be interesting to listeners, and it basically states the legislature finds that individuals with disabilities experience the highest unemployment rate of any group in society as high as 75%, and that unemployment and poverty go hand in hand. The legislature also finds that persons who complete the vocational rehabilitation program are twice as likely to obtain and maintain employment, and the use of private providers is the readiest way to add service capacity for this population. I'll stop there.   Carol: That's really interesting. You know, we're still facing that issue today with people with disabilities being one of the largest groups that have issues with unemployment and living in poverty. And so the needle has not changed a ton, but you were able to increase capacity. So let me just clear this up. Did the legislature at the same time, did they like freeze your FTEs or you actually lost some FTEs, but you could then use this source to be able to make up the difference?   Brent: I don't know that there was a simultaneous move with respect to FTEs. I know that over the years that has occurred where they have been frozen or we have been permission to expand, but I don't know if that was occurring simultaneous to this effort in 1999. And Tina may be able to speak a little bit more about that because obviously there was some trepidation on the part of division employees to this fairly significant change.   Carol: Well, absolutely. They're thinking we're being eliminated. You're taking our jobs away. So, Tina, why don't we go to you? Because you were around back in 1999. What's your perspective on what happened back then?   Tina: Yeah, absolutely. I actually remember it like it was yesterday. As I said, when I came into the position, I remember, you know, you start your first day on the job with your little box of all your desk items and you're walking in. And state workers at the time, field staff looked very concerned. There was a lot of concern and it wasn't the welcoming that you might have expected on your first day of your new job, because I didn't know that at the time and didn't understand it. But as time went on, I understood that the communication wasn't very clear on why we were there and what we were doing there. But we were brought in. We were brought in to work alongside state employees. So at the time we were working in the same offices right next door and taking over some of the caseloads. And, you know, everybody's very particular about giving up their caseloads. But what I believe happened at that time is VRC caseloads, the vocational rehabilitation counselors were dealing with over 300 plus cases in certain units. There were counties that, as we were talking about, were completely underserved. As I said, I started out here on the Treasure Coast. There are four counties on the Treasure Coast, very large school districts that needed to be served. And we are about an hour and a half driving distance from the actual area office for the state. So this worked very well and it took a little bit of time. But when the employees started to feel the relief and some of the challenges they were having and they realized we weren't there to take their jobs, I feel like over time it just made things a lot easier when they saw the positive responses and that they still had their jobs and they were able to leave as they retired and there was no difference. In that particular office, those people, those state workers left over time through retirement. And then it became that the Treasure Coast was mainly the private provider inside the state offices. So definitely, as Brent said, it was a very unusual time and communication wasn't very forthright. Nobody really knew why. We knew we had jobs. We were coming in to help, but nobody understood it. But I believe over time those challenges kind of went away and the fear went away when we were helping and it was making a difference. And so that made a big difference. It got better.   Carol: So I'm sure the feds probably wanted to say one or two things about this arrangement. So what do either of you think, Brent, I'll go to you first from a state perspective, if you are able to answer this, what did you guys do to help alleviate federal concern about this arrangement? Because I keep thinking non delegables, you know, in my head.   Brent: Sure. Well, that's the big one. And so that is addressed contractually. And I think it's certainly explicit and clear in our current contractual arrangements, which we'll get into. But I would imagine that that had to be addressed right out of the gate because it would be the obvious challenge or something that we would have to deal with. And I think we have done so well. But I think to go back to the federal response, I do understand that RSA had some pretty significant concerns initially, and I speculate that that led to the decision to only enter the three small contracts initially rather than to try to do the whole state. And I understand they were only one year contracts with a possible renewal for two years. So a limited term and very limited geographically to start out. And I think that probably helped to address some of the concerns.   Carol: So, Tina, do you have any thoughts back then about the federal concern because you were there, you probably heard a little bit about that.   Tina: Sure. Basically what we found or what I saw was that RSA contracted agencies to come in and do quality assurance. We had many, many audits and quality assurance reviews regularly. And what I feel probably alleviated those concerns over time because I was part of them, my cases were pulled for audits and then when I became the supervisor, we were still doing many, many quality assurance desktop audits. And basically once we would get through these audits and they were positive and they could see that we were following processes, we were doing the same work that the state was doing, we were following everything that was laid out in the contract. The audits became less, the quality assurance coming around every few months were less and less. And I believe that just spoke to the kind of work that was happening over time. But there was definitely a lot of concern in the beginning and as Brent said. It started out with short term contracts and now we've gone into more of a three year with three year extensions. And of course, everything is still we're all being we should all be under compliance audits from time to time, but it's more regular now. It's not like it was in the past.   Carol: Gotcha. Okay. That helps clear that up. So, Brent, I know I said something about the non-delegables, so how do you address that to ensure that VR remains in control? Because I'm sure our listeners are thinking, all right, but how does that work exactly?   Brent: As I mentioned, we clearly set forth the definitions within the contract and sort of address that head on. And early on in the language of the contract, for example, in the purpose of the contract, under brief summary of the nature and purpose of the project, it states, the purpose of this contract is to perform delegable VR services to eligible persons with disabilities in Area two, Area three, Area six and seven. Essentially, we're establishing that right out of the gate we define what those terms mean within the definitions, of course, citing to the applicable regulations and laws. And then most importantly, every unit has an assigned position that is a state employee that we call a counselor analyst, and they have the final signing authority for all work in the unit. So that's really essentially how we address this the non-delegable issue. The Service Source unit supervisor reviews the work first and then it's ultimately reviewed and signed off on by the counselor analyst. And so Tina mentioned our Treasure Coast where we have two counselor analysts based just on the size of that unit and the population there. The counselor analyst reports to our area director in each area around the state and those four areas that have the private units. And so, of course, we always have to document customer choice and form choice and working with private or state staff. I think we do a good job of explaining during our intake process that the services will still be the same and that it should appear the same regardless of which selection a customer makes. As to whether they would prefer to work with our state staff or with Service Source staff.   Carol: So that speaks to the question then what steps did you take to integrate staff in the work? And Tina, I'm going to send that to you because you've been there since the very darn start of the whole thing.   Tina: Yes, we wanted this to look seamless, and in the beginning I wasn't part of those decisions, but I can see why we did this. And it worked. Basically, our Service Source staff are on the state system, so we have emails, we're included in all the state correspondence. If you were to pull up myself or Brent, we're both in the system, so are all of the staff, Our Service Source staff, we do take our Service Source trainings like you would do for any company that you work for. But then we also, our staff is part of the mandatory state trainings, including ethics and sexual harassment and all the beginning onboarding, because it's important that our staff understand when they're working inside of a state system. There might be a little bit of differences in how the state system may work to a private agency, so they're held accountable for the same things that the state employees are. The VR staff have some additions. What I had to do is we have a staff handbook for Service Source. I actually had them update the handbook over time to add some things that my staff that are working under this contract need to also abide by because they're under this contract. Our management for Service Source is part of all the bureau meetings. We sit on their task forces. It's been wonderful because over the years that's a big piece. The communication has gotten better and better. And what we found is that if we collaborated together and that we work together on strategic plans, brainstorming ideas for Florida, we work together so our management and our leadership sits with their leadership and we work as one. And really it's seamless. We don't go out into the community and say, we are Service Source, employees, we are VR. So when we're in the office, we get paid by Service Source, we work for our company. But when we are working under this contract, we are working as a VR employee.   Carol: I like that you said seamless. That was the word that popped into my mind because you're explaining this. I'm like, This seems really seamless and I'm sure that took time to get to that point.   Tina: It evolved. It evolved. But I feel like in all the years I've been here, we're at that place. We're at that place where it's the best I've ever seen it. And it's been a lot of collaboration that's brought us there, but definitely seamless at this point.   Carol: Excellent. So I know one thing that buzzes around in my mind because in Minnesota we're a unionized state, several different unions our staff fell under. So Brent, is Florida unionized?   Brent: Florida is a what's known as a Right To Work state. And that essentially means that a person can work in the state, whether they're in a union or not. They can't be compelled to join a union as a condition of keeping their job. I believe a little over half of the states are right to work states. You know, that doesn't present as much of a challenge for us here as it might in other areas.   Carol: Sure, no, thanks for clarifying that. So, Tina, I wanted to look at today how much territory does Service Source cover in Florida and how many employees are on the Service Source side of the house.   Tina: Yes. Brent alluded a little while ago to the fact that we are in four of their contracted seven areas that we covered. We are inside 16 state offices from Jacksonville to Key West we are predominantly in central part of Florida. And on the East Coast, we have 145 employees inside this contract. When we began to kind of give you how we've evolved, we started out with 45 and we only had two offices. So now I would say percentage wise, years ago, it's probably about 18% of what the state is doing. We're involved in, I would say somewhere between 18 and 20%, but we have offices mainly between Jacksonville and Key West.   Carol: Yeah, that helps to give a better picture of what that looks like. So what are some lessons that you've learned along the way? And Brent, I'm going to go to you first on that.   Brent: Sure. And, you know, Tina and I have talked about this as we prepared for this podcast. And I think we both agree that communication is really the key. And Tina alluded to that earlier, that the communication perhaps could have been better and stronger, more robust at the beginning of this process, because any time you have a significant change like this, we all know that there's going to be if there's a vacuum of information that's going to be filled and people are going to fear the worst and they're going to just come up with the sort of 'Parade of Horribles' to use an old legal term of what might go wrong. So I think it's just critically important and has been important to our relationship that we keep those lines of communication open. We need to make sure as the division that we ensure that our partners, that Service Source, receive the same messages and information that our state employees receive and really toward the greatest extent possible work to that seamlessness that we've talked about. And it's interesting that you all focused on that word because that has been sprinkled throughout. But also I think it just does go to that seamlessness that we look for where for all intents and purposes, the work we do is the same and the customer has the same quality experience no matter who their counselor is.   Carol: So how about you, Tina? Are there any other lessons learned that you want to talk about?   Tina: Yes, I totally agree with Brent. Communication has been the biggest key lesson learned over time. Change management would have been a good lesson 22 years ago. We could have used that topic right? How to help people get used to something different. But I guess something that comes to my mind, I think about many, many years ago we tried to do a staff leasing concept many years ago in one of the areas that we serve. We tried the idea of having a state supervisor, supervising Service Source staff in an underserved area, and it worked for a little bit, but I don't think it worked as well as our current model and what we're doing. So I think that was definitely a lesson learned that we should probably stick to what we're doing from the beginning here with this model, because when you're answering to or you're being supervised by somebody in your own company, it still was all the same concept. But I think it definitely worked better when we didn't do that staff leasing. Having the contract the way it is now, but hugely about communication all across the board. It helps with employee retention, it helps with training, it helps with us all following policy and doing things the way we're supposed to do to serve the customers.   Carol: So I'm sure everybody is wondering how you both are dealing with staffing shortages. I was thinking about that. Does staff move between like the two organizations and how do you deal with that? Tina, I'm going to ask you that first.   Tina: Sure. You know, Brent and I even newly working together, we discuss this ourselves, and I've talked about this with every previous director. We definitely discourage poaching. We do not look to take each other. So that's not the whole purpose of this contract. The purpose of this contract is that we're working together. However, we don't discourage it happens very infrequently that the employees go from one side or the other. But it does happen and it happens for good reasons sometimes, you know, some people have to move to another area of Florida and Service Source doesn't have an office there inside the state. So it would naturally make sense that they would stay within our system and they would go to a state unit and vice versa. And also for any kind of possible advancement. We do not have all of the positions that the state of Florida has. We have quite a few of the positions that they have under contract. But there may be an opportunity for one of our staff on both sides to have advancement if they come. So we do want to keep all of these great passionate people inside the system. So we're not looking to do that, but we don't encourage that. But that's the biggest thing, is making sure that we're working together and as a team rather than encouraging anything like that.   Carol: So is the pay similar then?   Tina: Yes, the pay is very similar. The only thing different you have to understand is that state benefits are less expensive. If you really kind of look at the bottom line, sometimes it may appear because we have to add on a little bit of money there to cover benefits and different things that a private company would be different than a state system. But when you really look at the actuality of them, Very similar. Very similar.   Carol: Gotcha. So, Brent, how about you? How are you dealing with just the overall staffing shortages?   Brent: Well, we're certainly thankful for our partnership with Service Source to provide the services that they do and the staff that they do. But bigger picture, I'm pleased to announce that we have put forward as part of the department's legislative budget request some pretty significant raises for our what we call our frontline staff, our counseling positions, our technicians and those folks who are working with the customers. It's frankly long overdue. And we, as many agencies around the country have experienced, have definitely had challenges with staffing. So we have gotten further along in this process than we have. I understand that before I came on board last year, the division was taking a run at this and getting their proposal into the legislative budget request, but it did not happen. So that has occurred this year. We're very excited about that. We have the department's support and we're cautiously optimistic that that will make its way through the legislature and this upcoming session and that we will have a great outcome there.   Carol: Good for you. That is exciting to hear. I'm sure colleagues across the country will be interested in how you pitch that to get into the budget. That's always part of the problem. Just getting it out of the agency.   Brent: Absolutely. And I will say a lot of blood, sweat and tears and a lot of hard work with staff here who really thought deeply and for a long time about the various ways that we could go about this. Yes, I'm proud of the folks here who have helped to make that happen. And as I said, cautiously optimistic. And we've tried to be as transparent as possible with folks around the state as well to let them know what we're doing and that we are we're trying to go to bat there and we're excited about the possibility and looking forward to a good result in the spring.   Carol: Excellent. Well, do keep me posted on that. So, Tina, I'm curious, are there other states that Service Source operates in? And then what kind of services can you provide?   Tina: Yes, we are a leading nonprofit disability resource organization. We have services and prime contract operations located in more than ten states and the District of Columbia. Service Source have five regional offices share a common mission to provide exceptional services to people with disabilities through a range of valued employment training, habilitation, housing and many, many other support services. We have regional offices that are in Florida, Virginia, Delaware, Utah and North Carolina. Our mission aligns with vocational rehabilitation mission. I mean, we are committed to building more inclusive communities.   Carol: Very cool. I had heard mentioned that maybe you guys even get into like being able to provide interpreter services and things like that.   Tina: Yes. Well, from this contract, having this contract for many, many years, you know, as I said, we sat on many bureau meetings and at one point Florida was in need of having a larger interpreter services scope throughout Florida. They already had interpreter services positions throughout Florida, but they were looking for a private organization or a contract. And we had experience in our Florida regional office working with individuals with deaf and hard of hearing. So we immediately jumped in and offered those services. And through that task we have a contract now where we have an interpreter services contract that is based out of our Clearwater, which is our regional office here in Florida. And we have positions throughout the state, again, just like our contract sitting inside state offices, serving right alongside the state interpreters, the state and staff interpreters. And it's been a wonderful program over the last few years.   Carol: Very cool. Yeah, Thanks for sharing that. I know some folks have struggled with the interpreter contracts. I've just heard that as of late across the country. As with anything else, you know, where people are struggling to get staffed. So looking back on all of this and knowing what you both know now, is there anything you would change about what has happened and how it may be happened? Brent, I'll go to you first.   Brent: Well, as I look on the historical record and the documents that I've been able to find about how all this occurred, I think hindsight being 2020, probably some of those initial contracts could have been drafted in a way that might not have raised so many red flags. Now, again, that is hindsight, because this was such a new and different concept. It may have been the case that regardless of how they were drafted, there would have been concerns. But, you know, I think some lessons can be learned from that as to how those have evolved. And again, there was some movement around this time when all this was occurring where VR was sort of moved from one agency to another, and it eventually landed with the Department of Education in 2002. And I think that provided some additional stability for the division, and we've been here ever since. So I think it was probably wise to start small and scale up from there and to focus on underserved areas. Those are, I think, some lessons that were properly implemented and that that would be a good way to get something like this off the ground.   Carol: Tina, how about you? Any thoughts on that? Anything you would change?   Tina: Yeah, I totally agree with Brent. The contracts started out very differently. At one point we had five contracts for this, this one contract. We had five different serving different areas of Florida. And I understand why it happened that way. Looking back now, though, probably with the idea that you can do amendments to contracts, I think if we were to do this again, just amending contracts and having one large contract, because now we do have over the last five years, the most recent contract is one large contract working as a team approach across the state. So all of our goals and deliverables are work together as in anything that you work with and a team approach always works better. I have consistency among managers working together. Everybody has final goals that we're all working for the same mission and concept, but they're working together and they're working as a team rather than working in separate areas of Florida with different guidelines and thought processes and salaries. It wasn't as consistent years ago. So I definitely think that was something that definitely will help all of us in the future when we look at something like this. But we have to, over time, continuously work on streamlining and efficiency based changes. They're necessary and we've done that over time. And I think because we've done that, it's led to the success of the program.   Carol: Well, the lessons that you all have learned and everything that you've gone through can definitely help another state because they don't have to go through the same path. They can start off kind of right where you're at really with learning from you all. So do you have any parting words of wisdom? If somebody is interested in this type of model? How about you, Brent?   Brent: Sure. I will just continue to say how well it's worked for Florida and how much we value the partnership. And I echo the sentiment that the state should all learn from one another and from one another's mistakes and challenges. And that's one of the great things about our collegial body that we share around the country with our colleague. You know, we're certainly willing to talk to folks to share documents, to let them know about how this is historically evolved. And I guess I would just say that it's one of the great benefits is that we're able to learn from one another and to complement each other. A private entity is able to be a little bit more nimble in many ways than a state agency that has layers of bureaucracy and sort of red tape. That's certainly a benefit that can occur with this kind of arrangement. It's something that we would certainly welcome any questions from other folks as to how they might do something like this in their state.   Carol: Excellent. So, Tina, how about you? Any parting words of wisdom?   Tina: You know, I would say just like Brent, it's a great partnership. We've had almost 22 years of experience working to support the state of Florida and their mission that has become our mission. It works successfully because we've cultivated an excellent working relationship with each other. The natural cooperation with our state counterparts has been an influential force in our success. Many years ago, one of the previous directors called it We now are VR one. We're no longer Service Source in State VR, we're VR one. I look to what we've just been talking about over the last year in the CSAVR, especially in the Spring Virtual Conference about transformational change and transformational leadership. You know, I wanted to raise my hand and go, that's like what we did 22 years ago. We were the transformational change that nobody really thought of back then. And so these are the types of ideas I hope that during my career now, I can see us replicate this relationship in other states so we can assist state VR agencies that are in need to help them achieve their goals and better serve their customers.   Carol: Very cool. I love that VR one. That's awesome. So I know you both had mentioned if somebody out there is interested in the idea and there's certainly welcome to contact you. So Brent, what's the best way for them to do that?   Brent: Sure. Number one, I have to get in a plug for our new website that has recently been redesigned. That's at w w w dot rehab works dot org. So that is the Florida general website. But to contact me directly, I'd be happy for folks to shoot me an email. And that is Brent dot McNeal at VR.fldoe.org.   Carol: Excellent. And Tina, how about you if somebody wanted to reach out and talk to you?   Tina: Sure. And I'll give you my contact first. That same thing with Brent. You can reach me on the state system at tina.Herzik@VR.fldoe.org or you can reach me on my service source, which is Tina dot herzik h e r z i k at service source all one word dot org. Please look up our website as well, ServiceSource.org. You'll get to hear and see all the other wonderful things we're doing throughout the country and you can see what's happening with other parts of our business. But we are very unique with this partnership. As far as what service source is doing for what we're talking about today. But that's also in the information when you look it up.     Carol: Excellent. Yeah, I really appreciate both being on. This is very cool to hear about what is. Happen and that it's sustained. It's really lasted the test of time, which is really interesting as well. And Brent, I hope you keep me posted on what's going on with those staff salaries later on. So I wish you both the best and happy holidays.   Tina: You, too. Thank you so much, Carol.   Brent: Thank you so much, Carol. And thanks, Tina, for agreeing to do this. It's been a great experience and happy to spread the word and hope that it's helpful for folks.   Tina: I'm glad we're working together, Brent, This is great, continuing our journey. That's right. Happy holidays, both of you.   Speaker1: Conversations powered by VR, one manager at a time, one minute at a time, brought to you by the VR TAC for Quality Management. Catch all of our podcast episodes by subscribing on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. Thanks for listening

This week's Misfit Entrepreneur is Mike Smerklo. Mike is a serial entrepreneur, investor, and founder of Next Coast Ventures, a unique venture capital firm that focuses on emerging companies heling them in the critical stage to hyper growth. After working in investment banking at Morgan Stanley, Mike was then recruited by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz to one of their new startups. In 2003, Mike purchased ServiceSource, a 30-person tech services startup and over the next 12 years grew it to a 3000 person publicly traded company with over $300 million in revenue and a market value of $1 billion. After exiting the company, he founded Next Coast, investing in over 40 startups to date and recently wrote the best-seller, Mr. Monkey and Me. Needless to say, Mike has a wealth of experience as an owner/operator and investor, and I am excited for him to share it with you. www.MikeSmerklo.com Mike grew in a rough part of Toledo, Ohio. He was raised by a single mom and had a simple goal which was to just get out. His mom focused him on education as no one had to gone to college in the family. He listened and ended up going to Miami of Ohio. After college, he went to E&Y as an auditor and found quickly he hated it. He then went to Lehman Brothers in investment banking. It sucked the life out of him, but he learned a lot before going to business school and then eventually out to Silicon Valley. He worked for Andreessen Horowitz, bought and ran ServiceSource until he sold it and the “retired” to Austin, Texas. Retirement didn't last long before he started Next Coast. What makes a great business? The short answer is “Do you do something for your customer that is a differentiating approach?” Do you bring a different and unique experience to the customer that they are willing to pay for once or multiple times? We overcomplicate things in our lives, especially business. You wrote Mr. Monkey and Me as a story of your journey with ServiceSource and lessons learned. Take us through the different lessons you learned. The goal was to write a book that got to the mental aspect of entrepreneurship. He not only drew on his experience, but also interviewed top entrepreneurs. The “monkey” is the voice in entrepreneur's heads that holds them back, The core of the book is the SHAPE formula. Self-Awareness Help Authenticity Persistence Expectations Take us through each element of the shape formula and define them. Self-Awareness: The ability to understand strengths and weaknesses and what the entrepreneur should focus energy on to improve. Help: Seeking mentors and coaching to help improve, but also finding those that are better in areas to help in the business. Authenticity: Finding your inner voice. How do you show up as the leader that you want to be and is natural? Persistence: Playing the long game and having the will to continue. Expectations: Thinking about the beginning, middle, and end of the journey and the different expectations needed at each stage. At the 14 min mark, we talk more about SHAPE and persistence more in depth. Lessons from working with Andreessen Horowitz that have really helped in your success? Each of them taught him different things. It was also early in their days in 1999. It felt a little like chaos. From Mark, Mike learned the power of thinking big and not taking half-measures. Ben taught Mike a lot about management. The best “how to be a manager book” is Management by Objectives by Andy Grove. Ben also shared that the first 25 employees hired in a company is all that matters. If you get those right, the culture, ethos, etc. will be set by those first 25. 40+ investments at Next Coast. Talk to us about your model and what you look for when investing a company. Market size is a factor. Does the solution differentiate and are customers willing to pay for it? Will they see real value? What do the economics look like and do they make sense? But 90% of it comes down to the entrepreneur. They use a term called “glass-eater.” Which is asking “Is the entrepreneur willing to do anything and everything, legally and ethically, to make the business a success building a real business – and do they know what it takes to do it?” Next Coast looks at over 1000 companies a year to find just a few. Things that get overlooked are that entrepreneurs have to be able to sell and have to be good at telling the story. “Great entrepreneurs can't imagine the world without their solution.” At the same time, entrepreneurs have to be willing to take feedback and advice. Entrepreneurs also overlook substitutes and inertia as competition.Things that are not direct competitors but are taking customers attention. What are market trends and things that are upcoming that entrepreneurs should be focused on? Each year, Next Coast does a lot of work to understand where the world is going. Future of work is still a strong theme. Work continues to be redefined. There is a still a lot of opportunity in the changing game of retail. Software is another good place. Healthcare hacking is big. Consumers taking more control over their health. Education is another place that is at the start of a big shift. Where do you see the future of work and the changes that will happen? Figuring out what a physical presence looks like. Great talent is everywhere and not having to have a complete physical presence makes it easier to get it. Challenges are managing in a hybrid work environment. Creating a cohesive culture in this new environment. Things are being reshaped. Another big trend is monetizing data. What is software 3.0 and how it is changing growth models…  It is still very early for software. It has gotten much easier to write software. Software 3.0 is no code, APIs, businesses that have software becoming a much bigger part of it. Enterprise is more saturated but using software in all aspects of life is just beginning. Next Coast invested in Everlywell which is healthcare hacking software which allows you to take a test a home on over 30 different things and then get results through software online. What do you think is most important for entrepreneurs to focus on in their business? The customer – they are everything. The entrepreneur must focus on their health – mental and physical. Best advice for entrepreneurs just starting out? Self-awareness is the cornerstone. Understand what you are good and not good at. It is better to play to your strengths than correct your weaknesses.   Best Quote: Great entrepreneurs can't imagine the world without their solution.   Mike's Misfit 3: Be nice. The world needs it now more than ever. Comparison is the thief of joy. Envy wastes emotion and drains you. It is easy to live a hard life. It is hard to live an easy life.   Show Sponsors NordPass Get 70% off a 2-Year Premium Plan and 1 month Free! Go to www.Nordpass.com/Misfit or use the Promo Code: Misfit at check out. Starr Peak Mining To learn more about Starr Peak Mining and stay up to date with the company's success, go www.StarrPeakMiningLtd.com or check out ticker symbol TSX:STE.V

Chris Van't Hof, Director of Revenue Operations at CB Insights, joins us on this episode of the OpsStars podcast to share his expertise and experience building a top-notch RevOps team. Previously, Chris was the Director of Global Revenue Operations for Uniphore, Director of Sales Operations for Honor and NextHealth, and Senior Analyst of Sales Operations and Pricing at ServiceSource. His experience is heavily focused on providing sales teams with insightful and actionable recommendations about product offerings, consultative selling tactics, customer retention, and pricing strategy. Today, Chris will share some of that experience to provide you with practical insights and advice you can apply to your business and RevOps team.

Welcome to the “Masters in Small Business Mergers and Acquisitions podcast.” I am your host, Peter Lehrman, and I’m the Founder and CEO of Axial (www.axial.net), a trusted online platform for business owners & their M&A advisors to use to safely and intelligently explore and execute capital raises, acquisitions, and exits with strategic buyers or professional financial sponsors. In this inaugural episode, my guest is Bret Forster, a good friend and Co-Founder/Co-CEO of Pearce Services. Pearce Services is a leading national provider of operations, maintenance, and engineering services for mission-critical telecom and renewable energy infrastructure. They safely service Wireless, Wireline/Fiber, Network ISP, Wind, Solar, EV Charging, and Energy Storage infrastructure customers around-the-clock. Join us for an in-depth discussion around Entrepreneurship through Acquisition (EtA) - the path to becoming an entrepreneur by buying and growing an established small business. For individuals with business skills and a desire to make a meaningful impact, this can be less risky than starting a new business around an unproven product or service. Bret will tell us about his journey as a leader and his humble beginnings making cold calls from his tiny apartment in San Francisco, to acquiring and growing Pearce Services in Paso Robles CA from a 70 person team, to over 2,000 employees with a growing renewable energy network of wind, solar, and cell sites, and EV charge points. If you have enjoyed this episode, check out Axial.com for more. There are recorded Axial member roundtables, downloadable tools for dealmakers, quarterly lead-table rankings, and lots of other useful information. To join Axial as an acquirer, an owner considering an exit, or as a sales-side M&A advisor, you can get started for free at Axial.com. Feel free to reach out to me directly at Peter@axial.net with questions, suggestions, or show topic ideas. Discussion points: Bret’s background and career leading up to Pearce Organic connections led Bret to his path Memories and highlights from Bret’s time at Serent Capital, ServiceSource, and McKinsey & Co. Tell us about your time at Willcrest Partners? Bret’s “scrappy” days making cold calls from his tiny apartment Pearce Services – how Bret discovered, the process of acquiring The reputation of search firms in the market Can you give us some advice on the EtA model? What's the best way to win business and compete? Find a theme, stay focused, and learn everything about that industry Some of th

Episode 223 features Mike Smerklo, an entrepreneur and professional investor in early-stage technology companies. He is the co-founder of a venture capital firm in Austin, Texas called Next Coast Ventures.Find Mike Online:Website: https://www.mikesmerklo.comLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikesmerklo/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mikesmerklo/Twitter: https://twitter.com/mikesmerkloYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC61Mtr5kAat0Wu6RCFE_9iQFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/smerklo.mike/About Mike:Michael Smerklo is an entrepreneur and professional investor in early-stage technology companies. He is the co-founder of a venture capital firm in Austin, Texas called Next Coast Ventures. Prior to this, he bought a small technology services company, ServiceSource, and ran it for twelve years, taking it from a small startup to a public company with over 3,000 employees worldwide. Michael was also one of the first employees at a pioneer cloud services company called Opsware (then Loudcloud), which also went public. Before becoming an entrepreneur, he had (and thoroughly hated) jobs in investment banking and public accounting. Mike splits his time between Austin and the San Francisco Bay Area and is married with four children.........Thank you for listening! If you wanted to learn more about the host, Brian Ondrako, check out his “Now” Page - https://www.brianondrako.com/now or Sign up for his Weekly Newsletter and 3x a Week Blog - https://brianondrako.com/subscribe/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

My guest today is Mike Smerklo, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Next Coast Ventures and author of Mr. Monkey and Me. Next Coast is investing in a new generation of entrepreneurs building disruptive companies in big markets. We discuss why Mike invests in consumer when his operational experience is in enterprise as well consumer trends he's passionate about, How he organized a search fund and purchased a company and ran it, and his SHAPE formula and how entrepreneurs could think about mental toughness. Here are the questions I ask him: What was it like being recruited by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz at Opsware? How did you end up purchasing ServiceSource? Why did you? So you have all this software and enterprise experience, when and why did you become interested in consumer? How did Next Coast Ventures start? I know you believe that in order to win today you have to build a community over relying on social media. What does community mean to you? What brands are building amazing communities that should serve as case studies? Do you need to stand for something to win in consumer? What is the future of retail in your mind? What are some of your investment themes? What has been your reaction to the pandemic as you think about new consumer behaviors and opportunities? What's your diligence process? What's some of the most common mistake you see entrepreneurs make? Would love to learn about your SHAPE formula and how do you think about mental toughness for entrepreneurs? What's one thing you would change about VC? What's one book that inspired you personally and one book that inspired you professionally? What's one piece of advice you have for founders?

Mike Smerklo is an experienced entrepreneur, investor and business leader driven by the desire to turn ideas into reality. Having bought and scaled a small business into a publicly traded company worth nearly a billion dollars in value, he has a deep understanding of the hard work, dedication and grit that truly powers successful entrepreneurship. Today, as the co-founder and managing director of Next Coast Ventures, Mike is a champion for a new generation of entrepreneurs building disruptive companies in big markets. His new book, Mr. Monkey and Me, is a “real talk” guide for entrepreneurs who want to cut through the noise to cultivate a mindset that supports greatness. Mike grew up in a blue-collar family in Ohio with dreams of achieving something more with his life. After working his way through college to earn an accounting degree and moving to Chicago to launch his CPA career, he eventually talked his way into a junior analyst gig with the Wall Street investment bank Lehman Brothers. He went on to earn an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and experienced the Silicon Valley dot-com boom as an investment banker at Morgan Stanley. Mike was recruited by legendary entrepreneurs Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz as one of the first employees of their new startup, Loudcloud. Here, he learned from the very best about what it takes to grow a company from an idea through an initial public offering. He began his own entrepreneurship journey in 2003, purchasing ServiceSource, a 30-person technology services startup in San Francisco. As CEO over the next 12 years, he grew the business into a successful 3,000-person publicly-traded company with close to $300M in revenue. He has developed a new perspective on entrepreneurship at the helm of the Austin-based firm Next Coast Ventures, which has backed more than 40 companies across two funds to help startup founders achieve their goals.

In this HCI Podcast episode, Dr. Jonathan H. Westover (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanhwestover/) talks with Mike Normant about shifting self-limiting attitudes and behaviors through self-coaching. See the video here: https://youtu.be/t7YulZvi7xE. Mike Normant's (https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikenormant/) is an author, executive coach, and leadership trainer, with a 25-year corporate career that included running global Learning & Development at both eBay and ServiceSource. He is also the creator of Coach Your Self Up, a training program that teaches self-coaching skills to help individuals make lasting behavior changes in support of their career and life goals. Following his own personal transformation, Mike created this program in service of his purpose: to help as many people as possible achieve more of their potential through heightened self-awareness. Check out Dr. Westover's new book, 'Bluer than Indigo' Leadership, here: https://www.innovativehumancapital.com/bluerthanindigo. Check out Dr. Westover's book, The Alchemy of Truly Remarkable Leadership, here: https://www.innovativehumancapital.com/leadershipalchemy. Check out the latest issue of the Human Capital Leadership magazine, here: https://www.innovativehumancapital.com/hci-magazine. Ranked #6 Performance Management Podcast: https://blog.feedspot.com/performance_management_podcasts/  Ranked #6 Workplace Podcast: https://blog.feedspot.com/workplace_podcasts/  Ranked #7 HR Podcast: https://blog.feedspot.com/hr_podcasts/  Ranked #12 Talent Management Podcast: https://blog.feedspot.com/talent_management_podcasts/  Ranked in the Top 20 Personal Development and Self-Improvement Podcasts: https://blog.feedspot.com/personal_development_podcasts/  Ranked in the Top 30 Leadership Podcasts: https://blog.feedspot.com/leadership_podcasts/

The self-leadership principles of being a work in progress Leadership development expert Mike Normant is the founder of Coach Your Self Up and a big believer in identifying and re-writing the self-limiting stories we tell ourselves. A certified engineer who pivoted into the L&D and HR space, Mike's own journey of confronting his beliefs and the resulting behaviours  inspired him to create programs and resources to help people boost their self-awareness. Mike shares his self-leadership insights and explains why we need to take a step up the ‘experimental staircase' to reach our potential. Why you should listen: cultivate a learning leadership mindset The importance of scaling leadership development Why leaders need more people stuff skills Approaching leadership growth as an experiment  We explore the leadership responsibilities of self-development Limiting leadership behaviour patterns  Incremental leadership development The filters that blur our leadership perspectives

    In this episode of the Road to Growth podcast, we are pleased to introduce you to Mike Smerklo. Mike is an experienced entrepreneur, investor and business leader driven by the desire to turn ideas into reality. Having bought and scaled a small business into a publicly traded company worth nearly a billion dollars in value, he has a deep understanding of the hard work, dedication and grit that truly powers successful entrepreneurship. Today, as the co-founder and managing director of Next Coast Ventures, Smerklo is a champion for a new generation of entrepreneurs building disruptive companies in big markets. His new book, Mr. Monkey and Me (Scribe Media, Nov. 17, 2020), is a “real talk” guide for entrepreneurs who want to cut through the noise to cultivate a mindset that supports greatness.      Mike grew up in a blue-collar family outside of Toledo, Ohio, with dreams of achieving something more with his life. After working his way through college to earn an accounting degree and moving to Chicago to launch his CPA career, he eventually talked his way into a junior analyst gig with the Wall Street investment bank Lehman Brothers. While he hated the job, surviving two years of hellish 100-hour workweeks and countless spreadsheets (so many spreadsheets) gave Mike a solid understanding of finance and company building. He went on to earn an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and experienced the Silicon Valley dot-com boom as an investment banker at Morgan Stanley.    Mike was recruited by legendary entrepreneurs Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz as one of the first employees of their new startup, Loudcloud. Here, he learned from the very best about what it takes to grow a company from an idea through an initial public offering. Mike began his own entrepreneurship journey in 2003, purchasing ServiceSource, a 30-person technology services startup in San Francisco. As CEO over the next 12 years, he grew the business into a successful 3,000-person publicly traded company with close to $300M in revenue.      In Mr. Monkey and Me, Mike draws on his broad range of experiences and mistakes as an entrepreneur and venture capitalist. Using lessons he learned from renowned entrepreneurs, he developed the SHAPE formula -- Self, Help, Authenticity, Persistence and Expectations -- which gives readers an actionable approach to mental toughness that will help any entrepreneur start, grow and run a successful business. An anti-memoir, Mr. Monkey and Me features practical tools and the “other stuff” you don't normally learn in classrooms or business books, such as the mental hurdles you have to overcome, the risks you have to take and the sacrifices and mistakes you'll make to become a successful entrepreneur.     He has developed a new perspective on entrepreneurship at the helm of the Austin-based firm Next Coast Ventures, which has backed more than 40 companies across two funds to help startup founders achieve their goals. Mike and his wife spend the bulk of their free time chasing their four children.  Learn more and connect with Mike Smerklo by visiting him on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikesmerklo/ Youtube : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC61Mtr5kAat0Wu6RCFE_9iQ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mikesmerklo/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/mikesmerklo   Be sure to follow us on Twitter: Twitter.com/to_growth on Facebook: facebook.com/Road2Growth   Subscribe to our podcast across the web: https://www.theenriquezgroup.com/blog Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2Cdmacc iTunes: https://apple.co/2F4zAcn Castbox: http://bit.ly/2F4NfQq Google Play: http://bit.ly/2TxUYQ2 Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKnzMRkl-PurAb32mCLCMeA?view_as=subscriber  

  Have you reached your full potential? Are you living the best version of your life, or are you being held back by your self-limiting beliefs?   To reach your full potential and live the best version of your life, it is vital to reflect and experiment with risk-taking to transform. In this episode of the Legendary Leaders Podcast, I welcome Mike Normant - author, Executive Coach and leadership trainer. He has 25 years of experience in corporate careers and his current purpose is to help raise self-awareness in the world. Mike talks about his self-awareness journey and how it transformed him into a more risk-taking version of himself.   Listen in to learn the importance of experimenting with small risks before taking bigger risks in your self-coaching journey to stretch yourself out of your comfort zone.   You will also learn how self-coaching allows you to be more present and to set clear boundaries in all aspects of your life.   Key Takeaways: How to change your mindset and take risks to realize your potential. How to challenge your self-limiting beliefs by reflecting deeply in therapy and coaching. How to increase your ability to be more present and to manage your boundaries with the help of self-coaching.     If you enjoyed this episode, check out the video show notes and SUBSCRIBE TO THIS PODCAST on Apple Podcasts.   Episode Timeline: [5:37] How Mike uses self-coaching to help people drive for sustainable behaviour change. [7:39] Mike shares how his life transformed as he became a risk-taker and realised his potential. [12:36] How he learned to experiment with small risks before taking bigger ones. [15:16] Learning how to use experimentation to start your self-coaching journey. [20:05] Challenge your own self-limiting story to understand whether it's true or not. [24:21] Why self-coaching is becoming very important in organisations' future. [31:46] The different behavioural shifts and benefits of self-coaching experimenting. [34:45] Make the right choices for yourself by experimenting with boundary management. [37:59] Mike talks about his self-coaching program and the self-leadership tools it offers. [40:40] Where you can get Mike's online self-coaching program.   Standout Quotes: “When we're working on ourselves, if we can hold our actions as experiments, then it's much less likely that we're going to judge ourselves if they don't work out the way we hope they would.”- Mike Normant [16:22]   “Self-coaching will become even stronger and more important in the near future.”- Cathleen Merkel [24:04]   “Becoming more effective at attention management can help with handling lots of the distractions.”- Mike Normant [34:52]   “Give yourself space and time to reflect, to simply be, to enjoy yourself, and to own your development and transformation more and more.”- Cathleen Merkel [44:41]   Connect: Find | Cathleen Merkel At cathleenmerkel.com On Instagram: @CathleenMerkel On Facebook: @CathleenMerkelCoaching On LinkedIn: @CathleenMerkel     Find | Mike Normant Website: https://coachyourselfup.com/ On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikenormant/ Book: Coach Your Self Up - https://www.amazon.com/dp/173219310X or “indiebound.com” for listeners based in the US or Canada. Mike is looking forward to hearing from you by sending an email to mike@mikenormant.com.     SUBSCRIBE TO THIS PODCAST On Apple Podcasts.     About Cathleen:     As a Thought Leader in the Mindset & (Self-) Leadership space, Cathleen supports high achieving, but worn-out women create a more content & balanced life without sacrificing their hard-earned success. Following a simple 6 step framework, she helps you not only reconnect with your inner feminine side; Cathleen also supports you to rediscover your REAL YOU!    Cathleen focuses on women who lost their sense of purpose, who feel they are running in a hamster wheel, trying to please everyone but themselves. She helps you to turn your careers, your social connections and personal life around so that you will start feeling fulfilled and excited again about the days to come.      At the end of the process, Cathleen's clients will feel healthier, happier, energised and clear about their future.        With over 15 years of leadership experience in Retail, Media & Broadcasting, Engineering and Property Investment, Cathleen has not only experienced the challenges and opportunities of a female leader herself; she has also been leading and supporting various leadership development initiatives within large, complex, multinational matrix organisations.   Only by deeply experiencing her very personal life challenges – ‘hitting a wall experiences' –Cathleen was able to redefine her own purpose, deciding to bring ease and content to as many women as possible on the planet!     Tune in here:  https://apple.co/2CaSQ5K https://spoti.fi/2XzM4QJ https://music.amazon.co.uk/podcasts/85d200fb-8e1d-46b3-b550-b00b9666f00f/The-Legendary-Leaders-Podcast       About Mike Normant   Mike Normant is an author, executive coach, and leadership trainer, with a 25-year corporate career that included running global Learning & Development at both eBay and ServiceSource.  He is also the creator of Coach Your Self Up, a training program that teaches self-coaching skills to help individuals make lasting behaviour changes in support of their career and life goals. Following his own personal transformation, Mike created this program in service of his purpose: to raise self-awareness in the world so that as many people as possible may achieve more of their potential.   Mike was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area and currently lives in San Mateo. He's an avid live music fan and can't wait for concerts to make a post-COVID return.  

In episode 648 of "Making Waves at C-Level" Thom chats with a repeat guest on the show, Mike Smerklo. Together they discuss trends before and after the pandemic and how business leaders can "Make Waves" in the new environment. They also talk about Mike's new book, "Mr. Monkey and Me".  About Mike SmerkloMike Smerklo is an experienced entrepreneur, investor and business leader driven by the desire to turn ideas into reality.  Having bought and scaled a small business into a publicly traded company worth nearly a billion dollars in value, he has a deep understanding of the hard work, dedication and grit that truly powers successful entrepreneurship.Today, as the co-founder and managing director of Next Coast Ventures, Smerklo is a champion for a new generation of entrepreneurs building disruptive companies in big markets. His new book, Mr. Monkey and Me (Scribe Media, Nov. 17, 2020), is a “real talk” guide for entrepreneurs who want to cut through the noise to  cultivate a mindset that supports greatness. Smerklo grew up in a blue-collar family outside of Toledo, Ohio, with dreams of achieving something more with his life. After working his way through college to earn an accounting degree and moving to Chicago to launch his CPA career, he eventually talked his way into a junior analyst gig with the Wall Street investment bank Lehman Brothers. While he hated the job, surviving two years of hellish 100-hour workweeks and countless spreadsheets (so many spreadsheets) gave Smerklo a solid understanding of finance and company building. He went on to earn an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and experienced the Silicon Valley dot-com boom as an investment banker at Morgan Stanley. Smerklo was recruited by legendary entrepreneurs Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz as one of the first employees of their new startup, Loudcloud. Here, he learned from the very best about what it takes to grow a company from an idea through an initial public offering. Smerklo began his own entrepreneurship journey in 2003, purchasing ServiceSource, a 30-person technology services startup in San Francisco. As CEO over the next 12 years, he grew the business into a successful 3,000-person publicly traded company with close to $300M in revenue.  In Mr. Monkey and Me, Smerklo draws on his broad range of experiences and mistakes as an entrepreneur and venture capitalist. Using lessons he learned from renowned entrepreneurs, he developed the SHAPE formula -- Self, Help, Authenticity, Persistence and Expectations -- which gives readers an actionable approach to mental toughness that will help any entrepreneur start, grow and run a successful business. An anti-memoir, Mr. Monkey and Me features practical tools and the “other stuff” you don’t normally learn in classrooms or business books, such as the mental hurdles you have to overcome, the risks you have to take and the sacrifices and mistakes you’ll make to become a successful entrepreneur.  He has developed a new perspective on entrepreneurship at the helm of the Austin-based firm Next Coast Ventures, which has backed more than 40 companies across two funds to help startup founders achieve their goals. Mike and his wife spend the bulk of their free time chasing their four children. Visit https://www.mikesmerklo.com to read his blog and learn more.https://thomsinger.com/podcast/Mr-Monkey-and-Me************ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mike Smerklo of Next Coast Ventures joins Nick to discuss The Sustainable & Temporary Trends of COVID, The Self-Aware Founder, and Writing the Survival Guide for the Mental Aspect of Entrepreneurship. In this episode, we cover: Walk us through your background and path to VC. What's the thesis at Next Coast Ventures? What are 'Next Coast' markets? How do you come up with the themes that drive investment focus at NCV? What are some of the trends emerging now that you are following that may have the most impact on new business creation over the next five years? Which are sustainable and which are temporary? Especially in the post covid world.  The biggest difference in the founder journey from the LoudCloud and ServiceSource days vs. today? What qualities do you look for in founders when investing in the early-stage vs. growth stage? How do you help founders? What led you to write the book Mr. Monkey and Me? Why are you giving all the proceeds for the book to charity? I would love to hear your thoughts on self-awareness w/ entrepreneurs and your approach to it. This question is called three data points. I'm going to give you a hypothetical situation w/ a startup, and you can ask three questions for three specific data points. Let's say you're approached to invest in a Series A Marketplace startup... The company is based in Houston The sector is oil/gas. They launched 24 months ago. and they currently have $500k/month GMV and a 25% take rate ($125k monthly revenue run rate) Again, the catch is, you can only ask 3 questions for 3 specific data points, in order to make your decision. What three questions do you ask?

Managing director of Next Coast Ventures Show notes: https://www.markgraban.com/mistake47 My guest for Episode #47 is Mike Smerklo. He is an entrepreneur, an investor, he's the co-founder and managing director of Next Coast Ventures. He was one of the first employees at Loudcloud, recruited there by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. in 2003, he purchased ServiceSource, a 30-person technology services startup in San Francisco. As CEO over the next 12 years, he grew the business into a successful 3,000-person publicly traded company with close to $300M in revenue. Mike now shares his lessons in his book Mr. Monkey and Me: A Real Survival Guide for Entrepreneurs. In today's episode, Mike shares favorite mistakes about giving into “fear, uncertainty, and doubt” and how he made the mistake of trying to be a blend of two very different leaders who were both role models to him. We also talk about why he wrote the book and the “SHAPE” formula — Self Awareness, Help, Authenticity, Persistence and Expectations. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/favorite-mistake/support

Thomas Mendoza joined NetApp in 1994 as Vice President of North America sales. He served as its President from 2000 until 2008, when he became Vice Chairman.   He helped establish the culture that allowed NetApp to be ranked #1 in Fortune Magazine’s "100 Best Companies To Work For" in 2009, as well as being a co-recipient with NetApp CEO, Dan Warmenhoven of the Morgan Stanley Leadership Award for Global Commerce —the first time the award had been co-presented to two individuals.   Mendoza retired from NetApp in 2019 and currently serves on the Boards of VAST Data, UiPath, Varonis, ServiceSource, and Arxan. He previously served on the Boards of Infoblox, NetScreen (acquired by Juniper Networks), and Rhapsody Networks (acquired by Brocade). Mr. Mendoza also serves on the Justin Tuck RUSH Foundation for Children's Literacy.   Mendoza frequently speaks on corporate culture and leadership to a wide variety of audiences which have included major Universities such as Stanford University (where he has been a guest lecturer since 1997), Notre Dame, Harvard and United States Military Academy as well as to diverse groups such as the  United States Marine Corps, keynotes at Oracle World and numerous other industry events.   Charities that Mr. Mendoza has been significantly involved with include the Pat Tillman Foundation, St. Baldrick’s Foundation, the Navy SEAL Foundation and Justin Tuck’s RUSH Foundation for Children’s literacy.   Mendoza holds a BA from Notre Dame and is an alumnus of the Stanford Executive Program (SEP). In September 2000 Notre Dame named (was not named before) their business school the Mendoza College of Business after an endowment from Tom and Kathy Mendoza.

In this podcast episode, I had the pleasure of interviewing the author of the book, "Mr. Monkey and Me," Mike Smerklo. Mike shares the inner critic we all face and has done an amazing job of titling it, "The Monkey in my head." I have always believed if you can make light of the inner critic within you, it takes less power over you and you can be more resilient to the words, emotions, and things it will say to you. Check out the episode and learn more about the monkeys we all have within our heads! Who is Mike Smerklo? Mike Smerklo is an experienced entrepreneur, investor and business leader driven by the desire to turn ideas into reality. Having bought and scaled a small business into a publicly-traded company worth nearly a billion dollars in value, he has a deep understanding of the hard work, dedication, and grit that truly powers successful entrepreneurship. Today, as the co-founder and managing director of Next Coast Ventures, Smerklo is a champion for a new generation of entrepreneurs building disruptive companies in big markets. His new book, Mr. Monkey and Me (Scribe Media, Nov. 17 2020), is a “real talk” guide for entrepreneurs who want to cut through the noise to cultivate a mindset that supports greatness.   Smerklo grew up in a blue-collar family outside of Toledo, Ohio, with dreams of achieving something more with his life. After working his way through college to earn an accounting degree and moving to Chicago to launch his CPA career, he eventually talked his way into a junior analyst gig with the Wall Street investment bank Lehman Brothers. While he hated the job, surviving two years of hellish 100-hour workweeks and countless spreadsheets (so many spreadsheets) gave Smerklo a solid understanding of finance and company building. He went on to earn an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and experienced the Silicon Valley dot-com boom as an investment banker at Morgan Stanley.   Smerklo was recruited by legendary entrepreneurs Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz as one of the first employees of their new startup, Loudcloud. Here, he learned from the very best about what it takes to grow a company from an idea through an initial public offering.   Smerklo began his own entrepreneurship journey in 2003, purchasing ServiceSource, a 30-person technology services startup in San Francisco. As CEO over the next 12 years, he grew the business into a successful 3,000-person publicly-traded company with close to $300M in revenue.   He has developed a new perspective on entrepreneurship at the helm of the Austin-based firm Next Coast Ventures, which has backed more than 40 companies across two funds to help startup founders achieve their goals. Mike and his wife spend the bulk of their free time chasing their four children.   How to Connect Website: https://www.mikesmerklo.com/about/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/smerklo.mike/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikesmerklo/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/mikesmerklo Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mikesmerklo/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC61Mtr5kAat0Wu6RCFE_9iQ --------------------------------------------------------- Get Connected with Dr. Vic Facebook: www.facebook.com/DrVicManzo Instagram: www.Instagram.com/DrVicManzo LinkedIn: www.LinkedIn.com/in/DrManzo Parler: www.parler.com/profile/DrVicManzo YouTube: Bit.Ly/38QULv91   Free Virtual Workshop on Life Mastery https://empower-your-reality.mykajabi.com/pl/229795   Download the first 3 Chapters to Dr. Vic's New Book for FREE https://empower-your-reality.mykajabi.com/3-chapters-lead-generation-awitd   Looking for Coaching? https://www.empoweryourreality.com/one-on-one-coaching   Email DrVic@EmpowerYourReality.com

Mike Smerklo is by any measure a story of entrepreneurial success. Mike founded a search fund which led to the early stage acquisition of ServiceSource, and he took it to over $300M in revenue, took the company public, and was the CEO for over 13 years.Then Mike followed his passion to help fellow entrepreneurs and founded Next Coast Ventures in Austin, Texas long before Austin was being heralded as the next Silicon Valley for software.His secret, which threatened his success throughout his founder's journey is now out in the open, in his book, Mr. Monkey and Me. Mr. Monkey is a symbol for the fear, uncertainty, and doubt that every entrepreneur and founding CEO will face.During the podcast, Mike shares his "SHAPE" framework, to help fellow entreprenuers understand and mitigate that inner voice of doubt...the imposter syndrome. SHAPE is an acronym for Self-Awareness, Help, Authenticity, Persistence, and Expectations.During our conversation, we also talk about the "strength" of showing vulnerability by asking for help, even when you think as the CEO you need to always portray strength by having the answer to any problem...an impossible expectation.Mike shares that you are not alone with those private thoughts of fear, uncertainty, and doubt that comes with the entrepreneurial and CEO journey, and provides some helpful advice and even a framework to make your "Mr. Monkey" for favorite frienemy.

Patricia Elias has a unique title at ServiceSource: Chief Legal and People Officer. She joins the show today to talk about how she came to take on the HR role, the unique event that brought her to ServiceSource, and a key realization about this very moment in her career. ABOUT OUR GUEST Patricia Elias started as an SVP, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary for ServiceSource in 2016. Within two years, she was asked to assume the global HR role and title of Chief Legal and People Officer for a global company of over 3,000 employees.   Her prior roles include serving as Vice President, Deputy General Counsel at ViaWest, Senior Corporate Counsel at Flextronics, and Lecturer for the University of Denver's Daniels College of Business.   GET IN TOUCH WITH PATRICIA ELIAS ON LINKEDIN   THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS Podfly Productions: Podfly.net Veterans of Foreign Wars: VFWpost1.org OC Executive Search: OCExecutiveSearch.com   KEY TAKEAWAYS [2:02] Michael introduces Patricia and asks her to share an interesting fact about herself as well as a little bit on what ServiceSource is, and does — Patricia is an inline skating evangelist!   SHOOTING SPORTING CLAYS [4:49] Patricia talks about what brought her to ServiceSource and it all began with shooting sporting clays!   CORPORATE SECRETARY [6:38] What does a corporate secretary do? Patricia shares what her first few years were like. She shares the story of how she was approached to take on the role of head of HR.   PREPARATION? HARDLY [11:06] Patricia touches on how little preparation she got before taking on the role. It was on-the-job training; she shares the two things that helped her most at the time. Patricia shares why she chose the CPO title instead of CHRO.   WHY LAW? WHY IT? [14:33] Patricia shares how she made her way to law, and eventually Counsel; the choice of working in tech and IT probably reflects her strong interest in science.   HR/LEGAL [16:53] 80% of her time is spent on HR matters, 10% on legal, and the remaining would be a space where she needs to wear both hats. Because of this experience, as well as some personal choices, Patricia will probably never go for a General Counsel role that has no extended responsibilities again.   PIVOT [20:05] Patricia and Michael agree that she is currently in the middle of a pivot! Patricia explains that the breadth of the impact she has on the organization could never be equaled by a legal-only position.   PRIDE AND LEGACY [21:51] Patricia shares how proud she is about having instituted parental leave at ServiceSource as well as the broader diversity impact this measure has had on the business. She shares another pride point.   EXPECTATIONS [24:35] Patricia talks about the things she has found to be interesting discoveries about her new role, but she didn't have expectations, per se. She touches on how to handle working in multiple time zones and shares some personal tips on how to manage a team with empathy while working crazy hours.   HUMANS VS TECHNOLOGY [26:52] The modern technological paradigm has built a world where work hours have grown to the point of encroaching on personal life; Patricia shares her take on how to maintain healthy work habits. She also touches on the effects of COVID-19 on work environments and her predictions for the future of work.   ADVICE [29:32] Patricia offers advice to future CXOs and prepares for C-suite interviews. Know your business, and just don't be a jerk. She also shares her insight for people who hold dual roles as she does — especially when one of those roles involves legal.   BEST WORST JOB PATRICIA EVER HAD [34:14] A temp job answering the constantly ringing corded phone while welcoming and being polite to customers who appeared at the window. It was so stressful it led her to realize she needed a college degree.   FINAL THOUGHTS [36:45] An attitude of gratitude, empathy, and outward mindset are key to success, and happiness.   [37:17] Michael thanks Patricia for coming on the podcast to share her insight and closes out the podcast with his favorite takeaways.   We hope you learned something today and enjoyed the conversation. Please give us 5 stars on iTunes and share your comments so we can improve and ask the questions you want to hear.   MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM)   SPECIAL THANKS TO Jalan Crossland for the music Angela Johnson at OC Executive Search Joseph Batty at Podfly Corey Coates at Podfly

Patricia Elias has a unique title at ServiceSource: Chief Legal and People Officer. She joins the show today to talk about how she came to take on the HR role, the unique event that brought her to ServiceSource and a key realization about this very moment in her career.   ABOUT OUR GUEST Patricia Elias started as an SVP, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for ServiceSource in 2016. Within 2 years, she was asked to assume the global HR role and title of Chief Legal and People Officer for a global company of over 3 000 employees.   Her prior roles include serving as Vice President, Deputy General Counsel at ViaWest, Senior Corporate Counsel at Flextronics and Lecturer for the University of Denver’s Daniels College of Business.   GET IN TOUCH WITH PATRICIA ELIAS ON LINKEDIN THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS Podfly Productions: Podfly.net Veterans of Foreign Wars: VFWpost1.org OC Executive Search: OCExecutiveSearch.com   KEY TAKEAWAYS [2:02] Michael introduces Patricia and asks her to share an interesting fact about herself as well as a little bit on what ServiceSource is, and does — Patricia is an inline skating evangelist! SHOOTING SPORTING CLAYS [4:49] Patricia talks about what brought her to ServiceSource and it all began with shooting sporting clays! CORPORATE SECRETARY [6:38] What does a corporate secretary do? Patricia shares what her first few years were like. She shares the story of how she was approached to take on the role of head of HR. PREPARATION? HARDLY [11:06] Patricia touches on how little preparation she got before taking on the role. It was on the job training, she shares the 2 things that helped her most at the time. Patricia shares why she chose the CPO title instead of CHRO. WHY LAW? WHY IT? [14:33] Patricia shares how she made her way to law, and eventually Counsel, the choice of working in tech and IT probably reflects her strong interest in science. HR/LEGAL [16:53] 80% of her time is spent on HR matters, 10% on legal and the remaining would be a space where she needs to wear both hats. Because of this experience, as well as some personal choices, Patricia will probably never go for a General Counsel role that has no extended responsibilities again. PIVOT [20:05] Patricia and Michael agree that she is currently in the middle of a pivot! Patricia explains that the breadth of the impact she has on the organization could never be equalled by a legal only position. PRIDE AND LEGACY [21:51] Patricia shares how proud she is about having instituted parental leave at ServiceSource as well as the broader diversity impact this measure has had on the business. She shares another pride point. EXPECTATIONS [24:35] Patricia talks about the things she has found to be interesting discoveries about her new role, but she didn’t have expectations per se. She touches on how to handle working in multiple time zones and shares some personal tips on how to manage a team with empathy while working crazy hours. HUMANS VS TECHNOLOGY [26:52] The modern technological paradigm has built a world where work hours have grown to the point of encroaching on personal life, Patricia shares her take on how to maintain healthy work habits. She also touches on the effects of COVID on work environments and her predictions for the future of work. ADVICE [29:32] Patricia offers advice to future CXOs and prepares for C-suite interviews. Know your business, and just don’t be a jerk. She also shares her insight for people who hold dual roles as she does — especially when one of those roles involves legal. BEST WORST JOB PATRICIA EVER HAD [34:14] A temp job answering the constantly ringing corded phone while welcoming and being polite to customers who appeared at the window. It was so stressful it led her to realize she needed a college degree. FINAL THOUGHTS [36:45] An attitude of gratitude, empathy and outward mindset are key to success, and happiness. [37:17] Michael thanks Patricia for coming on the podcast to share her insight and closes out the podcast with his favorite takeaways.   We hope you learned something today and enjoyed the conversation. Please give us 5 stars on iTunes and share your comments so we can improve and ask the questions you want to hear. MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM)   SPECIAL THANKS TO Jalan Crossland for the music Angela Johnson at OC Executive Search Joseph Batty at Podfly Corey Coates at Podfly   ABOUT YOUR HOST For the past 20 years, Michael Mitchel, B.A., has been interviewing leaders in their fields. He started his career recruiting for United Parcel Service in Seattle, where he implemented the company's Welfare to Work program for the Washington State District. He has recruited for Federal agencies and U.S. Department of Defense contractors for classified programs internationally. He Founded OC Executive Search in 2001 to serve companies ranging from startups to Global F10. Michael is an honorably discharged veteran of the U.S. Navy and enjoys skiing, cycling, traveling, photography as well as hiking in the Colorado Rockies with his cattle dog, Kala the Wunderdawg.   FIND MICHAEL MITCHEL ON LINKEDIN AND ON TWITTER

Hello our beautiful five!Ya fav! EMS/911 calls! Megan and Gerry make an announcement and go over calls involving bed bugs, lice, car fires, overdoses, and unexpected births. Thanks for staying loyal to us and tell a friend! Sit back, wear your mask, and enjoy our podcast!Need Help? American Counseling Association Disaster Distress Hotline1-800-985-5990Chat: text TALKWITHUS to 66746Spanish Speakers text HABLANOS 66746Suicide Hotline1-800-273-8255Frontline Helpline1-886-676-750024/7 coverage w/first responder call-takersCopline1-800-267-5463Law Enforcement confidential helplineSafe Call Now1-206-459-302024/7 Help line staffed by first responders for first responders and their family.Fire/EMS Helpline1-888-731-3473Text based help serviceSource: https://www.crewcarelife.com/crisis-support/

Hey Five! Here is your favorite, EMS/911 calls! Megan and Gerry go on rants about not wearing seatbelts, unexplained medicals, and findings objects in fat folds! They also talk about the dangers of driving lights and sirens and review articles about ambulances that have been in recent accidents. Sit back, laugh, and enjoy our podcast!Need Help?American Counseling Association Disaster Distress Hotline1-800-985-5990Chat: text TALKWITHUS to 66746Spanish Speakers text HABLANOS 66746Suicide Hotline1-800-273-8255Frontline Helpline1-886-676-750024/7 coverage w/first responder call-takersCopline1-800-267-5463Law Enforcement confidential helplineSafe Call Now1-206-459-302024/7 Help line staffed by first responders for first responders and their family.Fire/EMS Helpline1-888-731-3473Text based help serviceSource: https://www.crewcarelife.com/crisis-support/New Intro!!Ben DuguayIG: YREDsoundhttps://linktr.ee/yred

Hi Five!! More EMS/911 stories for ya! Megan and Gerry talking about cement mixer fails, gunshot wound victims, an opiate pretzel overdose and much more! Wash ya hands and enjoy the podcast!Need More Help?American Counseling Association Disaster Distress Hotline1-800-985-5990Chat: text TALKWITHUS to 66746Spanish Speakers text HABLANOS 66746Suicide Hotline1-800-273-8255Frontline Helpline1-886-676-750024/7 coverage w/first responder call-takersCopline1-800-267-5463Law Enforcement confidential helplineSafe Call Now1-206-459-302024/7 Help line staffed by first responders for first responders and their family.Fire/EMS Helpline1-888-731-3473Text based help serviceSource: https://www.crewcarelife.com/crisis-support/

Five, would we ever lie to you? No! So hear us out... we decided to have a few too many drinks at our local dive bar(pre-quarantine) and then figured the next best thing would be to record an EMS/911 episode for you guys. Was this recorded at 4am? Yes. Is Jasmine slurring her words? Absolutely. Will we do this again? Most likely. Sit back, laugh, and enjoy our podcast!For first responders:Frontline Helpline1-886-676-750024/7 coverage w/first responder call-takersCopline1-800-267-5463Law Enforcement confidential helplineSafe Call Now1-206-459-302024/7 Help line staffed by first responders for first responders and their family.Fire/EMS Helpline1-88-731-3473Text based help serviceSource: https://www.crewcarelife.com/crisis-support/

WE ARE BACK FIVE! Hi, How are ya? We got new equipment and we kinda sound like we know what we are doing? This episode, is well...gnarly to say the least. We talk about two very prevalent stories that are more and more common in the United States everyday. Huge trigger warning for those that may have been involved in mass shootings. New Intro!!Ben DuguayIG: YREDsoundYred.sound@gmail.comhttps://linktr.ee/yredNeed Help?Vegas Strong Resiliency Center (702) 455-2433211 Ventura County Crisis CenterDial 211 or text ‘zip code’ 898-211American Counseling Association Disaster Distress Hotline1-800-985-5990Chat: text TALKWITHUS to 66746Spanish Speakers text HABLANOS 6674624 Hour Suicide Hotline1-800-273-8255National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)(800) 950-6264Frontline Helpline1-886-676-750024/7 coverage w/first responder call-takersCopline1-800-267-5463Law Enforcement confidential helplineSafe Call Now1-206-459-302024/7 Help line staffed by first responders for first responders and their family.Fire/EMS Helpline1-888-731-343Text based help serviceSource: https://www.crewcarelife.com/crisis-support/

"What is the craziest thing you've ever seen?" This is the question that we always hear when talking about our profession on the ambulance. Well the five, we have a plethora of gnarly, morbid, and gross EMS/911 stories for you guys this week! There is a necrotic foot, subway accident, and a ghostly goodbye! Sit back, relax, and enjoy the dark and delicious podcast!For first responders:Frontline Helpline1-886-676-750024/7 coverage w/first responder call-takersCopline1-800-267-5463Law Enforcement confidential helplineSafe Call Now1-206-459-302024/7 Help line staffed by first responders for first responders and their family.Fire/EMS Helpline1-88-731-3473Text based help serviceSource: https://www.crewcarelife.com/crisis-support/

"What is the craziest thing you've ever seen?" This is the question that we always hear when talking about our profession on the ambulance. Well, today is the day that we share some of those grim stories. Megan and Gerry both share 911 calls that are gnarly to say the least. They also read two EMS stories sent in that bring some comical relief to a morbid subject. Driving under the influence, not wearing seat belts, and loosing a fight against a fireball pretty much sums up the gore that will be discussed. If you have a weak stomach or may be triggered by some of these topics this episode is not for you. However, if you are intrigued then sit back, relax, and enjoy the podcast!Additional Information for first responders needing assistance:Frontline Helpline1-886-676-750024/7 coverage w/first responder call-takersCopline1-800-267-5463Law Enforcement confidential helplineSafe Call Now1-206-459-302024/7 Help line staffed by first responders for first responders and their family.Fire/EMS Helpline1-888-731-3473Text based help serviceSource: https://www.crewcarelife.com/crisis-support/

Barbara S. Hennessy owns and operates “The Joy Within LLC”, a private practice of emotional trauma recovery and chronic pain relief.  She is a Level One certified BrainSweep Intervention System coach and has completed the Level One Employee Family Support Program (EFSP) training for Employee Support Worker.  Most recently she has been appointed the Director of the Brainsweep Academy in the United States.  Barbara has over 20 years of experience assisting people with disabilities.  She has worked as a Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor with a specialty caseload of deaf/hard of hearing people for the State of Florida.  She then worked as a program manager for employment services at Abilities of Florida (now ServiceSource of Florida).  She supervised ten staff members in Central and South Florida that provided services for Vocational Rehabilitation clients.  RESOURCES: www.bswacademyusa.ocom visit to learn more about the 6 interventions YouTube Channel: Closing the Door to Suicide To learn more about our past podcasts, please visit us at savelori.org Visit our contact us page to send us a private prayer or request.  There’s even a speak option if you want to speak your prayer to the show team. https://www.facebook.com/savinglori/ BE A CHAMP.  GET HELP NOW: Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline (800) 422-4453 Report child abuse or neglect in your state, visit childwelfare.gov National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (800) 273-8255 National Domestic Violence Hotline (800) 799-7233

Stacey has extensive experience in generating demand, fueling growth, and building brand name global recognition for technology companies. She brings two decades of cloud, social, and mobile enterprise technology experience to her role as CEO of Zinc. Prior to Zinc, Stacey was Chief Marketing Officer at ServiceMax where she helped fuel 5 consecutive years of triple-digit growth leading to a $1b acquisition by GE in 2017. Before ServiceMax, Stacey was the Vice President of Global Marketing Communications at SuccessFactors. Stacey pioneered the marketing function at SuccessFactors in 2005, and was instrumental in the company’s successful IPO in 2007, which led to a $3.4B acquisition by SAP in 2010. Prior to SuccessFactors, Stacey held leadership roles at Oracle, Clarify, and ServiceSource. Stacey holds a BA in English from Emory University, where she was a four time first team all-conference soccer player. She loves deep steep powder, chasing around her two young daughters, and cheering loudly as her husband coaches basketball. She frequently writes on leadership, innovation, and women in business for Inc, Fast Company, and BizJournals, which can be found at staceyepstein.com.

Michael Smerklo is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Austin-based venture capital firm Next Coast Ventures. NCV provides early-stage capital to high-growth startups in ‘Next Coast’ markets, using macro trends and themes to guide their investment strategy.     Michael has been in the technology industry for almost 20 years as an operator, investor and board member/advisor. Michael currently sits on the board of NCV portfolio companies Tenfold, Navegate, LeanDNA and AlertMedia. He serves as a board observer for NCV portfolio companies EverlyWell, Stoplight and Cloverpop. Previously, he served on the board of OnRamp (acquired in July 2018) as well as SPS Commerce (NASDAQ: SPSC).       Prior to founding NCV, Michael was an investor and advisor to emerging growth companies in Silicon Valley and Austin, Texas from 2014-2015 via his personal entity, True North Ventures LLC. From 2003 to 2014, Michael served as CEO (and Chairman from 2008-­2015) of ServiceSource International, a company he acquired via a search fund, at a time when the company had one office, 35 employees and a few million dollars in revenue. Under Michael’s direction, ServiceSource grew from a groundbreaking idea into a publicly-traded company that is the market leader in Recurring Revenue Management (NASDAQ: SREV). Michael was named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year® Award Finalist in Northern California in 2010. Michael retired as CEO in 2014 and from the Chairman role in 2015 as part of his planned relocation to Austin. Prior to ServiceSource, Michael was an early employee at Loudcloud (renamed Opsware), working closely with Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz in Business Development. He previously worked at Morgan Stanley (Silicon Valley Technology Investment Banking), Lehman Brothers (M&A) and Ernst & Young (Audit, CPA).    Michael received his MBA from the Kellogg School at Northwestern (with distinction) and a BS in Accounting from the Miami University (Ohio). Michael is an active member of Young President Organization (YPO) in Silicon Valley. He is also an active blogger, focused on the Entrepreneur’s Journey, on his personal site www.mikesmerklo.com.

Thomas Pantoja is the Program Outreach Specialist for ServiceSource in Colorado Springs, Colorado. We discuss the jobs Service Source has open for individuals with physical and intellectual disabilities. This program is for full employment working on Fort Carson army base doing dining services.

Ashley Fieglein Johnson and Jenna discuss how Wealthfront is like a GPS for our financial lives and the team's mission to ensure that everyone has access to sophisticated financial advice — It shouldn't be reserved for the wealthy. We discuss Ashley's work advocating for women to invest, the importance of developing an ‘escape hatch' to create financial freedom and set yourself up to capitalize on opportunities to create wealth, as well as the financial advice she wishes she would have received early in her career. Ashley shares how Women at Wealthfront is actively working to help women build lasting careers, the team's commitment to changing the face of wealth management firms by prioritizing diversity, and why we need more women in leadership to not only break glass ceilings but glass doors. We also chat about Ashley's career including, rising up in careers where you don't have role models and how mentors can help, the three best pieces of advice she's received from her mentors, as well as her rapid ascent at ServiceSource where she held five senior leadership roles in five years.

Stacey Epstein is the CEO of Zinc, a communications platform for deskless workforces. We talk with her about her journey from an assistant to an assistant at Oracle to CEO of a tech startup. She shares her views of work/life balance and explains why communication is so important to all companies.Stacey has extensive experience in generating demand, fueling growth, and building companies from stealth startup to brand-name, global technology organizations. She brings decades of cloud, social, and mobile enterprise technology leadership to Zinc. Most recently, Stacey was Chief Marketing Officer at Banjo. Prior to Banjo, Stacey was CMO at ServiceMax where she helped fuel 5 consecutive years of triple-digit growth. Before ServiceMax, Stacey was the Vice President of Global Marketing Communications at SuccessFactors. During her tenure with SuccessFactors, Stacey pioneered the marketing function in 2005, and was instrumental in the company’s successful IPO in 2007, which led to a $3.4B acquisition by SAP in 2010. Prior to SuccessFactors, Stacey held leadership roles at Oracle, Clarify, and ServiceSource. Stacey holds a BA in English from Emory University, where she earned first team all-conference honors as the starting goalie on the women’s varsity soccer team all four years. She loves deep and steep powder, chasing her two young daughters around her backyard, and cheering loudly as her husband coaches basketball. Stacey’s writing on leadership, innovation, and women in business frequently appears in publications such as Inc., Fast Company, and Entrepreneur.Find more about Zinc at www.zinc.itWatch a demo of Zinc here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fIyc0-vkVY&feature=youtu.beWatch a video about Slack vs Zinc for deskless workers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxKhgswwu7A&feature=youtu.beHere's an article Stacey wrote for Inc. about Lars Dalgaard: https://www.inc.com/stacey-epstein/6-things-i-learned-from-lars-dalgaard.htmlMore about Stacey:https://www.inc.com/author/stacey-epsteinhttp://www.bizjournals.com/bizwomen/bio/22151/Stacey+Epsteinhttps://www.recode.net/2016/9/9/12851528/diversity-insularity-tech-companies-anil-dashhttps://www.fastcompany.com/3037200/you-know-your-company-needs-more-women-but-do-you-know-why See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This Ideas to Invoices podcast looks at early stage funding in Austin, Texas. It features an interview with Mike Smerklo and Tom Ball, co-founders of Next Coast Ventures, an Austin-based Venture Capital Firm that invests in early stage companies. Next Coast Ventures closed on a $85 million fund last month. One of the things that sets them apart from other VC firms is that both Smerklo and Ball are experienced entrepreneurs who have taken a startup from idea stage to exit. Before launching Next Coast, Smerklo ran ServiceSource and took it from a small startup to a public company with more than 3,000 employees. Ball was a general partner with Austin Ventures for a decade. But he also founded Tahoe Domains and Co-founded Openfield and Razorgator Interactive and founded eCoupons. Smerklo received his MBA from the Kellogg School of Business at Northwestern University and a BS in Business at Miami University. Ball received his MBA from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University and a BS in Finance at the University of Florida. He is also a Kauffman Fellow.

Tony Cancelosi is an unusual leader in the non-profit field. He made – what some might consider - a huge leap from corporate to entrepreneurial to nonprofit worlds, all with tremendous success. As it turns out there are many similarities in leading these different types of organizations including the importance of financial management, being clear about the organization’s mission and goals, building the organization’s and leader’s reputation in the community and listening and empowering staff. Tony’s recommended “leadership” book may surprise some at first glance since it’s now one of his little granddaughter’s favorites as well. Listen to this episode (or see the show notes) for the name of the book and other tools, tips and resources from Tony Cancelosi, the President and CEO of the Columbia Lighthouse for the blind. What You'll Learn The differences and similarities of leading a commercial vs. a non profit organization Importance of financial and business focus in non profits Why listening, humility and empowering others is important as a leader Focusing on your market as a non profit just as if you were a business Building your reputation in the community and ways to achieve that Links & Resources Columbia Lighthouse for the Blind – Non-profit organization that Tony Cancelosi leads The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstien – Tony’s recommended leadership (and grand-daughter) book Getting Innovation Right by Seth Kahn – book authored by one of the talented CLB board members Good to Great by Jim Collins – a business classic recommended by Tony About Tony Cancelosi  Tony Cancelosi, K.M. was appointed president and CEO of Columbia Lighthouse for the Blind (CLB) in September 2005. Under his leadership, CLB is refocusing its priorities to better serve the needs of the residents living in Maryland, D.C., and Virginia who are blind or visually impaired. To accomplish this goal, Mr. Cancelosi is expanding CLB’s strategic partnerships within the greater Washington, D.C. metropolitan area and forging alliances with other blindness and disability organizations, both regionally and nationally. Mr. Cancelosi represents CLB on the Montgomery County Workforce Investment Board and the Northern Virginia Workforce Investment Board. As CLB increases the depth and outreach of its local programs, Mr. Cancelosi is working to identify and cultivate new sources of private and government funding, reduce administrative expenses, and bring an increased level of fiscal accountability to the organization. Prior to joining the nonprofit organization, he was President of ICL, an international software company, and the CEO of several for-profit technology companies including iBrite, Inc., eStara, and Source Digital. He also served as COO for Kee Systems (now Sylvan Learning). Early in his career, Mr. Cancelosi worked in sales for Control Data Corporation. His nonprofit experience includes involvement with the International Center for the Disabled, National Kidney Foundation, and the Special Olympics. He is the former chairman of ServiceSource and is now a trustee of the ServiceSource foundation. In addition to serving on CLB’s Board of Directors, Mr. Cancelosi serves on the boards of directors of the DC Police Foundation, Providence Health Foundation, and VISTA Technology Services, Inc. and is president emeritus of the Association for Corporate Growth. He is a member of the Wharton Club, Leadership of Greater Washington Class of 2007, the Potomac Officers Club, and the Rotary Club. Recently, Mr. Cancelosi became a Knight of Malta as well as graduated from the FBI’s Citizen’s Academy. Mr. Cancelosi remains a partner at Human Capital Advisors. In 2010, Mr. Cancelosi wrote a book called Santa’s Secret, and all book sales benefit Columbia Lighthouse for the Blind. Mr. Cancelosi completed the Executive Finance Program at the Wharton School of Business in Philadelphia and received a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from St. Joseph’s University, also in Philadelphia.