Podcasts about your company

The reception to our recent post on Code Reviews has been strong. Catch up!Amid a maelstrom of discussion on whether or not AI is killing SaaS, one of the top publicly listed SaaS companies in the world has just reported record revenues, clearing well over $1.1B in ARR for the first time with a 28% margin. As we comment on the pod, Aaron Levie is the rare public company CEO equally at home in both worlds of Silicon Valley and Wall Street/Main Street, by day helping 70% of the Fortune 500 with their Enterprise Advanced Suite, and yet by night is often found in the basements of early startups and tweeting viral insights about the future of agents.Now that both Cursor, Cloudflare, Perplexity, Anthropic and more have made Filesystems and Sandboxes and various forms of “Just Give the Agent a Box” cool (not just cool; it is now one of the single hottest areas in AI infrastructure growing 100% MoM), we find it a delightfully appropriate time to do the episode with the OG CEO who has been giving humans and computers Boxes since he was a college dropout pitching VCs at a Michael Arrington house party.Enjoy our special pod, with fan favorite returning guest/guest cohost Jeff Huber!Note: We didn't directly discuss the AI vs SaaS debate - Aaron has done many, many, many other podcasts on that, and you should read his definitive essay on it. Most commentators do not understand SaaS businesses because they have never scaled one themselves, and deeply reflected on what the true value proposition of SaaS is.We also discuss Your Company is a Filesystem:We also shoutout CTO Ben Kus' and the AI team, who talked about the technical architecture and will return for AIE WF 2026.Full Video EpisodeTimestamps* 00:00 Adapting Work for Agents* 01:29 Why Every Agent Needs a Box* 04:38 Agent Governance and Identity* 11:28 Why Coding Agents Took Off First* 21:42 Context Engineering and Search Limits* 31:29 Inside Agent Evals* 33:23 Industries and Datasets* 35:22 Building the Agent Team* 38:50 Read Write Agent Workflows* 41:54 Docs Graphs and Founder Mode* 55:38 Token FOMO Culture* 56:31 Production Function Secrets* 01:01:08 Film Roots to Box* 01:03:38 AI Future of Movies* 01:06:47 Media DevRel and EngineeringTranscriptAdapting Work for AgentsAaron Levie: Like you don't write code, you talk to an agent and it goes and does it for you, and you may be at best review it. That's even probably like, like largely not even what you're doing. What's happening is we are changing our work to make the agents effective. In that model, the agent didn't really adapt to how we work.We basically adapted to how the agent works. All of the economy has to go through that exact same evolution. Right now, it's a huge asset and an advantage for the teams that do it early and that are kinda wired into doing this ‘cause you'll see compounding returns. But that's just gonna take a while for most companies to actually go and get this deployed.swyx: Welcome to the Lane Space Pod. We're back in the chroma studio with uh, chroma, CEO, Jeff Hoover. Welcome returning guest now guest host.Aaron Levie: It's a pleasure. Wow. How'd you get upgraded to, uh, to that?swyx: Because he's like the perfect guy to be guest those for you.Aaron Levie: That makes sense actually, for We love context. We, we both really love context le we really do.We really do.swyx: Uh, and we're here with, uh, Aaron Levy. Welcome.Aaron Levie: Thank you. Good to, uh, good to be [00:01:00] here.swyx: Uh, yeah. So we've all met offline and like chatted a little bit, but like, it's always nice to get these things in person and conversation. Yeah. You just started off with so much energy. You're, you're super excited about agents.I loveAaron Levie: agents.swyx: Yeah. Open claw. Just got by, got bought by OpenAI. No, not bought, but you know, you know what I mean?Aaron Levie: Some, some, you know, acquihire. Executiveswyx: hire.Aaron Levie: Executive hire. Okay. Executive hire. Say,swyx: hey, that's my term. Okay. Um, what are you pounding the table on on agents? You have so many insightful tweets.Why Every Agent Needs a BoxAaron Levie: Well, the thing that, that we get super excited by that I think is probably, you know, should be relatively obvious is we've, we've built a platform to help enterprises manage their files and their, their corporate files and the permissions of who has access to those files and the sharing collaboration of those files.All of those files contain really, really important information for the enterprise. It might have your contracts, it might have your research materials, it might have marketing information, it might have your memos. All that data obviously has, you know, predominantly been used by humans. [00:02:00] But there's been one really interesting problem, which is that, you know, humans only really work with their files during an active engagement with them, and they kind of go away and you don't really see them for a long time.And all of a sudden, uh, with the power of AI and AI agents, all of that data becomes extremely relevant as this ongoing source of, of answers to new questions of data that will transform into, into something else that, that produces value in your organization. It, it contains the answer to the new employee that's onboarding, that needs to ramp up on a project.Um, it contains the answer to the right thing to sell a customer when you're having a conversation to them, with them contains the roadmap information that's gonna produce the next feature. So all that data. That previously we've been just sort of storing and, and you know, occasionally forgetting about, ‘cause we're only working on the new active stuff.All of that information becomes valuable to the enterprise and it's gonna become extremely valuable to end users because now they can have agents go find what they're looking for and produce new, new [00:03:00] value and new data on that information. And it's gonna become incredibly valuable to agents because agents can roam around and do a bunch of work and they're gonna need access to that data as well.And um, and you know, sometimes that will be an agent that is sort of working on behalf of, of, of you and, and effectively as you as and, and they are kind of accessing all of the same information that you have access to and, and operating as you in the system. And then sometimes there's gonna be agents that are just.Effectively autonomous and kind of run on their own and, and you're gonna collaborate and work with them kind of like you did another person. Open Claw being the most recent and maybe first real sort of, you know, kind of, you know, up updating everybody's, you know, views of this landscape version of, of what that could look like, which is, okay, I have an agent.It's on its own system, it's on its own computer, it has access to its own tools. I probably don't give it access to my entire life. I probably communicate with it like I would an assistant or a colleague and then it, it sort of has this sandbox environment. So all of that has massive implications for a platform that manage that [00:04:00] enterprise data.We think it's gonna just transform how we work with all of the enterprise content that we work with, and we just have to make sure we're building the right platform to support that.swyx: The sort of shorthand I put it is as people build agents, everybody's just realizing that every agent needs a box. Yes.And it's nice to be called box and just give everyone a box.Aaron Levie: Hey, I if I, you know, if we can make that go viral, uh, like I, I think that that terminology, I, that's theswyx: tagline. Every agentAaron Levie: needs a box. Every agent needs a box. If we can make that the headline of this, I'm fine with this. And that's the billboard I wanna like Yeah, exactly.Every agent needs a box. Um, I like it. Can we ship this? Like,swyx: okay, let's do it. Yeah.Aaron Levie: Uh, my work here is done and I got the value I needed outta this podcast Drinks.swyx: Yeah.Agent Governance and IdentityAaron Levie: But, but, um, but, but, you know, so the thing that we, we kind of think about is, um, is, you know, whether you think the number 10 x or a hundred x or whatever the number is, we're gonna have some order of magnitude more agents than people.That's inevitable. It has to happen. So then the question is, what is the infrastructure that's needed to make all those agents effective in the enterprise? Make sure that they are well governed. Make sure they're only doing [00:05:00] safe things on your information. Make sure that they're not getting exposed. The data that they shouldn't have access to.There's gonna be just incredibly spectacularly crazy security incidents that will happen with agents because you'll prompt, inject an agent and sort of find your way through the CRM system and pull out data that you shouldn't have access to. Oh, weJeff Huber: have God,Aaron Levie: right? I mean, that's just gonna happen all over the place, right?So, so then the thing is, is how do you make sure you have the right security, the permissions, the access controls, the data governance. Um, we actually don't yet exactly know in many cases how we're gonna regulate some of these agents, right? If you think about an agent in financial services, does it have the exact same financial sort of, uh, requirements that a human did?Or is it, is the risk fully on the human that was interacting or created the agent? All open questions, but no matter what, there's gonna need to be a layer that manages the, the data they have access to, the workflows that they're involved in, pulling up data from multiple systems. This is the new infrastructure opportunity in the era of agents.swyx: You have a piece on agent identities, [00:06:00] which I think was today, um, which I think a lot of breaking news, the security, security people are talking about, right? Like you basically, I, I always think of this as like, well you need the human you and then there you need the agent. YouAaron Levie: Yes.swyx: And uh, well, I don't know if it's that simple, but is box going to have an opinion on that or you're just gonna be like, well we're just the sort of the, the source layer.Yeah. Let's Okta of zero handle that.Aaron Levie: I think we're gonna have an opinion and we will work with generally wherever the contours of the market end up. Um, and the reason that we're gonna have an opinion more than other topics probably is because one of the biggest use cases for why your agent might need it, an identity is for file system access.So thus we have to kind of think about this pretty deeply. And I think, uh, unless you're like in our world thinking about this particular problem all day long, it might be, you know, like, why is this such a big deal? And the reason why it's a really big deal is because sometimes sort of say, well just give the agent an, an account on the system and it just treats, treat it like every other type of user on the system.The [00:07:00] problem is, is that I as Aaron don't really have any responsibility over anybody else's box account in our organization. I can't see the box account of any other employee that I work with. I am not liable for anything that they do. And they have, I have, I have, you know, strict privacy requirements on everything that they're able to, you know, that, that, that they work on.Agents don't have that, you know, don't have those properties. The person who creates the agent probably is gonna, for the foreseeable future, take on a lot of the liability of what that agent does. That agent doesn't deserve any privacy because, because it's, you know, it can't fully be autonomously operated and it doesn't have any legal, you know, kind of, you know, responsibility.So thus you can't just be like, oh, well I'll just create a bunch of accounts and then I'll, I'll kind of work with that agent and I'll talk to it occasionally. Like you need oversight of that. And so then the question is, how do you have a world where the agent, sometimes you have oversight of, but what if that agent goes and works with other people?That person over there is collaborating with the agent on something you shouldn't have [00:08:00] access to what they're doing. So we have all of these new boundaries that we're gonna have to figure out of, of, you know, it's really, really easy. So far we've been in, in easy mode. We've hit the easy button with ai, which is the agent just is you.And when you're in quad code and you're in cursor, and you're in Codex, you're just, the agent is you. You're offing into your services. It can do everything you can do. That's the easy mode. The hard mode is agents are kind of running on their own. People check in with them occasionally, they're doing things autonomously.How do you give them access to resources in the enterprise and not dramatically increased the security risk and the risk that you might expose the wrong thing to somebody. These are all the new problems that we have to get solved. I like the identity layer and, and identity vendors as being a solution to that, but we'll, we'll need some opinions as well because so many of the use cases are these collaborative file system use cases, which is how do I give it an agent, a subset of my data?Give it its own workspace as well. ‘cause it's gonna need to store off its own information that would be relevant for it. And how do I have the right oversight into that? [00:09:00]Jeff Huber: One thing, which, um, I think is kind interesting, think about is that you know, how humans work, right? Like I may not also just like give you access to the whole file.I might like sit next to you and like scroll to this like one part of the file and just show you that like one part and like, you know,swyx: partial file access.Jeff Huber: I'm just saying I think like our, like RA does seem to be dead, right? Like you wanna say something is dead uhhuh probably RA is dead. And uh, like the auth story to me seems like incredibly unsolved and unaddressed by like the existing state of like AI vendors.ButAaron Levie: yeah, I think, um, we're, I mean you're taking obviously really to level limit that we probably need to solve for. Yeah. And we built an access control system that was, was kind of like, you know, its own little world for, for a long time. And um, and the idea was this, it's a many to many collaboration system where I can give you any part of the file system.And it's a waterfall model. So if I give you higher up in the, in the, in the system, you get everything below. And that, that kind of created immense flexibility because I can kind of point you to any layer in the, in the tree, but then you're gonna get access to everything kind of below it. And that [00:10:00] mostly is, is working in this, in this world.But you do have to manage this issue, which is how do I create an agent that has access to some of my stuff and somebody else's stuff as well. Mm-hmm. And which parts do I get to look at as the creator of the agent? And, and these are just brand new problems? Yeah. Crazy. And humans, when there was a human there that was really easy to do.Like, like if the three of us were all sharing, there'd be a Venn diagram where we'd have an overlapping set of things we've shared, but then we'd have our own ways that we shared with each other. In an agent world, somebody needs to take responsibility for what that agent has access to and what they're working on.These are like the, some of the most probably, you know, boring problems for 98% of people on, on the internet, but they will be the problems that are the difference between can you actually have autonomous agents in an enterprise contextswyx: Yeah.Aaron Levie: That are not leaking your data constantly.swyx: No. Like, I mean, you know, I run a very, very small company for my conference and like we already have data sensitivity issues.Yes. And some of my team members cannot see Yes. Uh, the others and like, I can't imagine what it's like to run a Fortune 500 and like, you have to [00:11:00] worry about this. I'm just kinda curious, like you, you talked to a lot like, like 70, 80% of your cus uh, of the Fortune 500, your customers.Aaron Levie: Yep. 67%. Just so we're being verySEswyx: precise.So Yeah. I'm notAaron Levie: Okay. Okay.swyx: Something I'm rounding up. Yes. Round up. I'm projecting to, forAaron Levie: the government.swyx: I'm projecting to the end of the year.Aaron Levie: Okay.swyx: There you go.Aaron Levie: You do make it sound like, like we, we, well we've gotta be on this. Like we're, we're taking way too long to get to 80%. Well,swyx: no, I mean, so like. How are they approaching it?Right? Because you're, you don't have a, you don't have a final answer yet.Why Coding Agents Took Off FirstAaron Levie: Well, okay, so, so this is actually, this is the stark reality that like, unfortunately is the kinda like pouring the water on the party a little bit.swyx: Yes.Aaron Levie: We all in Silicon Valley are like, have the absolute best conditions possible for AI ever.And I think we all saw the dke, you know, kind of Dario podcast and this idea of AI coding. Why is that taken off? And, and we're not yet fully seeing it everywhere else. Well, look, if you just like enumerated the list of properties that AI coding has and then compared it to other [00:12:00] knowledge work, let's just, let's just go through a few of them.Generally speaking, you bring on a new engineer, they have access to a large swath of the code base. Like, there's like very, like you, just, like new engineer comes on, they can just go and find the, the, the stuff that they, they need to work with. It's a fully text in text out. Medium. It's only, it's just gonna be text at the end of the day.So it's like really great from a, from just a, uh, you know, kinda what the agent can work with. Obviously the models are super trained on that dataset. The labs themselves have a really strong, kind of self-reinforcing positive flywheel of why they need to do, you know, agent coding deeply. So then you get just better tooling, better services.The actual developers of the AI are daily users of the, of the thing that they're we're working on versus like the, you know, probably there's only like seven Claude Cowork legal plugin users at Anthropic any given day, but there's like a couple thousand Claude code and you know, users every single day.So just like, think about which one are they getting more feedback on. All day long. So you just go through this list. You have a, you know, everybody who's a [00:13:00] developer by definition is technical so they can go install the latest thing. We're all generally online, or at least, you know, kinda the weird ones are, and we're all talking to each other, sharing best practices, like that's like already eight differences.Versus the rest of the economy. Every other part of the economy has like, like six to seven headwinds relative to that list. You go into a company, you're a banker in financial services, you have access to like a, a tiny little subset of the total data that's gonna be relevant to do your job. And you're have to start to go and talk to a bunch of people to get the right data to do your job because Sally didn't add you to that deal room, you know, folder.And that that, you know, the information is actually in a completely different organization that you now have to go in and, and sort of run into. And it's like you have this endless list of access controls and security. As, as you talked about, you have a medium, which is not, it's not just text, right? You have, you have a zoom call that, that you're getting all of the requirements from the customer.You have a lot of in-person conversations and you're doing in-person sales and like how do you ever [00:14:00] digitize all of that information? Um, you know, I think a lot of people got upset with this idea that the code base has all the context, um, that I don't know if you follow, you know, did you follow some of that conversation that that went viral?Is like, you know, it's not that simple that, that the code base doesn't have all the knowledge, but like it's a lot, you're a lot better off than you are with other areas of knowledge work. Like you, we like, we like have documentation practices, you write specifications. Those things don't exist for like 80% of work that happens in the enterprise.That's the divide that we have, which is, which is AI coding has, has just fully, you know, where we've reached escape velocity of how powerful this stuff is, and then we're gonna have to find a way to bring that same energy and momentum, but to all these other areas of knowledge work. Where the tools aren't there, the data's not set up to be there.The access controls don't make it that easy. The context engineering is an incredibly hard problem because again, you have access control challenges, you have different data formats. You have end users that are gonna need to kind of be kind of trained through this as opposed to their adopting [00:15:00] these tools in their free time.That's where the Fortune 500 is. And so we, I think, you know, have to be prepared as an industry where we are gonna be on a multi-year march to, to be able to bring agents to the enterprise for these workflows. And I think probably the, the thing that we've learned most in coding that, that the rest of the world is not yet, I think ready for, I mean, we're, they'll, they'll have to be ready for it because it's just gonna inevitably happen is I think in coding.What, what's interesting is if you think about the practice of coding today versus two years ago. It's probably the most changed workflow in maybe the history of time from the amount of time it's changed, right? Yeah. Like, like has any, has any workflow in the entire economy changed that quickly in terms of the amount of change?I just, you know, at least in any knowledge worker workflow, there's like very rarely been an event where one piece of technology and work practice has so fundamentally, you know, changed, changed what you do. Like you don't write code, you talk to an agent and it goes and [00:16:00] does it for you, and you may be at best review it.And even that's even probably like, like largely not even what you're doing. What's happening is we are changing our work to make the agents effective. In that model, the agent didn't really adapt to how we work. We basically adapted to how the agent works. Mm-hmm. All of the economy has to go through that exact same evolution.The rest of the economy is gonna have to update its workflows to make agents effective. And to give agents the context that they need and to actually figure out what kind of prompting works and to figure out how do you ensure that the agent has the right access to information to be able to execute on its work.I, you know, this is not the panacea that people were hoping for, of the agent drops in, just automates your life. Like you have to basically re-engineer your workflow to get the most out of agents and, uh, and that, that's just gonna take, you know, multiple years across the economy. Right now it's a huge asset and an advantage for the teams that do it early and that are kinda wired into doing this.‘cause [00:17:00] you'll see compounding returns, but that's just gonna take a while for most companies to actually go and get this deployed.swyx: I love, I love pushing back. I think that. That is what a lot of technology consultants love to hear this sort of thing, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. First to, to embrace the ai. Yes. To get to the promised land, you must pay me so much money to a hundred percent to adopt the prescribed way of, uh, conforming to the agents.Yes. And I worry that you will be eclipsed by someone else who says, no, come as you are.Aaron Levie: Yeah.swyx: And we'll meet you where you are.Aaron Levie: And, and, and and what was the thing that went viral a week ago? OpenAI probably, uh, is hiring F Dees. Yeah. Uh, to go into the enterprise. Yeah. Yeah. And then philanthropic is embedded at Goldman Sachs.Yeah. So if the labs are having to do this, if, if the labs have decided that they need to hire FDE and professional services, then I think that's a pretty clear indication that this, there's no easy mode of workflow transformation. Yeah. Yeah. So, so to your point, I think actually this is a market opportunity for, you know, new professional services and consulting [00:18:00] firms that are like Agent Build and they, and they kind of, you know, go into organizations and they figure out how to re-engineer your workflows to make them more agent ready and get your data into the right format and, you know, reconstruct your business process.So you're, you're not doing most of the work. You're telling agents how to do the work and then you're reviewing it. But I haven't seen the thing that can just drop in and, and kinda let you not go through those changes.swyx: I don't know how that kind of sales pitch goes over. Yeah. You know, you're, you're saying things like, well, in my sort of nice beautiful walled garden, here's, there's, uh, because here's this, here's this beautiful box account that has everything.Yes. And I'm like, well, most, most real life is extremely messy. Sure. And like, poorly named and there duplicate this outdated s**tAaron Levie: a hundred percent. And so No, no, a hundred percent. And so this is actually No. So, so this is, I mean, we agree that, that getting to the beautiful garden is gonna be tough.swyx: Yeah.Aaron Levie: There's also the other end of the spectrum where I, I just like, it's a technical impossibility to solve. The agent is, is truly cannot get enough context to make the right decision in, in the, in the incredibly messy land. Like there's [00:19:00] no a GI that will solve that. So, so we're gonna have to kind of land in somewhere in between, which is like we all collectively get better at.Documentation practices and, and having authoritative relatively up-to-date information and putting it in the right place like agents will, will certainly cause us to be much better organized around how we work with our information, simply because the severity of the agent pulling the wrong data will be too high and the productivity gain of that you'll miss out on by not doing this will be too high as well, that you, that your competition will just do it and they'll just have higher velocity.So, uh, and, and we, we see this a lot firsthand. So we, we build a series of agents internally that they can kind of have access to your full box account and go off and you give it a task and it can go find whatever information you're looking for and work with. And, you know, thank God for the model progress, but like, if, if you gave that task to an agent.Nine months ago, you're just gonna get lots of bogus answers because it's gonna, it's gonna say, Hey, here's, here are fi [00:20:00] five, you know, documents that all kind of smell like the right thing. And I'm gonna, but I, but you're, you're putting me on the clock. ‘cause my assistant prompt says like, you know, be pretty smart, but also try and respond to the user and it's gonna respond.And it's like, ah, it got the wrong document. And then you do that once or twice as a knowledge worker and you're just neverswyx: again,Aaron Levie: never again. You're just like done with the system.swyx: Yeah. It doesn't work.Aaron Levie: It doesn't work. And so, you know, Opus four six and Gemini three one Pro and you know, whatever the latest five 3G BT will be, like, those things are getting better and better and it's using better judgment.And this sort of like the, all of these updates to the agentic tool and search systems are, are, we're seeing, we're seeing very real progress where the agent. Kind of can, can almost smell some things a little bit fishy when it's getting, you know, we, we have this process where we, we have it go fan out, do a bunch of searches, pull up a bunch of data, and then it has to sort of do its own ranking of, you know, what are the right documents that, that it should be working with.And again, like, you know, the intelligence level of a model six months ago, [00:21:00] it'd be just throwing a dart at like, I'm just, I'm gonna grab these seven files and I, I pray, I hope that that's the right answer. And something like an opus first four five, and now four six is like, oh, it's like, no, that one doesn't seem right relative to this question because I'm seeing some signal that is making that, you know, that's contradicting the document where it would normally be in the tree and who should have access.Like it's doing all of that kind of work for you. But like, it still doesn't work if you just have a total wasteland of data. Like, it's just not, it's just not possible. Partly ‘cause a human wouldn't even be able to do it. So basically if a, if a really, really smart human. Could not do that task in five or 10 minutes for a search retrieval type task.Look, you know, your agent's not gonna be able to do it any better. You see this all day long. SoContext Engineering and Search Limitsswyx: this touches on a thing that just passionate about it was just context engineering. I, I'm just gonna let you ramble or riff on, on context engineering. If, if, if there's anything like he, he did really good work on context fraud, which has really taken over as like the term that people use and the referenceAaron Levie: a hundred percent.We, we all we think about is, is the context rob problem. [00:22:00]Jeff Huber: Yeah, there's certainly a lot of like ranking considerations. Gentech surgery think is incredibly promising. Um, yeah, I was trying to generate a question though. I think I have a question right now. Swyx.Aaron Levie: Yeah, no, but like, like I think there was this moment, um, you know, like, I don't know, two years ago before, before we knew like where the, the gotchas were gonna be in ai and I think someone was like, was like, well, infinite context windows will just solve all of these problems and ‘cause you'll just, you'll just give the context window like all the data and.It's just like, okay, I mean, maybe in 2035, like this is a viable solution. First of all, it, it would just, it would just simply cost too much. Like we just can't give the model like the 5,000 documents that might be relevant and it's gonna read them all. And I've seen enough to, to start believing in crazy stuff.So like, I'm willing to just say, sure. Like in, in 10 years from now,swyx: never say, never, never.Aaron Levie: In, in 10 years from now, we'll have infinite context windows at, at a thousandth of the price of today. Like, let's just like believe that that's possible, but Right. We're in reality today. So today we have a context engineering [00:23:00] problem, which is, I got, I got, you know, 200,000 tokens that I can work with, or prob, I don't even know what the latest graph is before, like massive degradation.16. Okay. I have 60,000 tokens that I get to work with where I'm gonna get accurate information. That's not a lot of tokens for a corpus of 10 million documents that a knowledge worker might have across all of the teams and all the projects and all the people they work with. I have, I have 10 million documents.Which, you know, maybe is times five pages per document or something like that. I'm at 50 million pages of information and I have 60,000 tokens. Like, holy s**t. Yeah. This is like, how do I bridge the 50 million pages of information with, you know, the couple hundred that I get to work with in that, in that token window.Yeah. This is like, this is like such an interesting problem and that's why actually so much work is actually like, just like search systems and the databases and that layer has to just get so locked in, but models getting better and importantly [00:24:00] knowing when they've done a search, they found the wrong thing, they go back, they check their work, they, they find a way to balance sort of appeasing the user versus double checking.We have this one, we have this one test case where we ask the agent to go find. 10 pieces of information.swyx: Is this the complex work eval?Aaron Levie: Uh, this is actually not in the eval. This is, this is sort of just like we have a bunch of different, we have a bunch of internal benchmark kind of scenarios. Every time we, we update our agent, we have one, which is, I ask it to find all of our office addresses, and I give it the list of 10 offices that we have.And there's not one document that has this, maybe there should be, that would be a great example of the kind of thing that like maybe over time companies start to, you know, have these sort of like, what are the canonical, you know, kind of key areas of knowledge that we need to have. We don't seem to have this one document that says, here are all of our offices.We have a bunch of documents that have like, here's the New York office and whatever. So you task this agent and you, you get, you say, I need the addresses for these 10 offices. Okay. And by the way, if you do this on any, you know, [00:25:00] public chat model, the same outcome is gonna happen. But for a different kind of query, you give it, you say, I need these 10 addresses.How many times should the agent go and do its search before it decides whether or not, there's just no answer to this question. Often, and especially the, the, let's say lower tier models, it'll come back and it'll give you six of the 10 addresses. And it'll, and I'll just say I couldn't find the otherswyx: four.It, it doesn't know what It doesn't know. ItAaron Levie: doesn't know what It doesn't know. Yeah. So the model is just like, like when should it stop? When should it stop doing? Like should it, should it do that task for literally an hour and just keep cranking through? Maybe I actually made up an office location and it doesn't know that I made it up and I didn't even know that I made it up.Like, should it just keep, re should it read every single file in your entire box account until it, until it should exhaust every single piece of information.swyx: Expensive.Aaron Levie: These are the new problems that we have. So, you know, something like, let's say a new opus model is sort of like, okay, I'm gonna try these types of queries.I didn't get exactly what I wanted. I'm gonna try again. I'm gonna, at [00:26:00] some point I'm gonna stop searching. ‘cause I've determined that that no amount of searching is gonna solve this problem. I'm just not able to do it. And that judgment is like a really new thing that the model needs to be able to have.It's like, when should it give up on a task? ‘cause, ‘cause you just don't, it's a can't find the thing. That's the real world of knowledge, work problems. And this is the stuff that the coding agents don't have to deal with. Because they, it just doesn't like, like you're not usually asking it about, you're, you're always creating net new information coming right outta the model for the most part.Obviously it has to know about your code base and your specs and your documentation, but, but when you deploy an agent on all of your data that now you have all of these new problems that you're dealing withJeff Huber: our, uh, follow follow-up research to context ride is actually on a genetic search. Ah. Um, and we've like right, sort of stress tested like frontier models and their ability to search.Um, and they're not actually that good at searching. Right. Uh, so you're sort of highlighting this like explore, exploit.swyx: You're just say, Debbie, Donna say everything doesn't work. Like,Aaron Levie: well,Jeff Huber: somebody has to be,Aaron Levie: um, can I just throw out one more thing? Yeah. That is different from coding and, and the rest [00:27:00] of the knowledge work that I, I failed to mention.So one other kind of key point is, is that, you know, at the end of the day. Whether you believe we're in a slop apocalypse or, or whatever. At the end of the day, if you, if you build a working product at the end of, if you, if you've built a working solution that is ultimately what the customer is paying for, like whether I have a lot of slop, a little slop or whatever, I'm sure there's lots of code bases we could go into in enterprise software companies where it's like just crazy slop that humans did over a 20 year period, but the end customer just gets this little interface.They can, they can type into it, it does its thing. Knowledge work, uh, doesn't have that property. If I have an AI model, go generate a contract and I generate a contract 20 times and, you know, all 20 times it's just 3% different and like that I, that, that kind of lop introduces all new kinds of risk for my organization that the code version of that LOP didn't, didn't introduce.These are, and so like, so how do you constrain these models to just the part that you want [00:28:00] them to work on and just do the thing that you want them to do? And, and, you know, in engineering, we don't, you can't be disbarred as an engineer, but you could be disbarred as a lawyer. Like you can do the wrong medical thing In healthcare, you, there's no, there's no equivalent to that of engineering.Like, doswyx: you want there to be, because I've considered softwareJeff Huber: engineer. What's that? Civil engineering there is, right? NotAaron Levie: software civil engineer. Sure. Oh yeah, for sure. But like in any of our companies, you like, you know, you'll be forgiven if you took down the site and, and we, we will do a rollback and you'll, you'll be in a meeting, but you have not been disbarred as an engineer.We don't, we don't change your, you know, your computer science, uh, blameJeff Huber: degree, this postmortem.Aaron Levie: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So, so, uh, now maybe we collectively as an industry need to figure out like, what are you liable for? Not legally, but like in a, in a management sense, uh, of these agents. All sorts of interesting problems that, that, that, uh, that have to come out.But in knowledge work, that's the real hostile environments that we're operating in. Hmm.swyx: I do think like, uh, a lot of the last year's, 2025 story was the rise of coding agents and I think [00:29:00] 2026 story is definitely knowledge work agents. Yes. A hundredAaron Levie: percent.swyx: Right. Like that would, and I think open claw core work are just the beginning.Yes. Like it's, the next one's gonna just gonna be absolute craziness.Aaron Levie: It it is. And, and, uh, and it's gonna be, I mean, again, like this is gonna be this, this wave where we, we are gonna try and bring as many of the practices from coding because that, that will clearly be the forefront, which is tell an agent to go do something and has an access to a set of resources.You need to be responsible for reviewing it at the end of the process. That to me is the, is the kind of template that I just think goes across knowledge, work and odd. Cowork is a great example. Open Closet's a great example. You can kind of, sort of see what Codex could become over time. These are some, some really interesting kind of platforms that are emerging.swyx: Okay. Um, I wanted to, we touched on evals a little bit. You had, you had the report that you're gonna go bring up and then I was gonna go into like, uh, boxes, evals, but uh, go ahead. Talk about your genetic search thing.Jeff Huber: Yeah. Mostly I think kinda a few of the insights. It's like number one frontier model is not good at search.Humans have this [00:30:00] natural explore, exploit trade off where we kinda understand like when to stop doing something. Also, humans are pretty good at like forgetting actually, and like pruning their own context, whereas agents are not, and actually an agent in their kind of context history, if they knew something was bad and they even, you could see in the trace the reason you trace, Hey, that probably wasn't a good idea.If it's still in the trace, still in the context, they'll still do it again. Uhhuh. Uh, and so like, I think pruning is also gonna be like, really, it's already becoming a thing, right? But like, letting self prune the con windowsswyx: be a big deal. Yeah. So, so don't leave the mistake. Don't leave the mistake in there.Cut out the mistake but tell it that you made a mistake in the past and so it doesn't repeat it.Jeff Huber: Yeah. But like cut it out so it doesn't get like distracted by it again. ‘cause really, you know, what is so, so it will repeat its mistake just because it's been, it's inswyx: theJeff Huber: context. It'sAaron Levie: in the context so much.That's a few shot example. Even if it, yeah.Jeff Huber: It's like oh thisAaron Levie: is a great thing to go try even ifJeff Huber: it didn't work.Aaron Levie: Yeah,Jeff Huber: exactly.Aaron Levie: SoJeff Huber: there's like a bunch of stuff there. JustAaron Levie: Groundhogs Day inside these models. Yeah. I'm gonna go keep doing the same wrongJeff Huber: thing. Covering sense. I feel like, you know, some creator analogy you're trying like fit a manifold in latent space, which kind is doing break program synthesis, which is kinda one we think about we're doing right.Like, you know, certain [00:31:00] facts might be like sort of overly pitting it. There are certain, you know, sec sectors of latent space and so like plug clean space. Yeah. And, uh, andswyx: so we have a bell, our editor as a bell every time you say that. SoJeff Huber: you have, you have to like remove those, likeswyx: you shoulda a gong like TPN or something.IfJeff Huber: we gong, you either remove those links to like kinda give it the freedom, kind of do what you need to do. So, but yeah. We'll, we'll release more soon. That'sAaron Levie: awesome.Jeff Huber: That'll, that'll be cool.swyx: We're a cerebral podcast that people listen to us and, and sort of think really deep. So yeah, we try to keep it subtle.Okay. We try to keep it.Aaron Levie: Okay, fine.Inside Agent Evalsswyx: Um, you, you guys do, you guys do have EVs, you talked about your, your office thing, but, uh, you've been also promoting APEX agents and complex work. Uh, yeah, whatever you, wherever you wanna take this just Yeah. How youAaron Levie: Apex is, is obviously me, core's, uh, uh, kind of, um, agent eval.We, we supported that by sort of. Opening up some data for them around how we kind of see these, um, data workspaces in, in the, you know, kind of regular economy. So how do lawyers have a workspace? How do investment bankers have a workspace? What kind of data goes into those? And so we, [00:32:00] we partner with them on their, their apex eval.Our own, um, eval is, it's actually relatively straightforward. We have a, a set of, of documents in a, in a range of industries. We give the agent previously did this as a one shot test of just purely the model. And then we just realized we, we need to, based on where everything's going, it's just gotta be more agentic.So now it's a bit more of a test of both our harness and the model. And we have a rubric of a set of things that has to get right and we score it. Um, and you're just seeing, you know, these incredible jumps in almost every single model in its own family of, you know, opus four, um, you know, sonnet four six versus sonnet four five.swyx: Yeah. We have this up on screen.Aaron Levie: Okay, cool. So some, you're seeing it somewhere like. I, I forget the to, it was like 15 point jump, I think on the main, on the overall,swyx: yes.Aaron Levie: And it's just like, you know, these incredible leaps that, that are starting to happen. Um,swyx: and OP doesn't know any, like any, it's completely held out from op.Aaron Levie: This is not in any, there's no public data which has, you know, Ben benefits and this is just a private eval that we [00:33:00] do, and then we just happen to show it to, to the world. Hmm. So you can't, you can't train against it. And I think it's just as representative of. It's obviously reasoning capabilities, what it's doing at, at, you know, kind of test time, compute capabilities, thinking levels, all like the context rot issues.So many interesting, you know, kind of, uh, uh, capabilities that are, that are now improvingswyx: one sector that you have. That's interesting.Industries and Datasetsswyx: Uh, people are roughly familiar with healthcare and legal, but you have public sector in there.Aaron Levie: Yeah.swyx: Uh, what's that? Like, what, what, what is that?Aaron Levie: Yeah, and, and we actually test against, I dunno, maybe 10 industries.We, we end up usually just cutting a few that we think have interesting gains. All extras, won a lot of like government type documents. Um,swyx: what is that? What is it? Government type documents?Aaron Levie: Government filings. Like a taxswyx: return, likeAaron Levie: a probably not tax returns. It would be more of what would go the government be using, uh, as data.So, okay. Um, so think about research that, that type of, of, of data sets. And then we have financial services for things like data rooms and what would be in an investment prospectus. Uhhuh,swyx: that one you can dog food.Aaron Levie: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Yes. Yes. [00:34:00] So, uh, so we, we run the models, um, in now, you know, more of an agent mode, but, but still with, with kinda limited capacity and just try and see like on a, like, for like basis, what are the improvements?And, and again, we just continue to be blown away by. How, how good these models are getting.swyx: Yeah, I mean, I think every serious AI company needs something like that where like, well, this is the work we do. Here's our company eval. Yeah. And if you don't have it, well, you're not a serious AI company.Aaron Levie: There's two dimensions, right?So there's, there's like, how are the models improving? And so which models should you either recommend a customer use, which one should you adopt? But then every single day, we're making changes to our agents. And you need to knowswyx: if you regressed,Aaron Levie: if you know. Yeah. You know, I've been fully convinced that the whole agent observability and eval space is gonna be a massive space.Um, super excited for what Braintrust is doing, excited for, you know, Lang Smith, all the things. And I think what you're going to, I mean, this is like every enter like literally every enterprise right now. It's like the AI companies are the customers of these tools. Every enterprise will have this. Yeah, you'll just [00:35:00] have to have an eval.Of all of your work and like, we'll, you'll have an eval of your RFP generation, you'll have an eval of your sales material creation. You'll have an eval of your, uh, invoice processing. And, and as you, you know, buy or use new agentic systems, you are gonna need to know like, what's the quality of your, of your pipeline.swyx: Yeah.Aaron Levie: Um, so huge, huge market with agent evals.swyx: Yeah.Building the Agent Teamswyx: And, and you know, I'm gonna shout out your, your team a bit, uh, your CTO, Ben, uh, did a great talk with us last year. Awesome. And he's gonna come back again. Oh, cool. For World's Fair.Aaron Levie: Yep.swyx: Just talk about your team, like brag a little bit. I think I, I think people take these eval numbers in pretty charts for granted, but No, there, I mean, there's, there's lots of really smart people at work during all this.Aaron Levie: Biggest shout out, uh, is we have a, we have a couple folks at Dya, uh, Sidarth, uh, that, that kind of run this. They're like a, you know, kind of tag tag team duo on our evals, Ben, our CTO, heavily involved Yasha, head of ai, uh, you know, a bunch of folks. And, um, evals is one part of the story. And then just like the full, you know, kind of AI.An agent team [00:36:00] is, uh, is a, is a pretty, you know, is core to this whole effort. So there's probably, I don't know, like maybe a few dozen people that are like the epicenter. And then you just have like layers and layers of, of kind of concentric circles of okay, then there's a search team that supports them and an infrastructure team that supports them.And it's starting to ripple through the entire company. But there's that kind of core agent team, um, that's a pretty, pretty close, uh, close knit group.swyx: The search team is separate from the infra team.Aaron Levie: I mean, we have like every, every layer of the stack we have to kind of do, except for just pure public cloud.Um, but um, you know, we, we store, I don't even know what our public numbers are in, you know, but like, you can just think about it as like a lot of data is, is stored in box. And so we have, and you have every layer of the, of the stack of, you know, how do you manage the data, the file system, the metadata system, the search system, just all of those components.And then they all are having to understand that now you've got this new customer. Which is the agent, and they've been building for two types of customers in the past. They've been building for users and they've been building for like applications. [00:37:00] And now you've got this new agent user, and it comes in with a difference of it, of property sometimes, like, hey, maybe sometimes we should do embeddings, an embedding based, you know, kind of search versus, you know, your, your typical semantic search.Like, it's just like you have to build the, the capabilities to support all of this. And we're testing stuff, throwing things away, something doesn't work and, and not relevant. It's like just, you know, total chaos. But all of those teams are supporting the agent team that is kind of coming up with its requirements of what, what do we need?swyx: Yeah. No, uh, we just came from, uh, fireside chat where you did, and you, you talked about how you're doing this. It's, it's kind of like an internal startup. Yeah. Within the broader company. The broader company's like 3000 people. Yeah. But you know, there's, there's a, this is a core team of like, well, here's the innovation center.Aaron Levie: Yeah.swyx: And like that every company kind of is run this way.Aaron Levie: Yeah. I wanna be sensitive. I don't call it the innovation center. Yeah. Only because I think everybody has to do innovation. Um, there, there's a part of the, the, the company that is, is sort of do or die for the agent wave.swyx: Yeah.Aaron Levie: And it only happens to be more of my focus simply because it's existential that [00:38:00] we get it right.swyx: Yeah.Aaron Levie: All of the supporting systems are necessary. All of the surrounding adjacent capabilities are necessary. Like the only reason we get to be a platform where you'd run an agent is because we have a security feature or a compliance feature, or a governance feature that, that some team is working on.But that's not gonna be the make or break of, of whether we get agents right. Like that already exists and we need to keep innovating there. I don't know what the right, exact precise number is, but it's not a thousand people and it's not 10 people. There's a number of people that are like the, the kind of like, you know, startup within the company that are the make or break on everything related to AI agents, you know, leveraging our platform and letting you work with your data.And that's where I spend a lot of my time, and Ben and Yosh and Diego and Teri, you know, these are just, you know, people that, that, you know, kind of across the team. Are working.swyx: Yeah. Amazing.Read Write Agent WorkflowsJeff Huber: How do you, how do you think about, I mean, you talked a lot about like kinda read workflows over your box data. Yep.Right. You know, gen search questions, queries, et cetera. But like, what about like, write or like authoring workflows?Aaron Levie: Yes. I've [00:39:00] already probably revealed too much actually now that I think about it. So, um, I've talked about whatever,Jeff Huber: whatever you can.Aaron Levie: Okay. It's just us. It's just us. Yeah. Okay. Of course, of course.So I, I guess I would just, uh, I'll make it a little bit conceptual, uh, because again, I've already, I've already said things that are not even ga but, but we've, we've kinda like danced around it publicly, so I, yeah, yeah. Okay. Just like, hopefully nobody watches this, um, episode. No.swyx: It's tidbits for the Heidi engaged to go figure out like what exactly, um, you know, is, is your sort of line of thinking.Sure. They can connect the dots.Aaron Levie: Yeah. So, so I would say that, that, uh, we, you know, as a, as a place where you have your enterprise content, there's a use case where I want to, you know, have an agent read that data and answer questions for me. And then there's a use case where I want the agent to create something.And use the file system to create something or store off data that it's working on, or be able to have, you know, various files that it's writing to about the work it's doing. So we do see it as a total read write. The harder problem has so far been the read only because, because again, you have that kind of like 10 [00:40:00] million to one ratio problem, whereas rights are a lot of, that's just gonna come from the model and, and we just like, we'll just put it in the file system and kinda use it.So it's a little bit of a technically easier problem, but the only part that's like, not necessarily technically hard, it is just like it's not yet perfected in the state of the ecosystem is, you know, building a beautiful PowerPoint presentation. It's still a hard problem for these models. Like, like we still, you know, like, like these formats are just, we're not built for.They'reswyx: working on it.Aaron Levie: They're, they're working on it. Everybody's working on it.swyx: Every launch is like, well, we do PowerPoint now.Aaron Levie: We're getting, yeah, getting a lot, getting a lot of better each time. But then you'll do this thing where you'll ask the update one slide and all of a sudden, like the fonts will be just like a little bit different, you know, on two of the slides, or it moved, you know, some shape over to the left a little bit.And again, these are the kind of things that, like in code, obviously you could really care about if you really care about, you know, how beautiful is the code, but at the end, user doesn't notice all those problems and file creation, the end user instantly sees it. You're [00:41:00] like, ah, like paragraph three, like, you literally just changed the font on me.Like it's a totally different font and like midway through the document. Mm-hmm. Those are the kind of things that you run into a lot of in the, in the content creation side. So, mm-hmm. We are gonna have native agents. That do all of those things, they'll be powered by the leading kind of models and labs.But the thing that I think is, is probably gonna be a much bigger idea over time is any agent on any system, again, using Box as a file system for its work, and in that kind of scenario, we don't necessarily care what it's putting in the file system. It could put its memory files, it could put its, you know, specification, you know, documents.It could put, you know, whatever its markdown files are, or it could, you know, generate PDFs. It's just like, it's a workspace that is, is sort of sandboxed off for its work. People can collaborate into it, it can share with other people. And, and so we, we were thinking a lot about what's the right, you know, kind of way to, to deliver that at scale.Docs Graphs and Founder Modeswyx: I wanted to come into sort of the sort of AI transformation or AI sort of, uh, operations things. [00:42:00] Um, one of the tweets that you, that you wanted to talk about, this is just me going through your tweets, by the way. Oh, okay. I mean, like, this is, you readAaron Levie: one by one,swyx: you're the, you're the easiest guest to prep for because you, you already have like, this is the, this is what I'm interested in.I'm like, okay, well, areAaron Levie: we gonna get to like, like February, January or something? Where are we in the, in the timelines? How far back are we going?swyx: Can you, can you describe boxes? A set of skills? Right? Like that, that's like, that's like one of the extremes of like, well if you, you just turn everything into a markdown file.Yeah. Then your agent can run your company. Uh, like you just have to write, find the right sequence of words toAaron Levie: Yes.swyx: To do it.Aaron Levie: Sorry, isthatswyx: the question? So I think the question is like, what if we documented everything? Yes. The way that you exactly said like,Aaron Levie: yes.swyx: Um, let's get all the Fortune five hundreds, uh, prepared for agents.Yes. And like, you know, everything's in golden and, and nicely filed away and everything. Yes. What's missing? Like, what's left, right? LikeAaron Levie: Yeah.swyx: You've, you've run your company for a decade. LikeAaron Levie: Yeah. I think the challenge is that, that that information changes a week later. And because something happened in the market for that [00:43:00] customer, or us as a company that now has to go get updated, and so these systems are living and breathing and they have to experience reality and updates to reality, which right now is probably gonna be humans, you know, kinda giving those, giving them the updates.And, you know, there is this piece about context graphs as as, uh, that kinda went very viral. Yeah. And I, I, I was like a, i, I, I thought it was super provocative. I agreed with many parts of it. I disagree with a few parts around. You know, it's not gonna be as easy as as just if we just had the agent traces, then we can finally do that work because there's just like, there's so much more other stuff that that's happening that, that we haven't been able to capture and digitize.And I think they actually represented that in the piece to be clear. But like there's just a lot of work, you know, that that has to, you just can't have only skills files, you know, for your company because it's just gonna be like, there's gonna be a lot of other stuff that happens. Yeah. Change over time.Yeah. Most companies are practically apprenticeships.swyx: Most companies are practically apprenticeships. LikeJeff Huber: every new employee who joins the team, [00:44:00] like you span one to three months. Like ramping them up.Aaron Levie: Yes. AllJeff Huber: that tat knowledgeAaron Levie: isJeff Huber: not written down.Aaron Levie: Yes.Jeff Huber: But like, it would have to be if you wanted to like give it to an Asian.Right. And so like that seems to me like to beAaron Levie: one is I think you're gonna see again a premium on companies that can document this. Mm-hmm. Much. There'll be a huge premium on that because, because you know, can you shorten that three month ramp cycle to a two week ramp cycle? That's an instant productivity gain.Can you re dramatically reduce rework in the organization because you've documented where all the stuff is and where the answers are. Can you make your average employee as good as your 90th percentile employee because you've captured the knowledge that's sort of in the heads of, of those top employees and make that available.So like you can see some very clear productivity benefits. Mm-hmm. If you had a company culture of making sure you know your information was captured, digitized, put in a format that was agent ready and then made available to agents to work with, and then you just, again, have this reality of like add a 10,000 person [00:45:00] company.Mapping that to the, you know, access structure of the company is just a hard problem. Is like, is like, yeah, well, you just, not every piece of information that's digitized can be shared to everybody. And so now you have to organize that in a way that actually works. There was a pretty good piece, um, this, this, uh, this piece called your company as a file is a file system.I, did you see that one?swyx: Nope.Aaron Levie: Uh, yes. You saw it. Yeah. And, and, uh, I actually be curious your thoughts on it. Um, like, like an interesting kind of like, we, we agree with it because, because that's how we see the world and, uh,swyx: okay. We, we have it up on screen. Oh,Aaron Levie: okay. Yeah. But, but it's all about basically like, you know, we've already, we, we, we already organized in this kind of like, you know, permission structure way.Uh, and, and these are the kind of, you know, natural ways that, that agents can now work with data. So it's kind of like this, this, you know, kind of interesting metaphor, but I do think companies will have to start to think about how they start to digitize more, more of that data. What was your take?Jeff Huber: Yeah, I mean, like the company's probably like an acid compliant file system.Aaron Levie: Uh,Jeff Huber: yeah. Which I'm guessing boxes, right? So, yeah. Yes.swyx: Yeah. [00:46:00]Jeff Huber: Which you have a great piece on, but,swyx: uh, yeah. Well, uh, I, I, my, my, my direction is a little bit like, I wanna rewind a little bit to the graph word you said that there, that's a magic trigger word for us. I always ask what's your take on knowledge graphs?Yeah. Uh, ‘cause every, especially at every data database person, I just wanna see what they think. There's been knowledge graphs, hype cycles, and you've seen it all. So.Aaron Levie: Hmm. I actually am not the expert in knowledge graphs, so, so that you might need toswyx: research, you don't need to be an expert. Yeah. I think it's just like, well, how, how seriously do people take it?Yeah. Like, is is, is there a lot of potential in the, in the HOVI?Aaron Levie: Uh, well, can I, can I, uh, understand first if it's, um, is this a loaded question in the sense of are you super pro, super con, super anti medium? Iswyx: see pro, I see pros and cons. Okay. Uh, but I, I think your opinion should be independent of mine.Aaron Levie: Yeah. No, no, totally. Yeah. I just want to see what I'm stepping into.swyx: No, I know. It's a, and it's a huge trigger word for a lot of people out Yeah. In our audience. And they're, they're trying to figure out why is that? Because whyAaron Levie: is this such aswyx: hot item for them? Because a lot of people get graph religion.And they're like, everything's a graph. Of course you have to represent it as a graph. Well, [00:47:00] how do you solve your knowledge? Um, changing over time? Well, it's a graph.Aaron Levie: Yeah.swyx: And, and I think there, there's that line of work and then there's, there's a lot of people who are like, well, you don't need it. And both are right.Aaron Levie: Yeah. And what do the people who say you don't need it, what are theyswyx: arguing for Mark down files. Oh, sure, sure. Simplicity.Aaron Levie: Yeah.swyx: Versus it's, it's structure versus less structure. Right. That's, that's all what it is. I do.Aaron Levie: I think the tricky thing is, um, is, is again, when this gets met with real humans, they're just going to their computer.They're just working with some people on Slack or teams. They're just sharing some data through a collaborative file system and Google Docs or Box or whatever. I certainly like the vision of most, most knowledge graph, you know, kind of futuristic kind of ways of thinking about it. Uh, it's just like, you know, it's 2026.We haven't seen it yet. Kind of play out as as, I mean, I remember. Do you remember the, um, in like, actually I don't, I don't even know how old you guys are, but I'll for, for to show my age. I remember 17 years ago, everybody thought enterprises would just run on [00:48:00] Wikis. Yeah. And, uh, confluence and, and not even, I mean, confluence actually took off for engineering for sure.Like unquestionably. But like, this was like everything would be in the w. And I think based on our, uh, our, uh, general style of, of, of what we were building, like we were just like, I don't know, people just like wanna workspace. They're gonna collaborate with other people.swyx: Exactly. Yeah. So you were, you were anti-knowledge graph.Aaron Levie: Not anti, not anti. Soswyx: not nonAaron Levie: I'm not, I'm not anti. ‘cause I think, I think your search system, I just think these are two systems that probably, but like, I'm, I'm not in any religious war. I don't want to be in anybody's YouTube comments on this. There's not a fight for me.swyx: We, we love YouTube comments. We're, we're, we're get into comments.Aaron Levie: Okay. Uh, but like, but I, I, it's mostly just a virtue of what we built. Yeah. And we just continued down that path. Yeah.swyx: Yeah.Aaron Levie: And, um, and that, that was what we pursued. But I'm not, this is not a, you know, kind of, this is not a, uh, it'sswyx: not existential for you. Great.Aaron Levie: We're happy to plug into somebody else's graph.We're happy to feed data into it. We're happy for [00:49:00] agents to, to talk to multiple systems. Not, not our fight.swyx: Yeah.Aaron Levie: But I need your answer. Yeah. Graphs or nerd Snipes is very effective nerd.swyx: See this is, this is one, one opinion and then I've,Jeff Huber: and I think that the actual graph structure is emergent in the mind of the agent.Ah, in the same way it is in the mind of the human. And that's a more powerful graph ‘cause it actually involved over time.swyx: So don't tell me how to graph. I'll, I'll figure it out myself. Exactly. Okay. All right. AndJeff Huber: what's yours?swyx: I like the, the Wiki approach. Uh, my, I'm actually

We live in an age where uncertainty lurks around every corner, but what if uncertainty didn't have to be an anxiety-inducing, uncomfortable part of life?  The Upside of Uncertainty: A Guide to Finding Possibility in the Unknown, by INSEAD professor Nathan Furr and entrepreneur Susannah Harmon Furr, presents strategies and tools to embrace uncertainty and turn it into opportunity.  Nathan, Susannah, and Greg discuss why humans are naturally wired to avoid the unknown, and how our capacity to face it can be strengthened through learnable tools. The conversation covers some of the strategies described in the book like creating “islands of certainty” through rituals and support systems, maintaining a portfolio of personal options instead of going all-in too early, and focusing on what's within one's control while pursuing other meaningful goals, internally.  *unSILOed Podcast is produced by University FM.* Episode Quotes: The golden space of uncertainty 26:59: [Nathan Furr] The American can-do attitude is it was this kind of illusion that we control the world. And most people who have been through something hard recognize it is not totally in our control. We sure we influence it, we nudge it, but a lot of things are outside our control. And so the people who are able to approach uncertainty with greater calm also kind of said, you know, what is in my control? I will focus on that, and what is outside of my control, or partially outside of my control, I am not going to obsess about that. And so there is this kind of golden space where you are focused on what are my internal goals, being the best, doing my best, making a contribution in the world. And I recognize that, there is some element of, in this complex, ambiguous world that I do not control, and so I am just going to focus on the things I can control and let the other pieces go. That leads to a much calmer view of the world. The video and audio are not synched On being comfortable with uncertainty 11:42: [Susannah Furr]: All of us could have cooler and more brilliant lives if we just tried a little bit more, if we got a little bit more comfortable with uncertainty. It is good to know, like, Ooh, I do not like risks. And we have a tool for that. Like, know what risks you have affinities and aversions for, but definitely do not just decide, Nope, I do not do uncertainty, because you are, you are missing out. The real danger isn't risk 18:29: [Nathan Furr] The real danger is not that you are going to go all in on the uncertain thing, it is that you are probably going all in on the certain thing, and you are not bringing that thing you care about, that thing you dream about, into the portfolio of options in your life. Show Links: Recommended Resources: Ben Feringa  World Uncertainty Index  Sam Yagan  Martin Seligman  Kathleen M. Eisenhardt Ayana Elizabeth Johnson Guest Profile: Nathan Furr Faculty Profile at INSEAD Nathan Furr on LinkedIn Susannah Harmon Furr Profile at INSEAD Susannah Harmon Furr on LinkedIn The Uncertainty Possibility School Guests' Work: The Upside of Uncertainty: A Guide to Finding Possibility in the Unknown The Innovator's Method: Bringing the Lean Start-up into Your Organization Leading Transformation: How to Take Charge of Your Company's Future Innovation Capital: How to Compete--and Win--Like the World's Most Innovative Leaders Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I couldn't let episode #59 be anything else but a celebration of over thirty years of cult California band, Starflyer 59. 1. Tracks played are A Housewife Love song, Harmony, Do You Ever Feel That Way, Fell in Love at 22, Shedding the Mortal Coil, Your Company, Loved Ones, Good Sons, Like a Baby, 2nd Space Song, This Recliner and finally, Everyone but Me. A quadruple Troika for your earholes!

Download your High-Impact Presentation Checklist here: https://www.shannonjenkins.co/checklistWork With Me: https://www.shannonjenkins.co/speakto...Hire Me to Speak at Your Company: https://www.shannonjenkins.co/speakingHey podcast listeners, as you may hear from the episode, this was designed to be watched. If you want to see the visuals as well as hear my explanation, subscribe to my channel and watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUWKLRjaWIc&t=119s Let me know what you think of the new format!

In this episode of Inside Personal Growth, host Greg Voisen speaks with leadership expert and author Rick Williams about how leaders can make better decisions in times of uncertainty and rapid change. Based on insights from his book Create the Future, Rick introduces a practical decision-making framework centered on asking the right questions, learning from others, and aligning decisions with values, goals, and risk tolerance. He shares real-world examples from his career in consulting, business leadership, and sailboat racing to show how effective decision-making works under pressure. Listeners will gain valuable tools for navigating ambiguity, encouraging open dialogue within teams, and making thoughtful decisions that shape both organizational success and personal growth. This episode is ideal for leaders, entrepreneurs, and professionals who want to lead with clarity, confidence, and purpose.

Rick Williams is a seasoned keynote speaker, board member, author, management consultant, company founder, and podcast host recognized for his ability to teach leaders how to make difficult decisions that shape the future. Drawing on his extensive experience serving on boards of technology companies and leading organizations, Rick combines real-world lessons in leadership, decision-making, and board governance with a passion for mentorship and growth. He is known for making complex business topics relatable, whether addressing Harvard Business School alumni, writing for CEO World Magazine, or sharing lessons from the sailboat races he loves. In this episode of Marketer of the Day, Rick Williams returns to host Robert Plank in a conversation that dives deep into high-stakes leadership, the critical role of board members, and the lasting impact of teaching by example. Rick discusses promoting his book “Create the Future,” launching his new podcast, and distilling lessons from headline-making events such as the Tesla board's decision on Elon Musk's compensation. Through stories of business, sailboat racing, and personal experiences, Rick shares actionable strategies for building effective boards, making tough calls, and fostering a mindset that empowers teams and organizations to thrive. Quotes: “Your job as a leader is to make decisions, and those decisions create the future.” “A board should be a value accelerator, not just a group of your friends.” “The most important job of a board is to hire the right CEO at the right time for the company.” Resources: Connect with Rick Williams on LinkedIn. Rick Williams: Helping Leaders Succeed Create the Future: Powerful Decision‑Making Tools for Your Company and Yourself

Tristram Gray, Chief People and Corporate Affairs Officer at Kmart Group in Australia, explains how the retail giant is revolutionizing high-volume hiring with AI. Managing 55,000 employees across 450 stores, Kmart recruits 12,000 people annually while processing hundreds of thousands of applications. Tristram shares how the company uses Sapia.ai to create a mobile-first, simulation-based AI assessment process that evaluates candidates on culture, values, and behaviors rather than traditional resumes, previous experience, or technical skills. The results are remarkable: 73% reduction in time-to-hire (from 44 days to 11 days), 2.5 times longer retention, enhanced diversity, significant cost savings, and 9 out of 10 candidate satisfaction – which translates to a better brand and customer perception of the retail company. Tristram discusses the importance of providing personalized feedback to every candidate, the transformation of recruiter roles from reactive hiring to proactive talent planning, the need for change agility with operations and HR, and his philosophy that AI, when used ethically and responsibly, can create deeply human impact. This conversation offers powerful insights for anyone navigating the introduction of AI in HR. Additional Information Powering the Frontline Workforce: How Frontline-First Companies Thrive The Talent Acquisition Revolution: How AI is Transforming Recruiting New Galileo Certificate Program: Elevating Talent Acquisition with AI Chapters (00:00:03) - What Works: Kmart's AI Hiring Strategy(00:01:04) - Kmart's Chief People and Corporate Affairs Officer on the challenges of(00:05:44) - What Makes a Good Fit for Your Company?(00:13:57) - Australia's diversity program(00:14:52) - The Return on Recruitment by 2020(00:17:11) - How did the role of the recruiters change(00:19:01) - The Professional Roles of Distribution Centers(00:19:56) - In the Elevator With AI Recruitment(00:21:22) - What Works in Your Hiring Process

How often are you interrupted in your property management business? Tenant and owner phone calls, emails, maintenance requests, team member questions… it's an endless cycle of wasted time and stolen profits. In this episode of the #DoorGrowShow, property management growth experts Jason and Sarah Hull discuss the hidden thief in every property management business: the Interruption Burglar. You'll Learn [01:23] The Burglar Stealing From Your Business  [07:41] Becoming Aware of Your Company's Time Loss [13:20] If Your Business Isn't Growing, It is Dying Quotables "There's a burglar that lives inside everybody's business." "One interruption is going to cost you somewhere between 15 minutes and 30 minutes of wasted labor." "All it takes is questions to make you conscious of things you're unconscious of currently." Resources DoorGrow and Scale Mastermind DoorGrow Academy DoorGrow on YouTube DoorGrowClub DoorGrowLive Transcript Jason Hull (00:00) Nobody can even see this guy running around stealing until we do some of these exercises with our clients. And then they start to become conscious and they can now see this interruption burglar sneaking around, stealing money, stealing profits, wasting everybody's time. Welcome everybody. We are Jason and Sarah Hull the owners of DoorGrow, the world's leading and most comprehensive coaching and consulting firm for long-term residential property management entrepreneurs. For over a decade and a half, we have brought innovative strategies and optimization to the property management industry. At DoorGrow, we have spoken to thousands of property management business owners, coached, consulted, and cleaned up hundreds of businesses, helping them add doors. improve pricing, increase profit, simplify operations, and we run the leading property management mastermind with more video testimonials and reviews than any other coach or consultant in the industry. We are the best in the world. And at DoorGrow, we believe that good property managers can change the world and that property management is the ultimate high trust gateway to relationships, real estate deals, and residual income. And our mission at DoorGrow. is to transform property management business owners and their businesses. We want to transform the industry, eliminate the BS, build awareness, change perception, expand the market, and help the best property management entrepreneurs win. Now, let's get into the show. All right, so today, Sarah and I thought we would chat about, she said, you've been wanting to talk about this for a little while. So we're going to be chatting about what? Interruption. All right, specifically, the interruption burglar. So maybe I'm dating myself a little bit, but I don't know if you remember the Hamburglar. I do. McDonald's, okay, all right, that's good. so for those of you listening, maybe you remember like McDonald's had the Hamburglar and he was this sneaky, creepy guy going around stealing people's cheeseburgers, right? And there's another burglar. There's a burglar that lives inside everybody's business. and it's the interruption burglar. And the interruption burglar is stealing your money by interrupting. And so every interruption in a business is a hidden thief stealing from your business. And most business owners give a blank check out to every tenant and owner that they bring on that says, call me whenever you want to, interrupt me whenever you want to, steal all my profits. And a lot of property managers think they have to talk to everybody and that's what they're paid to do. And so they have to always be available. So we're going to kind of throw a wrench into that sort of level of thinking because we've talked to lot of clients get out of the trap of lacking profit, lacking margin by helping them escape or eliminate or tear up this blank check and eliminate the interruption burglar, or at least put some guardrails around that guy. so according to Gary Keller's book, The One Thing, it cites a study saying that one interruption costs 18 minutes of productivity. Dan Martel's book about time management says I think it's like 26 minutes of productivity. So I don't know if we're just that much worse when we get interrupted now. But basically One interruption is going to cost you somewhere between 15 minutes and 30 minutes of wasted labor. Why? Because when we get interrupted, if we're in the flow or we're working on things and we're being productive as a team member or as a CEO or COO or whatever our role is, we get interrupted. We then have to rebuild that house of cards that we were in the middle of working on, figure out where was I, what was I working on, you know, kind of reestablish our thinking, get back into the groove of what we were trying to accomplish, what we were working on, especially when we're trying to get into deep work where things get really productive and effective. And so one interruption, if it happens every 20 minutes or so, which in a property management business is not hard to do, you may find you feel like you're just spinning your wheels or your team members are working and busy all day long, but they're not actually producing a whole lot of output. And so this can be very expensive in a property management business. Not only that, but usually a lot of times the interruptions are internal. So you ever heard of sneaker net? Like somebody walks into your office, it's the most inefficient network ever, and then you're like, hey, do you got a minute? Or I have this question, and maybe you're the person they're all coming to ask questions to because you're the boss, and they're interrupting you all the time. And so then you're like, well, getting interrupted. And now you've got two people. One's interrupting the other and you're wasting a lot of labor. And then we set up scenarios in which one person has the ability to interrupt multiple people in the business. This is where we set up Slack channels and other stupid communication methodologies that people think is more productive, where there's one too many communication, which becomes one too many interruptions. So one interruption, instead of costing you like maybe 15, 20 minutes of labor or a half hour of labor, It can quadruple. It can be 10 people at a time. It can be really expensive. And then, you know, sometimes, you know, one's interrupting the other. So you've got it's doubling. You know, people are just wasting your time and money. And so it's really easy for you to lose all of your profits and all your margins to staff through interruptions and a lack of productivity. And we see people get stuck at small door counts on a per person basis. They're like, I can only manage 50 units by myself, or a property manager with a whole team, I can only manage 100 units. And a lot of people think, well, that's pretty good, but it's not. Sarah managed 265 at her peak, basically by herself. Eventually had one part-time person. I had one part-time person. Yeah, eventually. was part-time, but between us we You weren't even a full-time equivalent. Yeah, and that's because you had eliminated a lot of interruptions because you just didn't want to deal with them. And you set really good boundaries. Well, yeah, which was to not be interrupted. Yeah. So cool. So that's the interruption burglar. This is one of the things we help clients figure out. We help them figure out how do we eliminate the interruptions? How do we create better, healthier, more effective communication systems Sometimes your clients do this. Sometimes your team members do it. Yeah. We've got to be able to separate ourselves where we can and reduce or completely eliminate interruptions. Yeah. That's the goal. So we have methodologies that we take our clients through to, one, identify their own interruptions, the things that are interrupting them. And then we have a process for taking their team through a process so that they become conscious of the interruptions so that they can, everybody in the business can start to protect the business from this interruption burglar because interruption burglar, sneaky. Nobody can even see this guy running around stealing until we do some of these exercises with our clients. And then they start to become conscious and they can now see this interruption burglar sneaking around, stealing money, stealing profits, wasting everybody's time. And nobody likes the interruptions anyway. So by reducing them, everybody's happier. Even the people that are interrupting you, like tenants and owners are happier and less anxious. If you set better guardrails, better expectations, better boundaries, they actually can trust you more to do the job instead of feeling like they need to micromanage the person that's managing their rental property, which is ridiculous. Why don't they just cut you out if they're going to micromanage something, right? So yeah, they don't need to do that. Okay. I don't know what else we need to say about this, but. Well, one of the things that I had created recently within the last two months was a time optimization assessment that you can go through and take and you can do it every day. Kind of get a grade and a score and see what went well and what didn't go so well and then it will help you figure out what can you optimize and what can you change and You can do that even Right now so if you would like to get access to that it's a longer link So it's not like I can just give you the URL to it So I would say the easiest way to get it if you would like access to it is just email me and Sarah doorgrow.com s-a-r-a-h at doorgrow.com So if you'd like that I would be very happy to send you the link and you can use that as long as you would like but you'll essentially go through answer a couple of questions and then it will email you your results and your score so it will tell you overall you know what were the things that didn't go so well and Oftentimes when you're filling a report out like this at the end of the day It just makes you very conscious of it because sometimes our days tend to get away from us and they wonder then at the end of the day, man, how did that happen? I didn't get to that thing that I really wanted to do. Man, I was busy all day long, but I just don't feel like I was very productive or I don't feel like I got to the things that I wanted to get to. Well, this will help you while you're answering these questions. It'll just point to a few things that you can optimize. And sometimes I've tested this out with our clients a few times too. go, ⁓ as they're taking this assessment and just answering the questions, they're going, well, I can already tell what kind of day this was. This was not good. This was not good. This was not good. And then the good news is just by taking that assessment, you have a better idea of how to approach things and hopefully a better plan for the following day. Sometimes all it takes is questions to make you conscious of things you're unconscious of currently. And when we're unconscious of the interruption burglar, he gets away with murder. Like he's just stealing your money. So we've got to stop that guy. All right. So we've got a sponsor. So let me share that with everybody real quick. We appreciate our sponsors. So our sponsor today is Blanket. And Blanket is a property retention and growth platform that helps property managers stop losing doors, add more revenue and increase the number of properties they manage. Wow, your clients with a branded investor dashboard and an off market marketplace, while your team gets all the tools they need to identify owners at risk of churning and powerful systems to help you add more doors. And so it helps you retain the doors, even if your clients sell or leave. You can keep the the units, it's really a cool system. I recommend everybody uses it. And we coach and recommend our clients use it. I think it's a great system. So. For sure. All right. I think also we had just had our clients go through a time optimization challenge. We did. Using some of the things that we talk about in the program, some of the components that we coach on and some of the things that you will see in that time optimization assessment. Not all of the things, but. Some of the things in the assessment are on there and then of course there's a lot more. So what we've noticed and what a lot of people had noticed when they went through that assessment and that challenge is, wow, there is a lot of time in the business that just gets eaten up by different things and it's not hard at all to get lost. It's not hard to kind of get consumed by the day to day. It's not hard to get lost in all of the tasks that are required by a property management company. And this really goes for you and it goes for your team. Because just looking at every person's time on the team can be really, really helpful. One person might be wildly efficient. And if that person that's efficient is, let's say, the business owner, the business owner might. assume then, well, everybody on my team is really efficient because I'm really efficient. And that may not be the case. So our goal is to help you figure out, you know, who is efficient and who is using their time wisely and perhaps who is not. So that way we can figure out what are the things that we can shift? What are the things that we can change? And oftentimes it's not even really hard to change. you know what you're doing or how you're doing it. It is different and it can sometimes feel uncomfortable because you just have to do things differently. And I think in the world of property management and especially how things are running today is everyone assumes that you need to just be responding to everything immediately and be on top of everything and be super communicative with everybody. That's not always the case. That may not get you the best results. So it can create a lot of work. But being busy and being productive are two very different things. So it's our goal always to help property managers figure out what can I do to actually be more productive? And how can I make sure that somebody on the team is always having time to focus on the income generating activities? Because if you are not focusing on growth in the business, it is slowly dying. So if there's no one who's focused on growth or if there's one person who's just a little bit, it's like, well, I do it for, you know, five hours a week when I can. And when I'm not busy doing all of these other things, what's happening is we just get stuck on this hamster wheel where it's kind of like Groundhog Day. You wake up. You do things, you make no progress. You think, I'll do it again tomorrow. You wake up, you do a whole bunch of things, you're busy, but you're not making progress. And then that day just repeats over and over and over. So we're just spending all of our time doing all of these things that aren't actually helping the business grow or helping the business make progress. You're just doing the day-to-day tasks and then it's really hard to grow because sometimes it gets scary to grow. And they go, well, if I'm this busy at 40 units, there's no way I can handle 80. There's no way I can handle 150. There's no way I can handle 500. And if you're running the 500 units the same way you're running the 40 units, the answer is yes, there's no way you can do it. So you need to just look at doing it a different way. Yeah. Yeah, you need to start running your business the way you would at a thousand doors when you have a small amount of doors because it's going to be completely different. And a lot of people, when they first start out, think they need to please everybody, take care of everybody in a special way, and they don't set healthy boundaries. They take on too difficult a clients. They make a lot of mistakes. So by optimizing your time and our goal with our clients isn't just to make you more productive. Our goal with clients is to make sure as a business owner that you are more fulfilled, that you're enjoying your day more. It's not just about being able to somehow accomplish and do more work. The goal really is for you to do more of the things you enjoy and less of the things that you don't enjoy. And so usually for most business owners, that very first exit you need to do in the business is to exit doing the frontline work. If you can make it past that, everything gets a lot easier, it's a lot nicer. But when you're doing frontline work, or when you have an entire team, but they're asking you questions on how to always do or make decisions about the frontline work, you're not out of the frontline work. And so you got to exit the frontline work, then you got to exit managing everybody. And then you got to, the next step is then you're like a CEO or you're a leader and you might want to go to some higher levels of exit, but. A lot of people can't escape the frontline work. They can't figure out how to do that. So they just sell the whole business. They jump all the way to the last exit. They're like, let's go. I need freedom. And then they go start another business and they kind of paint themselves into a corner again and they're miserable. So there's a very simple path that we can take clients through to help them get that freedom. And so if you feel like you're frustrated and you're asking this question all the time, like, why won't my team? just think for themselves. It's because you've built the wrong business. The business is not built around you. The business is built around the business, which means you are now the servant to the business instead of the reverse. And so you built the wrong business, which means you also built the wrong team and you can't see it. Sometimes it takes some outside perspective to get perspective so that you can see it. And that's one of the things we enjoy helping our clients figure out. Sometimes replacing their entire team. And yeah, if you've if you're not enjoying your day to day role and you have an entire team, you built the wrong team because you built it around the wrong person. You're showing up wearing hats and doing things in the business that you shouldn't be doing because you're not the best at this. You're not somebody that enjoys it. And I guarantee if there's certain hats or roles you're wearing or holding on to right now that you don't enjoy, somebody else out there would be better at it than you. And I know that's humbling to think in the beginning. It's a very humbling thing to see, a team member and see them perform better than you, outperform you. But ultimately smart business owners know that you want to build a team of people that are better at the stuff you don't enjoy. Because if you don't enjoy it, you're never going to be great at it. We've got a lot of tactics. We've got a lot of methodologies. There's a lot of little things we could share about that. but in interest of time, if you're interested, Sarah's already offered very generously her cool assessment. Send an email to Sarah with an H at doorgrow.com. It's got to the H otherwise I don't get it. If you spell my name wrong then you don't make the top of it. Wow, okay, yeah. No patience for that. right. Cool. All right. Well, if you've ever felt stuck or stagnant, you want to take your property management business to the next level, reach out to us. You can check us out at doorgrow.com. For a free training on how to get unlimited free leads, text the word LEADS to 512-648-4608. And we will send you a hour long training that shows you how to get unlimited leads for free in your property management business. That will blow your mind. Also join our free Facebook community just for property management business owners at doorgrowclub.com And if you'd like to get the best ideas in property management, join our newsletter at doorgrow.com slash subscribe. And if you found this even a little bit helpful, don't forget to subscribe And until next time, remember the slowest path to growth is to do it alone. So let's grow together. Bye everyone.  

This week on The Audit Podcast, there's a new host in town… and it's not me. Eric Wilson steps in and leads a reverse interview where I finally take a turn as the guest.   Be sure to connect with Eric on LinkedIn.   Also, be sure to follow us on our social media accounts on LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok.   Also be sure to sign up for The Audit Podcast newsletter and to check the full video interview on The Audit Podcast YouTube channel.   Timecodes: 1:30 – Lightning Round of Questions for Trent 6:23 – Trent's Career Journey 13:25 – Trent's Work–Life Balance 16:39 – Greenskies Analytics: How Tech Has Changed Things 19:50 – The Footprint of Greenskies Analytics 20:42 – Using Copilot to Accelerate Analytics in Your Company 25:10 – What's New for Greenskies Analytics 26:15 – How Trent Started Running The Audit Analytics and AI Conference 32:50 – New Conferences 35:33 – A Sneak Peek at Future Conferences   *   This podcast is brought to you by Greenskies Analytics, the services firm that helps auditors leap-frog up the analytics maturity model. Their approach for launching audit analytics programs with a series of proven quick-win analytics will guarantee the results worthy of the analytics hype.  Whether your audit team needs a data strategy, methodology, governance, literacy, or anything else related to audit and analytics, schedule time with Greenskies Analytics.

Most new account executives stare at their territory list and feel the weight of it immediately. Fifty accounts. A hundred accounts. Sometimes more. Each one needs research, a plan, and outreach that doesn't sound like every other cold email clogging their prospect's inbox.  Jake McOsker, an account executive at Forrester Research, found himself facing exactly this problem when he moved from BDR to AE. He cracked it by changing how he used AI for account planning.  "Rather than taking 10 to 15 minutes to get an account plan out or understand who the notable stakeholders and the decision makers that I need to go with," he explained, "it's a 2 to 3 minute process to go through each one of these accounts." The traditional approach to AI account planning doesn't solve the territory problem. You ask ChatGPT or Claude for company information, and you get Wikipedia summaries. Founded in 1987. Headquartered in Dallas. 15,000 employees. The chief sales officer you're calling doesn't care about any of that, and showing up with generic facts makes you look lazy, not prepared. When you're new to the role, you don't have years of pattern recognition to fall back on. You don't know what good account planning looks like yet. You just know you need to get meetings with people who have better things to do than talk to a rep they've never heard of. The solution isn't using AI as a search engine. It's using it as a sales assistant with a specific job to do. The Problem With How Most Reps Use AI for Account Planning Here's what usually happens. A rep needs to prepare for a call with a VP of Marketing at a healthcare company. They open their AI tool of choice and type: "Tell me about [Company Name]." The AI spits back: Company history Product offerings Recent press releases Maybe some executive names The rep skims it, copies a few bullet points into their CRM, and calls it account planning. Then they get on the call and realize they have no idea what this VP is actually trying to accomplish this quarter. They ask surface-level questions. The prospect checks out. The meeting goes nowhere. This happens because most reps are using AI like a faster Google. They're asking for information instead of asking for intelligence. AI account planning only works when you give the AI a role and a specific outcome to deliver. Not "tell me about this company." Instead, "You're an account executive trying to book a meeting with this company's CMO in the next two weeks. Based on their recent announcements and what their executives are posting on LinkedIn, what initiatives are they likely prioritizing right now?" How to Set Up AI Agents for Account Planning The difference between a basic AI chat and an AI agent is memory and context. When you create an agent, you're teaching it what kind of output you need every single time. You're not starting from scratch with every account. Here's the framework that works: Step 1: Give Your AI Agent a Clear Role Don't just ask questions. Set up the scenario with urgency and context. For example: "You are an account executive at [Your Company]. You've been tasked with bringing in [Target Company] as a new customer within the next 90 days. Your first call is with their [specific role, like Chief Sales Officer]. Based on the materials I'm providing, what are the top three business initiatives this person is likely focused on right now?" This does two things. First, it forces the AI to think from your perspective instead of just summarizing data. Second, it prioritizes current, actionable information over historical background. Step 2: Feed It the Right Source Material Wikipedia summaries don't help you. But these sources do: Recent press releases about new initiatives or leadership changes LinkedIn posts from executives at the company (especially the person you're calling) Company blog posts about their strategic direction Industry news articles mentioning the company Their "About Us" or "Newsroom" page for current priorities Analyst reports or industry trend pieces relevant to their sector If you're selling to publicly traded companies, earnings call transcripts and annual reports (10-Ks) are gold mines. But most new AEs aren't calling on Fortune 500 companies. The good news is that smaller companies often share more on LinkedIn and their blogs because they're trying to build their brand. Upload PDFs or paste content directly into your AI tool. Then let it analyze the content through the lens of the role you gave it. The output will focus on strategic priorities, not corporate history. Step 3: Ask Follow-Up Questions Based on Persona If you're calling into marketing, tech, security, or customer experience, the priorities are different. Your AI agent should help you understand how company-wide initiatives affect the specific person you're talking to. After the initial analysis, ask: "How would these initiatives specifically impact the VP of Marketing's goals this quarter?" Now you have talking points that matter to the person on the other end of the call. Step 4: Validate With Human Intelligence AI gets you 80% of the way there in three minutes instead of fifteen. But you still need to cross-check. Look at LinkedIn. Check recent news. If you have access to account managers or customer success reps who work with similar companies, ask them if the trends you're seeing match reality. AI account planning is a tool, not a replacement for critical thinking. If the output feels off, it probably is. Trust your gut and adjust. How to Turn Research Into Value Messages The goal of account planning isn't to memorize facts about a company. It's to walk into a conversation with an informed hypothesis about what they're trying to accomplish. When you do this right, your opening changes. Instead of starting cold with "Tell me about your role," you can say: "I saw your CEO recently posted about accelerating your digital customer experience, and I'm assuming that's putting some pressure on your team to modernize how you're approaching customer engagement. But I could be completely wrong. What's actually taking up most of your time right now?" Here's how you've impacted your prospect: First, it proves you did real research. Second, it gives the prospect something specific to react to instead of making them explain their entire world from scratch. Third, and this is critical, it still leaves room for discovery. You're not skipping the "What are your biggest challenges?" question. You're earning the right to ask them by showing you've already thought about their business. When prospects talk about their challenges in their own language, you learn how they frame problems, what matters to them, and where your solution might actually fit. Even if your hypothesis is wrong, you've separated yourself from the 90% of reps who show up with nothing. And when you're right, you skip past the surface-level conversation and get straight into the dialogue that matters. That's how you earn credibility as a new account executive, even when you don't have ten years of experience to lean on. Building a Repeatable AI Account Planning Workflow This only scales if you systematize it. You can't rely on remembering the perfect prompt every time or recreating your process from scratch for every account. Create separate agents for different use cases. One for account planning. One for prospecting outreach. One for call preparation. Train each agent for the output you need so you aren't constantly course-correcting. Save your account plans in a central location. The information changes, so plan to refresh your research quarterly. What mattered in Q2 might not matter in Q4, and your account planning needs to reflect that. The key is building a system that you can repeat across your entire territory without burning out. Two to three minutes per account. Not fifteen. Not thirty. That's how you research 50 accounts in a week instead of just five. What This Actually Looks Like in Practice Let's say you're targeting a mid-market software company. You start by checking their LinkedIn. The CEO posted last week about expanding into healthcare verticals. You pull up their blog and find three recent posts about compliance challenges in healthcare tech. You upload screenshots or copy the text into your AI agent and give it the prompt: "You're an AE trying to close this software company in 90 days. The first meeting is with their Chief Revenue Officer. What are the top three priorities they're likely focused on, and how do those connect to the company's broader goals?" The AI analyzes the content and tells you: They're investing heavily in healthcare vertical expansion, but facing longer sales cycles due to compliance requirements They're dealing with the need to build credibility fast in a regulated industry Their CEO has committed to proving ROI in healthcare within two quarters Now you have a hypothesis. The CRO is probably under pressure to close healthcare deals faster while managing a team that doesn't have deep healthcare expertise. That's your angle. You cross-check this with LinkedIn and see that the CRO has been engaging with posts about sales enablement in complex verticals. You look at recent news and find they just hired a VP of Healthcare Sales. Everything lines up. Your outreach message writes itself. You're not pitching. You're acknowledging what they're working on and offering a perspective on how companies in similar situations have approached the same problem. What to Do After the Meeting Your AI workflow doesn't end when the call does. This is where most reps leave value on the table. After your meeting, take the transcript from your call recording tool (Fathom, Gong, Chorus, whatever you use) and upload it to your AI agent. Then ask specific questions:

Most new account executives stare at their territory list and feel the weight of it immediately. Fifty accounts. A hundred accounts. Sometimes more. Each one needs research, a plan, and outreach that doesn't sound like every other cold email clogging their prospect's inbox.  Jake McOsker, an account executive at Forrester Research, found himself facing exactly this problem when he moved from BDR to AE. He cracked it by changing how he used AI for account planning.  "Rather than taking 10 to 15 minutes to get an account plan out or understand who the notable stakeholders and the decision makers that I need to go with," he explained, "it's a 2 to 3 minute process to go through each one of these accounts." The traditional approach to AI account planning doesn't solve the territory problem. You ask ChatGPT or Claude for company information, and you get Wikipedia summaries. Founded in 1987. Headquartered in Dallas. 15,000 employees. The chief sales officer you're calling doesn't care about any of that, and showing up with generic facts makes you look lazy, not prepared. When you're new to the role, you don't have years of pattern recognition to fall back on. You don't know what good account planning looks like yet. You just know you need to get meetings with people who have better things to do than talk to a rep they've never heard of. The solution isn't using AI as a search engine. It's using it as a sales assistant with a specific job to do. The Problem With How Most Reps Use AI for Account Planning Here's what usually happens. A rep needs to prepare for a call with a VP of Marketing at a healthcare company. They open their AI tool of choice and type: "Tell me about [Company Name]." The AI spits back: Company history Product offerings Recent press releases Maybe some executive names The rep skims it, copies a few bullet points into their CRM, and calls it account planning. Then they get on the call and realize they have no idea what this VP is actually trying to accomplish this quarter. They ask surface-level questions. The prospect checks out. The meeting goes nowhere. This happens because most reps are using AI like a faster Google. They're asking for information instead of asking for intelligence. AI account planning only works when you give the AI a role and a specific outcome to deliver. Not "tell me about this company." Instead, "You're an account executive trying to book a meeting with this company's CMO in the next two weeks. Based on their recent announcements and what their executives are posting on LinkedIn, what initiatives are they likely prioritizing right now?" How to Set Up AI Agents for Account Planning The difference between a basic AI chat and an AI agent is memory and context. When you create an agent, you're teaching it what kind of output you need every single time. You're not starting from scratch with every account. Here's the framework that works: Step 1: Give Your AI Agent a Clear Role Don't just ask questions. Set up the scenario with urgency and context. For example: "You are an account executive at [Your Company]. You've been tasked with bringing in [Target Company] as a new customer within the next 90 days. Your first call is with their [specific role, like Chief Sales Officer]. Based on the materials I'm providing, what are the top three business initiatives this person is likely focused on right now?" This does two things. First, it forces the AI to think from your perspective instead of just summarizing data. Second, it prioritizes current, actionable information over historical background. Step 2: Feed It the Right Source Material Wikipedia summaries don't help you. But these sources do: Recent press releases about new initiatives or leadership changes LinkedIn posts from executives at the company (especially the person you're calling) Company blog posts about their strategic direction Industry news articles mentioning the company Their "About Us" or "Newsroom" page for current priorities Analyst reports or industry trend pieces relevant to their sector If you're selling to publicly traded companies, earnings call transcripts and annual reports (10-Ks) are gold mines. But most new AEs aren't calling on Fortune 500 companies. The good news is that smaller companies often share more on LinkedIn and their blogs because they're trying to build their brand. Upload PDFs or paste content directly into your AI tool. Then let it analyze the content through the lens of the role you gave it. The output will focus on strategic priorities, not corporate history. Step 3: Ask Follow-Up Questions Based on Persona If you're calling into marketing, tech, security, or customer experience, the priorities are different. Your AI agent should help you understand how company-wide initiatives affect the specific person you're talking to. After the initial analysis, ask: "How would these initiatives specifically impact the VP of Marketing's goals this quarter?" Now you have talking points that matter to the person on the other end of the call. Step 4: Validate With Human Intelligence AI gets you 80% of the way there in three minutes instead of fifteen. But you still need to cross-check. Look at LinkedIn. Check recent news. If you have access to account managers or customer success reps who work with similar companies, ask them if the trends you're seeing match reality. AI account planning is a tool, not a replacement for critical thinking. If the output feels off, it probably is. Trust your gut and adjust. How to Turn Research Into Value Messages The goal of account planning isn't to memorize facts about a company. It's to walk into a conversation with an informed hypothesis about what they're trying to accomplish. When you do this right, your opening changes. Instead of starting cold with "Tell me about your role," you can say: "I saw your CEO recently posted about accelerating your digital customer experience, and I'm assuming that's putting some pressure on your team to modernize how you're approaching customer engagement. But I could be completely wrong. What's actually taking up most of your time right now?" Here's how you've impacted your prospect: First, it proves you did real research. Second, it gives the prospect something specific to react to instead of making them explain their entire world from scratch. Third, and this is critical, it still leaves room for discovery. You're not skipping the "What are your biggest challenges?" question. You're earning the right to ask them by showing you've already thought about their business. When prospects talk about their challenges in their own language, you learn how they frame problems, what matters to them, and where your solution might actually fit. Even if your hypothesis is wrong, you've separated yourself from the 90% of reps who show up with nothing. And when you're right, you skip past the surface-level conversation and get straight into the dialogue that matters. That's how you earn credibility as a new account executive, even when you don't have ten years of experience to lean on. Building a Repeatable AI Account Planning Workflow This only scales if you systematize it. You can't rely on remembering the perfect prompt every time or recreating your process from scratch for every account. Create separate agents for different use cases. One for account planning. One for prospecting outreach. One for call preparation. Train each agent for the output you need so you aren't constantly course-correcting. Save your account plans in a central location. The information changes, so plan to refresh your research quarterly. What mattered in Q2 might not matter in Q4, and your account planning needs to reflect that. The key is building a system that you can repeat across your entire territory without burning out. Two to three minutes per account. Not fifteen. Not thirty. That's how you research 50 accounts in a week instead of just five. What This Actually Looks Like in Practice Let's say you're targeting a mid-market software company. You start by checking their LinkedIn. The CEO posted last week about expanding into healthcare verticals. You pull up their blog and find three recent posts about compliance challenges in healthcare tech. You upload screenshots or copy the text into your AI agent and give it the prompt: "You're an AE trying to close this software company in 90 days. The first meeting is with their Chief Revenue Officer. What are the top three priorities they're likely focused on, and how do those connect to the company's broader goals?" The AI analyzes the content and tells you: They're investing heavily in healthcare vertical expansion, but facing longer sales cycles due to compliance requirements They're dealing with the need to build credibility fast in a regulated industry Their CEO has committed to proving ROI in healthcare within two quarters Now you have a hypothesis. The CRO is probably under pressure to close healthcare deals faster while managing a team that doesn't have deep healthcare expertise. That's your angle. You cross-check this with LinkedIn and see that the CRO has been engaging with posts about sales enablement in complex verticals. You look at recent news and find they just hired a VP of Healthcare Sales. Everything lines up. Your outreach message writes itself. You're not pitching. You're acknowledging what they're working on and offering a perspective on how companies in similar situations have approached the same problem. What to Do After the Meeting Your AI workflow doesn't end when the call does. This is where most reps leave value on the table. After your meeting, take the transcript from your call recording tool (Fathom, Gong, Chorus, whatever you use) and upload it to your AI agent.

Ever wonder how successful entrepreneurs make decisions that consistently drive growth? Sam Vander Wielen, the powerhouse behind a thriving seven-figure legal education business, sits down with Karl to reveal the exact systems she uses to scale while staying true to her unique voice. The Curiosity Framework That Transforms Teams Sam drops a game-changer: curiosity as a core business value. But this isn't just feel-good leadership fluff. She shares the specific techniques she uses to turn her team into problem-solvers who aren't afraid to experiment and fail forward. The Voice-of-Customer System That Drives Real Results Here's where Sam gets tactical. She reveals her quarterly feedback system that goes beyond basic surveys. This isn't about collecting compliments – it's about gathering data that actually changes how she builds products and crafts messaging. The twist? Sometimes the data forces her to pivot away from her own assumptions. Sam shares how customer feedback helped her make decisions that felt counterintuitive but drove significant growth. AI Integration Without Losing Your Soul Sam's approach to AI is refreshingly strategic. She's not jumping on every shiny new tool – instead, she's thoughtfully integrating AI for specific tasks while fiercely protecting what makes her business unique: her voice and perspective. She reveals exactly where she uses AI (social media, email reminders) and where she draws hard lines (core content creation). Why This Matters for Your Business If you're a small business owner struggling with: Team members who wait for direction instead of taking initiative Making decisions based on gut feeling rather than solid data Wondering how to use AI without losing what makes you different Scaling while maintaining quality and authenticity ...then Sam's systems provide a blueprint you can actually implement. The Bottom Line Sam proves that systematic curiosity and strategic feedback loops aren't just nice-to-haves. They're the engines that power sustainable growth. Her approach shows how the right systems can help you scale without sacrificing the human elements that make your business special. Ready to build magnetic systems that make your team more proactive and your customers more engaged? This conversation gives you the roadmap. Want to design feedback systems that actually drive growth in your business? Let's talk about how to turn your people into problem-solvers who help you scale smarter, not harder. Learn more about Sam Vander Wielen over at her website. You can also connect with her on LinkedIn. You can get the Magnetic Systems Method (and other systems guides) to find issues before they become expensive problems. As always, if you have any questions or want to submit an amazing guest for the podcast, just reach out to me on the Systematic Leader website, and I'll do my best to get them on. If you enjoy the interview, please take 30 seconds to rate the Systematic Leader podcast on your favorite platform. Thanks! Related podcasts and articles: The Hidden Force Behind 95% of Your Team's Decisions with Mark C. Crowley The Power of Systems Thinking in Your Company

Kim Minnick, Founder of Code Traveller HR, joined us on The Modern People Leader.We dug into why performance reviews often fail, how companies can decouple performance from compensation, creative ways to reward employees beyond pay, and the importance of transparency, choice, and designing programs that reflect company values.---- Sponsor Links:

Richard Gearhart and Elizabeth Gearhart, co-hosts of Passage to Profit Show interview Kris Dehnert from Dugout Mugs, BIGGGolf and Dehnert Media Group, Alex Yancher from Passport and Jim Mirochnik from HALOCK and Reasonable Risk.   Kris Dehnert is the guy who turned a baseball bat into a $52 million mug—literally. From Dugout Mugs to BIGG Golf and his consulting empire Dehnerg Media Group, Dehnert has built businesses that have been featured on Forbes, the Inc. 5000, and national TV, all while proving you don't need a fancy MBA to dominate eCommerce. Through his companies, Kris has become a leader in eCommerce, branding, and premium gifting, building brands that have become household names in both the baseball and golf worlds. Read more at: https://dugoutmugs.com/ and at: https://bigggolf.com/     Alex Yancher is the co-founder of Passport, a company helping DTC and marketplace brands scale globally. Passport simplifies international expansion, enabling ecommerce businesses to navigate cross-border shipping, local compliance, and tariff changes while maximizing growth and customer satisfaction. Read more at: https://passportglobal.com/     Jim Mirochnik is a cybersecurity innovator and leader who is redefining how organizations manage risk. He is a Senior Partner at HALOCK and the CEO of Reasonable Risk. He is an innovative business leader with over 25 years of technology and management consulting experience, having founded and partnered with multiple companies. He has architected large-scale technology programs exceeding $100 million in budget and is recognized as both a hands-on practitioner and proven business leader. Read more at: https://www.reasonablerisk.com/ and at: https://www.halock.com/     Whether you're a seasoned entrepreneur, a startup, an inventor, an innovator, a small business or just starting your entrepreneurial journey, tune into Passage to Profit Show for compelling discussions, real-life examples, and expert advice on entrepreneurship, intellectual property, trademarks and more. Visit https://passagetoprofitshow.com/ for the latest updates and episodes. Chapters (00:00:00) - International Business: Ramping Up Your Business(00:00:29) - Passage to Profit(00:02:16) - What's The One Rookie Mistake You'd Make?(00:04:11) - What Was The Rookie Mistake You Made?(00:04:54) - Chris Denhart: Chasing the Happy, Not the Money(00:10:49) - Chris Denhart on What People Most Misunderstand About Him(00:11:55) - What Would You Tell Entrepreneurs to Start a Business in E-(00:14:25) - When Did You Know That Dugout Mugs Would Be a Success(00:17:20) - The Investment Value of Gold(00:18:21) - The Cruise Line Hotline(00:19:20) - Chris Dugout On The Sandlot Mugs(00:24:34) - Chris Denhart Discusses His Business(00:25:01) - How Companies Are Using AI in their Business(00:27:40) - Passport.com: How AI Is Affecting Our Business(00:31:19) - How Are You Using AI in Your Company?(00:37:55) - MedGuard Alert: CareWatch(00:40:34) - Pauline Newman's Fight to Stay on the Patent Court(00:42:33) - Meet Passport(00:49:21) - DHL: When Customers Start freaking out(00:51:36) - Exploring the White Label Network(00:53:33) - Risk and Reward in Your Business(00:56:57) - Jim Rachnick(00:58:54) - The Trade Offs of Cybersecurity and Efficiency(01:00:41) - Within Cybersecurity: Risk Management and Consistent Risk(01:01:46) - How to Secure Your Startup's Data(01:03:54) - How To Attract a Hacker?(01:06:41) - Road to Entrepreneurship(01:08:13) - Secrets of the Entrepreneurial Mind(01:10:03) - What's Your Secret to a Happy Life?(01:11:37) - P2P: Passage to Profit

Unlocking Leadership and Decision-Making: Insights from Rick WilliamsIn this episode, Josh Elledge sits down with Rick Williams—keynote speaker, author of Create the Future: Powerful Decision Making Tools for Your Company and Yourself, and experienced board member—to explore actionable strategies for leaders. Rick shares how diverse experiences, effective board governance, and structured decision-making can accelerate organizational success and personal leadership growth.Leadership Lessons and Decision-Making FrameworksRick emphasizes that leadership is a blend of strategy, personal growth, and practical execution. Drawing lessons from sailing and photography, he explains how diverse interests can sharpen decision-making, improve adaptability, and foster creative problem-solving. Leadership skills are not confined to the office; they develop through varied experiences that challenge perspective and enhance judgment.He also highlights the strategic value of a well-structured board of directors. Beyond governance, boards provide accountability, offer new perspectives, and serve as a catalyst for organizational growth. Rick shares best practices for selecting board members, defining clear roles, and maintaining open communication to ensure boards function as true strategic partners.Finally, Rick walks listeners through his five-step decision-making framework: understand the opportunity, define success, explore creative options, assess risks, and make choices aligned with organizational goals and values. By following this structured approach, leaders can navigate complex decisions confidently while aligning their teams and resources toward meaningful outcomes.About Rick WilliamsRick Williams is a physicist-turned-entrepreneur, author, and seasoned board member. His career spans roles in consulting, real estate, and technology leadership, giving him a unique perspective on organizational strategy and decision-making. Rick is passionate about helping leaders create high-impact results through structured processes, personal growth, and strategic board governance.About Rick Williams LeadershipRick Williams Leadership provides insights, tools, and resources for executives and board members to improve decision-making, enhance governance, and accelerate organizational performance. The platform offers thought leadership content, training, and coaching that equips leaders to navigate complex challenges with confidence and clarity.Links Mentioned in this EpisodeRick Williams LeadershipRick Williams LinkedInKey Episode HighlightsDiverse hobbies like sailing and photography can strengthen leadership and decision-making skills.Career evolution shows how different experiences contribute to effective leadership.Boards are strategic assets that add value beyond daily operations.Rick's five-step decision-making framework helps leaders tackle high-stakes choices.CEOs succeed by orchestrating strategy, delegating tasks, and empowering their teams.ConclusionRick Williams' insights provide a practical roadmap for leaders who want to make better decisions, leverage boards effectively, and grow personally and professionally. His approach shows that leadership is not just about executing tasks but about cultivating perspective, strategic thinking, and organizational impact.

Ravi Kathuria is a respected business thought leader,management consultant, and author. His insights have been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, NPR, and TEDx. Ravi has written two acclaimed books—How Cohesive is Your Company?, on business leadership and strategy, and Happy Soul. Hungry Mind., a modern exploration ofpractical, non-religious spirituality. In this Episode, Ravi shares his wisdom on clarity, cohesion, and living with purpose.#PurposefulLiving #FaithAndSpirituality #BeyondReligion #SoulfulConversations #LivingtoBE Highlights of this Episode- The difference between religion and spirituality- How the mind gets trapped in addiction and obsession- Learning practical SpiritualityBooks: How Cohesive is Your CompanyHappy Soul. Hungry MindLearn More at Spirituality Within

In this episode of Perspective Shift, we sit down with Ravi Kathuria—founder of the Houston Strategy Forum, president of Cohegic Corporation, executive coach, and author of How Cohesive is Your Company? and Happy Soul. Hungry Mind. Ravi is a recognized thought leader who brings clarity to both business and life.We dive into the powerful idea that obsessing about outcomes actually keeps us from achieving them. Ravi explains why focusing on results alone leads to frustration, burnout, and emotional rollercoasters—and how shifting your energy toward effort, quality, and presence creates greater success and deeper fulfillment.This episode will challenge the way you think about success and inspire you to fall in love with the process—not just the destination.Learn more about Ravi's work and his book Happy Soul. Hungry Mind. at happysoulhungrymind.com.Now streaming on Spotify, YouTube, and Apple Podcasts.#PerspectiveShift #RaviKathuria #HappySoulHungryMind #SuccessMindset #EffortOverOutcomes #ConsciousLiving

Ravi Kathuria is founder and president of Houston Strategy Forum and of the management consulting firm Cohegic Corporation. He is a recognized business thought leader, vibrant speaker, and executive coach. He is the author of the highly acclaimed leadership parable, How Cohesive is Your Company? His second book, Happy Soul. Hungry Mind. A Modern-Day Parable about Spirituality, is a non-religious and practical tale exploring spirituality. Ravi has made spirituality stunningly simple and accessible for all without judgement and preconditions. Learn more at SpiritualityWithin.com

If you're only showing up in one place, you're not showing up at all, which is why top sales reps are making multi-channel prospecting a priority and leveraging LinkedIn to get ahead.  "The reality of buying and selling is that everyone has different preferences, and as a salesperson, we need to use as many tools as possible. If you are only making calls or sending emails, you're missing [prospects] that don't answer calls or reply to emails," says Daniel Disney, one of the world's leading social selling experts and founder of The Daily Sales. In today's sales landscape, understanding and navigating the "Prospecting Maze" is no longer optional—it's essential. The Prospecting Maze: Why Single-Channel Fails The modern buyer isn't linear. They don't follow a step-by-step funnel. Instead, they're zig-zagging across digital touchpoints: social feeds, emails, websites, calls, review sites, podcasts, webinars, and peer referrals. A prospect might first see your company mentioned in a LinkedIn comment, hear about you from a colleague, get a cold call later that week, and convert after reading third-party reviews.  This is where multi-channel outreach gives you a powerful edge. And in the world of B2B, LinkedIn often becomes your competitive advantage. Why Using LinkedIn in Your Multi-Channel Prospecting Works Among your core outreach tools—phone, email, social—LinkedIn stands out. It doesn't replace cold calling. It reinforces it. Used strategically, it extends your credibility, warms up cold conversations, and drives responses other channels can't. Here's what makes LinkedIn a powerhouse in your multi-channel approach: Professional Credibility: A strong LinkedIn presence builds instant trust. Prospects see who you are, what you've done, and how you show up in your industry. Deep Prospect Insights: LinkedIn offers unmatched visibility into a buyer's job history, interests, content, and network. That context powers personalization that cuts through the noise. Soft-Touch Engagement: You don't have to push. LinkedIn allows you to comment, share, and message in a way that builds rapport, without asking for time or commitment right away. Message Amplification: Your posts and interactions can reach 2nd- and 3rd-degree connections. That passive visibility compounds your prospecting efforts. The LINK Framework: Your Multi-Channel Prospecting System You don't need to spend hours scrolling LinkedIn. In fact, you can see results in just 15 focused minutes a day — if you have a plan. That's where the LINK Framework comes in. It's a repeatable system for integrating LinkedIn with your outreach strategy and making every touchpoint count. L – Leverage LinkedIn for Insight Your first call sets the tone. Before you pick up the phone, use LinkedIn to gather quick intelligence such as your prospect's role, recent posts, company news, and shared connections. Example Cold Call Opener: “Hi [Prospect Name], this is [Your Name] with [Your Company]. I'm calling because I saw [Your Company] recently [published an article on X / celebrated a milestone / hired new talent], and it made me think about how other leaders in [their industry] are grappling with [specific problem that your solution solves].” I – Integrate Channels with Purpose Don't silo your outreach. Each touch should build on the last, referencing LinkedIn in your emails, following up calls with connections, and weaving consistent messaging across every interaction. Example Touch Pattern: Touch 1: Phone call + voicemail Touch 2: Immediately after your call, send a LinkedIn connection request Touch 3: Email referencing LinkedIn or voicemail Touch 4: Comment on their recent post or share a relevant industry article Touch 5: Second phone call Touch 6: LinkedIn message with relevant insight or asset N – Nurture Through Engagement Your prospects see who shows up. Stay in their world by regularly interacting with their content.

If you're only showing up in one place, you're not showing up at all, which is why top sales reps are making multi-channel prospecting a priority and leveraging LinkedIn to get ahead.  "The reality of buying and selling is that everyone has different preferences, and as a salesperson, we need to use as many tools as possible. If you are only making calls or sending emails, you're missing [prospects] that don't answer calls or reply to emails," says Daniel Disney, one of the world's leading social selling experts and founder of The Daily Sales. In today's sales landscape, understanding and navigating the "Prospecting Maze" is no longer optional—it's essential. The Prospecting Maze: Why Single-Channel Fails The modern buyer isn't linear. They don't follow a step-by-step funnel. Instead, they're zig-zagging across digital touchpoints: social feeds, emails, websites, calls, review sites, podcasts, webinars, and peer referrals. A prospect might first see your company mentioned in a LinkedIn comment, hear about you from a colleague, get a cold call later that week, and convert after reading third-party reviews.  This is where multi-channel outreach gives you a powerful edge. And in the world of B2B, LinkedIn often becomes your competitive advantage. Why Using LinkedIn in Your Multi-Channel Prospecting Works Among your core outreach tools—phone, email, social—LinkedIn stands out. It doesn't replace cold calling. It reinforces it. Used strategically, it extends your credibility, warms up cold conversations, and drives responses other channels can't. Here's what makes LinkedIn a powerhouse in your multi-channel approach: Professional Credibility: A strong LinkedIn presence builds instant trust. Prospects see who you are, what you've done, and how you show up in your industry. Deep Prospect Insights: LinkedIn offers unmatched visibility into a buyer's job history, interests, content, and network. That context powers personalization that cuts through the noise. Soft-Touch Engagement: You don't have to push. LinkedIn allows you to comment, share, and message in a way that builds rapport, without asking for time or commitment right away. Message Amplification: Your posts and interactions can reach 2nd- and 3rd-degree connections. That passive visibility compounds your prospecting efforts. The LINK Framework: Your Multi-Channel Prospecting System You don't need to spend hours scrolling LinkedIn. In fact, you can see results in just 15 focused minutes a day — if you have a plan. That's where the LINK Framework comes in. It's a repeatable system for integrating LinkedIn with your outreach strategy and making every touchpoint count. L – Leverage LinkedIn for Insight Your first call sets the tone. Before you pick up the phone, use LinkedIn to gather quick intelligence such as your prospect's role, recent posts, company news, and shared connections. Example Cold Call Opener:“Hi [Prospect Name], this is [Your Name] with [Your Company]. I'm calling because I saw [Your Company] recently [published an article on X / celebrated a milestone / hired new talent], and it made me think about how other leaders in [their industry] are grappling with [specific problem that your solution solves].” I – Integrate Channels with Purpose Don't silo your outreach. Each touch should build on the last, referencing LinkedIn in your emails, following up calls with connections, and weaving consistent messaging across every interaction. Example Touch Pattern: Touch 1: Phone call + voicemail Touch 2: Immediately after your call, send a LinkedIn connection request Touch 3: Email referencing LinkedIn or voicemail Touch 4: Comment on their recent post or share a relevant industry article Touch 5: Second phone call Touch 6: LinkedIn message with relevant insight or asset N – Nurture Through Engagement Your prospects see who shows up. Stay in their world by regularly interacting with their content. These light-touch engagements—liking, commenting, sharing insights—build rapport without adding pressure. Tip: Set a recurring 10-minute calendar block to engage with your top 10 prospects on LinkedIn. K – Keep Track and Optimize Use your CRM to track every interaction—calls, messages, connection requests, replies. Patterns will emerge. You'll spot which combinations generate conversations and which fall flat. Test Everything: Does your sequence perform better when you start with a call and follow with LinkedIn? Or when you comment on a post first, then email? Track it. Adjust. Repeat. Multi-Channel Prospecting Success Story A cybersecurity rep at a mid-sized B2B firm had been struggling to break through to CISOs. Cold emails were getting buried. So she shifted her approach: Started with a cold call, referencing a recent industry breach. Sent a LinkedIn connection request after leaving a voicemail. Followed up with a short voice note and a message on LinkedIn linking to a third-party security report. Closed with a personalized email linking her solution to specific compliance gaps on their roadmap. In three weeks, she landed meetings with five accounts that had gone dark for months. The difference? Each channel reinforced the others.  Social Selling Isn't the Future—It's the Now You're not just cold calling. You're not just emailing. You're not just commenting on LinkedIn. You're doing all of it—strategically and consistently. The goal isn't to become a social media expert. It's to use LinkedIn as efficiently as you use your phone or CRM. Block 15 minutes on your calendar today. Use it to research, connect, and engage with high-value prospects. In 30 days, you won't just have more conversations—you'll have a sustainable system that shortens your sales cycle, fills your pipeline, and opens doors your competitors can't. If you want to unlock LinkedIn's true selling power and learn the real-world strategy that led to a million-dollar deal, then check out this micro-course from Daniel Disney.

Culture. Webster's defines it in the corporate realm as: the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution or organization. How aware are YOU of YOUR COMPANY'S culture? When's the last time you really stopped and took a look at it?  How does it align with your OWN personal values as a Christ follower? And if you're a leader, what are you doing to ensure your culture aligns with God's word and will?  Romans 12:2, “Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” What is ONE ACTION you will take THIS WEEK, to align YOUR CULTURE with God's will? 

Have questions? Submit them at hrask.org.  This week, we share the results from AAIM's phase 1 of “trying it”. because in doing so, we found a real opportunity to align AI with our services. Introducing Aaime Hart - an HR chatbot built on reliable sources our members already trust. She will actually help YOU align AI with YOUR COMPANY. #aaimehart Timestamps:  0:00 – Welcome to AI & HR Week: Phase 2 – Align It 1:35 – AI vs. AI: Who's Really Hiring Who? 3:25 – Candidates Using Bots to Apply & Interview 5:15 – The Ethics of AI-Powered Applicants 6:22 – Meet Aaime Hart: AI Built for HR Pros 9:50 – How Aaime Hart's Sources Make Her Trustworthy 12:15 – Aaime's Strengths, Limits, and Safe Use Tips 14:40 – Demo 1: Create an HR Audit Checklist with Amy 17:45 – Demo 2: Build a High-Potential Employee Plan 22:00 – Create Justifications, Find Training & Go Strategic Get Key Takeaways From This Episode: tinyurl.com/2rhs4k9f

In this episode, Trace Blackmore welcomes back Tom Hutchison, Chairman of the Board, HOH Water Technology, to reflect on what it really takes to step out of day-to-day leadership—and do it well. As a multi-decade leader in water treatment, Tom shares the personal, professional, and organizational insights that shaped his transition from CEO to chairman and what it means to lead a business into its next generation.  From early succession conversations to the unspoken anxieties of staff, Hutch offers a rare look behind the curtain of legacy-building in industrial water treatment. And as private equity plays a growing role in the industry, Tom unpacks the very real choices facing owners and teams alike—with clarity and compassion. Navigating Leadership Through Change  Tom begins by describing the decision to shift from day-to-day leadership to a board-level role. He reflects on the emotional weight of that process and the internal work required to detach his identity from his title. Rather than clinging to authority, he outlines the importance of trust and letting emerging leaders find their voice—even when it means they'll make different decisions.  He also highlights the human cost of poor planning. “Death,” as Tom puts it bluntly, “is not a strategy.” Waiting too long or failing to mentor successors doesn't just disrupt the business—it risks unraveling everything you've built. Succession Planning and Cultural Continuity  Trace and Tom dive into the mechanics of succession planning—not just from an ownership perspective, but a cultural one. Tom explains how HOH built an internal environment where values weren't just posted on the wall but deeply lived. This foundation allowed the company to navigate major transitions, including its eventual move into private equity, without losing its identity.  He also warns about the consequences of delayed planning. Waiting too long, he says, puts the business, its people, and its principles at risk.    Preparing for Private Equity—Without Losing Yourself  One of the most practical parts of the conversation centers on HOH's private equity journey. Tom shares how they vetted buyers not just for financial capacity, but for cultural alignment. He outlines how his team clarified their mission and values before the deal, which ultimately helped preserve their vision after the transition.  Rather than resist change, HOH treated the shift as an opportunity to reinforce their core—while expanding their reach.   The Long Arc of Legacy  Tom closes with a powerful meditation on leadership legacy. He explains that real legacy isn't about being remembered—it's about ensuring the business can thrive without you. He challenges listeners to think beyond titles, financial outcomes, or even strategy, and focus on the enduring impact of culture, mentorship, and examples.  Trace echoes this with a reminder that great leaders not only lead—they leave well. If you're leading a team, planning your exit, or preparing the next generation of leadership, this episode is a must-listen.  To take this conversation further, download the Discussion Guide located in the Connect with the Guest section of the show notes. Stay engaged, keep learning, and continue scaling up your knowledge!   Timestamps  02:46 – Opening the episode, Trace reflects on the concept of the “butterfly line”—that uncomfortable but powerful moment right before growth happens  07:10 – Water You Know with James McDonald  09:08 – Upcoming Events for Water Treatment Professionals 11:49– Guest Intro: Tom “Hutch” Hutchison Returns  12:35 – Stepping Down in 2020: How the Pandemic Helped  17:17 – Private Equity's Growing Role in Water Treatment  20:04 – The 5 Ownership Transition Paths 36:01 – Your Company is an Asset, not just a Job  42:00 – A New Mission: To Encourage and Inspire    Quotes  “The longer you put it off, the fewer options you have. And probably, the more unsettled your employees might be.”  “You don't have to suffer for the first time alone. If someone's already done it, learn from them and do it better.”  “Business is both a job and an asset. If you only treat it as a job, you're leaving value on the table.”  “I think I'm still figuring it out—but in this next season, I want to encourage and inspire.”  “You can start at step five if someone else already figured out the first four—just polish it and give it back.”    Connect with Tom Hutchison  Phone: +18474367403  Email: hutch@hohwatertechnology.com  Website: HOH Water Technology - Water Treatment Solutions  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomasfhutchison/   Click HERE to Download Episode's Discussion Guide    Guest Resources Mentioned  Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow  Halftime: Moving from Success to Significance by Bob P. Buford  Harry Potter Paperback Box Set (Books 1-7) by J.K. Rowling  King: A Life by Jonathan Eig  Strong and Weak: Embracing a Life of Love, Risk and True Flourishing by Andy Crouch   The Ideal Team Player: How to Recognize and Cultivate The Three Essential Virtues (J-B Lencioni Series) by Patrick M. Lencioni  The Lord of the Rings: 50th Anniversary, One Vol. Edition by J.R.R. Tolkien  The Little Liar: A Novel by Mitch Albom    Scaling UP! H2O Resources Mentioned  AWT (Association of Water Technologies)  Scaling UP! H2O Academy video courses  Submit a Show Idea  The Rising Tide Mastermind  166 The One Where We Celebrate Halloween   325 Rising Together: Conquering Challenges through Collective Support 127 The One With Tom Hutchison   Water You Know with James McDonald  Question: What is defined as the acid-absorbing property of water?    2025 Events for Water Professionals  Check out our Scaling UP! H2O Events Calendar where we've listed every event Water Treaters should be aware of by clicking HERE.   

Struggling to tap into your team's full potential? You know your employees are talented, yet you can't seem to bring the most out of them. Chances are it's because you're not coaching to their Brilliant Differences.   A Brilliant Difference is composed of people's God-given gifts, their talents and strengths, and how they uniquely actualize them to transform the lives of others. It just so happens that the workplace and people's careers are the perfect arenas to live it out.  I think of Brilliant Differences as diamonds; they need pressure and cuts to be realized and utilized with the most value.  That's like your team. They're diamonds. They're valuable. They just aren't fully aware of it yet.  That's where you come in, leader, asking them specific questions to hone and coax their Brilliant Differences, so they can make a meaningful impact, leading your organization to excellence.   From understanding the progression of zones of brilliances, to mitigating the mediocrity trap, to the right series of questions to ask, you'll know exactly how to bring the most out of your people after listening to this episode.  Don't Miss Out! Grab Your Brilliant Difference Coaching Questions  Download Here  Leadership Development Audit  Apply Now  Like What You Listen To?  Share the episode and show with a fellow colleague and podcast listener!  Leave a rating and review. Your feedback is valuable.   Related Episodes  Workplace Coaching vs. Edge Mover's Coaching and Why You Need the Latter     How to Create a Successful Coaching Session: 5 Things You Need to Do     3 Coaching Skills Every Leader Needs—Let's Do LAPs!  Connect Beyond the Podcast for Daily Career Support  Connect with Finka on LinkedIn  Interested in Working with Finka on Your Company's Leadership Skill Development?  Book a Call   

There are three coaching skills you cannot forgo in your leadership and career, and they are LAP:  Listen.  Ask questions.  Pause.  Seems simple enough, right?   Wrong.  Trust me when I say there is an art to executing each of these skills. When done wrong, it can be dismal and tiring. But when done right, it not only fuels your career and leadership, but those of the people in your company!  I'll teach you how to do it the right way. By the end of this Your Brilliant Difference Podcast episode, you'll learn:  Lessons from workplace coaching experiences (from myself and clients).  Why coaching is crucial for workplace success now more than ever.  The difference between the three tiers of listening and how to tap into all.  How to form your coaching questions to be open-ended, strategic-thinking starters.  The power of pausing and when to use it.  You're only one listen away from growing your coaching skills, bringing the most out of yourself and people.  Leadership Development Audit  Apply Now  Like What You Listen To?  Share the episode and show with a fellow colleague and podcast listener!  Leave a rating and review. Your feedback is valuable.   Related Episodes  Workplace Coaching vs. Edge Mover's Coaching and Why You Need the Latter     How to Create a Successful Coaching Session: 5 Things You Need to Do     Connect Beyond the Podcast for Daily Career Support  Connect with Finka on LinkedIn  Interested in Working with Finka on Your Company's Leadership Skill Development?  Book a Call 

What are the elements of a successful workplace coaching session? What makes an employee eager to grow and change vs. stuck in their ways?  I'll answer both questions. Even better? I'll teach you exactly how to facilitate a coaching conversation at work that actually uncovers potential and gets results from your people.   You might think you're already coaching, supporting and mentoring your people through weekly huddles and individual touchpoints, but the truth is, if you aren't doing these five things, you're not actually coaching:  Making space for intentional, strategic thinking Analyzing comfort zones Facilitating the three types of change Developing self-awareness in talent and purpose Designing Edge Moves From knowing the four types of questions to ignite powerful thinking and “aha” moments, to understanding the psychology behind change resistance, you'll have everything you need to start coaching your team successfully.   Share Your Experience!  After listening to this episode, take two minutes and share your own coaching or listening experiences on LinkedIn using the hashtag: #EdgeMoversCoach. Share your biggest episode takeaways and insights and what you'll be bringing back with you to your career.   Mentioned Books  The War of Art by Steven Pressfield  Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn  Breakthrough Coaching by Marcia Reynolds  Leadership Development Audit  Apply Now  Like What You Listen To?  Share the episode and show with a fellow colleague and podcast listener!  Leave a rating and review. Your feedback is valuable.   Related Episodes  Workplace Coaching vs. Edge Mover's Coaching and Why You Need the Latter     Connect Beyond the Podcast for Daily Career Support  Connect with Finka on LinkedIn  Interested in Working with Finka on Your Company's Leadership Skill Development?  Book a Call 

She turned hustle into a $4 billion brand, Emma Grede breaks down how she built Kardashian fashion empires  Emma Grede is the founding partner behind the globally successful brands SKIMS, Good American, and Safely, all launched with the Kardashian family. She is also Chairwoman of The Fifteen Percent Pledge, is a board member at Baby2Baby, and was named one of Forbes ‘Richest Self-Made Women in America'.  She explains:  Growing up in East London, raised by a single mother, and how early hardship forged her fierce independence. Taking on a maternal role from childhood, learning to lead through responsibility, empathy, and survival. Turning rejection, dyslexia, and a lack of qualifications into fuel for building billion-dollar fashion brands. Balancing ambition and motherhood, and the personal toll of leadership, hustle, and hard decisions. Building SKIMS and Good American without fashion training, and the mindset that made it all possible. 00:00 Intro   02:17 Becoming Emma Grede   03:58 Acting as the Mum and Raising My Siblings   06:49 Lacking a Father Figure Growing Up   08:25 Anger Management Tools I Learned   11:06 My Dream Was Always Fashion   12:20 Understanding Money Attachment Styles   14:32 Emma's Recipe to Achieve Anything   17:55 Customer Feedback   19:30 The Importance of Reliable Decision Partners & Mentality Shifts   21:38 Do People Need Mentors to Succeed?   24:06 The One Skill That Made Me an Entrepreneur   26:09 The Three Most Important Words for Career Advancement   27:25 Does Working in an Office Make Employees More Successful?   31:11 Traits of Future Successful People   33:32 Interview Red Flags & Work-Life Balance   39:32 Can You Be Successful and Have Work-Life Balance?   40:58 You Can't Be a Leader and a People Pleaser   43:51 Being Cancelled as a Leader and Public Figure   46:29 Racism and Sexism in the Business Industry   50:56 Dealing With Business Struggles and Crises   53:33 Top 3 Valuable Practices for Founders   55:58 Don't Get Stuck—Keep Fresh Eyes   57:15 Brands Copying Other Brands   01:00:42 Advice for People With Unsupportive Partners   01:02:10 Scheduling Date Night   01:05:45 Meeting Kris Jenner   01:12:05 Pitching to Khloé Kardashian   01:12:43 Turning an Idea Into a Business   01:14:23 Strategies Deployed in Business   01:16:24 Building a Brand Strategy in 2025   01:21:11 First Principles of Business   01:25:59 How to Become the Best Salesperson   01:33:01 Learning How to Fire People   01:37:17 Attracting Top Talent to Your Company   01:39:37 What a Founder Shouldn't Do in Business   01:41:33 Hiring Exceptional People   01:45:42 Prejudices in the Workplace   01:49:09 Why Prejudices Shouldn't Limit Anyone   01:50:39 How to Stop Giving a F***   01:54:16 When Do Successful Women Have Children?   01:56:01 My IVF Journey and Miscarriages   02:00:30 The Taboo Around Surrogacy, Freezing Eggs & Pregnancy   02:04:51 Emma Grede's New Podcast ‘Aspire'   Follow Emma:  Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/emmagrede/?hl=en  Good American - https://www.goodamerican.com/ SKIMS - http://skims.com/ Safely - https://getsafely.com/  Aspire With Emma Grede Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/aspire-with-emma-grede/id1811878340 The 1% Diary is back - limited time only: https://thediary.com/products/one-percent-diary The Diary Of A CEO Conversation Cards (Second Edition): https://thediary.com/products/the-conversation-cards-2nd-edition Get email updates: https://bit.ly/diary-of-a-ceo-yt  Think like a CEO - join the 100 CEOs newsletter: https://bit.ly/100-ceos-newsletter   Follow Steven: https://g2ul0.app.link/gnGqL4IsKKb  Sponsors: Vanta - https://vanta.com/steven Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Workplace coaching has been used for years to garner performance and results from employees...but it only goes so far. Traditional workplace coaching is limiting, and if you really want to see long-term, sustainable growth and development from your team and business, you need to be an Edge Mover's coach.   Where does traditional workplace coaching fall short and what is Edge Mover's coaching? I answer these questions in episode 202, the catalyst of a new podcast series: Edge Mover's Coach.  Coaching is one of the most vital skills needed in the workplace, but it's often done wrong. I know this because I've experienced it first-hand and had to make my own coaching pivots in my career.  But I'll let you in on everything—my coaching success stories, my coaching fails, and why I now practice Edge Mover's coaching—so you can bring the most out of you and your team.  Share Your Experience!  After listening to this episode, take two minutes and share your own coaching experiences on LinkedIn using the hashtag: #EdgeMoversCoach. Share your biggest episode takeaways and insights and what you'll be bringing back with you to your career.   Leadership Development Audit  Apply Now  Like What You Listen To?  Share the episode and show with a fellow colleague and podcast listener!  Leave a rating and review. Your feedback is valuable.   Related Episodes  Stop Talking, Start Coaching  How to Be a Brilliant Coach  Connect Beyond the Podcast for Daily Career Support  Connect with Finka on LinkedIn  Interested in Working with Finka on Your Company's Leadership Skill Development?  Book a Call 

People with executive presence often have charisma, or executive charisma. What is it and how can you establish yours? First off, charisma is your ability to compel people with your charm, inspiring them to understand your message or take action. Sounds pretty close to executive presence, right? But how you actualize and elevate your charisma to fuel your executive presence differs.  You do so by following my simple eight-step CHARISMA framework:  Courage Humility Authenticity Responsiveness Intention Storytelling Mindfulness Articulation Paired with resources below, learn everything you need to know about effectively establishing your executive charisma to elevate your leadership and career.   Executive Charisma Package: CHARISMA Framework + Charisma Self-Assessment Scale  Download Now  Workplace Communication Quiz  Start Now and Find Your Communication Style  Mentioned Research and Books   The Dynamics of Warmth and Competence Judgments, and Their Outcomes in Organizations — Harvard Business School  Presence by Amy Cuddy  Leadership Development Audit  Apply Now  Like What You Listen To?  Share the episode and show with a fellow colleague and podcast listener!  Leave a rating and review. Your feedback is valuable.   Related Episodes  What It Means to Have Executive Presence (+ an Exercise to See Where You're At)  How to “Own a Room”: 3 Executive Presence Primers  Storytelling: Your Executive Presence Secret Weapon  Need More Career Direction and Clarity?  Connect with Finka on LinkedIn  Interested in Working with Finka on Your Company's Leadership Skill Development?  Book a Call 

If you've ever wondered, “How can I have more executive presence?” this episode is for you. Stories have been shared for millennia and are 22x more memorable than facts, yet corporate professionals and employees give it a middle-of-the-pack priority, even though it's a critical key to boosting their executive presence and leadership at work. The priority revelation is based on data from my Career Advancement Forecast (give it a read if you haven't yet).   So, I'm taking storytelling—what's seen as an underrated, nice-to-have skill—from the middle and spotlighting it at the top because you cannot have executive presence and grow in your career and leadership if you don't tell stories.   They connect. They engage. They influence. They persuade.   Today, you'll learn how to become a master storyteller by:  Understanding why storytelling makes all the difference in your career and impact.   Leveraging 4 types of stories you need to have in your executive presence, workplace arsenal.   Knowing what makes a captivating story.   Listening to how one of my clients told a story in a presentation and received critical career feedback of: “must be promoted.”  This is just the beginning of your executive presence, storytelling journey. Uncover your story today and start connecting and influencing important stakeholders and situations.  Leadership Development Audit  Apply Now  Executive Presence Self-Assessment  Download Now  Like What You Listen To?  Share the episode and show with a fellow colleague and podcast listener!  Leave a rating and review. Your feedback is valuable.   Related Episodes  What It Means to Have Executive Presence (+ an Exercise to See Where You're At)  How to “Own a Room”: 3 Executive Presence Primers  Need More Career Direction and Clarity?  Connect with Finka on LinkedIn  Interested in Working with Finka on Your Company's Leadership Skill Development?  Book a Call 

SOURCES:  'Black Swan' Ashley Benefield sentenced for killing her estranged husband | FOX 13 Tampa Bay'Natalie Cochran is the Face of Evil': Victim Impact StatementsThe Case of the Black Swan (Part 2) | Full Episode - 911 call https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2021/09/when-doug-and-ashley-benefield-started-a-ballet-company-it-wasnt-supposed-to-end-in-death?srsltid=AfmBOoqo4GReC-Hdw4l6knCDhmeby2j3USf_hCIA_gf9cvykxa1_CT0bAshley Byers, swimsuit model, on Trump payroll as Florida office manager: Report - Washington TimesChristina Alessia Female Model Profile - Sarasota, Florida, US - 15 PhotosGeneral 1 — We Stand With AshleyThe Case of the Black Swan (Part 2) | Full EpisodeRed Flags: Don't Ignore These Warning Signs at Your Company

People with executive presence are often told they know how to “own a room,” igniting engagement and attention without saying a word. But what does this look like and how can you do it too?  Using these three executive presence primers:  Be intentional Define the stakes Bring your Brilliant Difference Owning a room isn't about owning it, but making space for others, which is where intention, stakes, and your Brilliant Difference come into play.  Tune into this new Executive Presence 101 episode and elevate your EP at work.  Leadership Development Audit Apply Now Executive Presence Self-Assessment  Download Now  Discover Your Brilliant Difference   Download Your Brilliant Difference Brainstorm  Like What You Listen To?  Share the episode and show with a fellow colleague and podcast listener!  Leave a rating and review. Your feedback is valuable.   Related Episodes  What It Means to Have Executive Presence (+ an Exercise to See Where You're At)  Need More Career Direction and Clarity?  Download the Finka Inc. Career Advancement Forecast  Connect with Finka on LinkedIn  Interested in Working with Finka on Your Company's Leadership Skill Development?  Book a Call 

It's elusive. People often don't know exactly what it is or looks like. Let's change that. Discover exactly what it means to have executive presence, as well as where yours is right now. This is the start of a new, four-part series: Executive Presence 101.   Executive presence is something you either have or don't. It's an invisible ingredient that enables you to capture attention in a room without uttering a single word but makes people lean in when you do speak, remembering how you made them feel hours afterward.   So it's no surprise that it's often called the “X factor” of leadership, and I'm going to teach you how to harness it. Not only will you understand the three pillars of executive presence, but how to assess where your current levels are at in your career.  Do You Have Executive Presence? Find Out With the Executive Presence Assessment  Download Now  Discover Your Brilliant Difference   Download Your Brilliant Difference Brainstorm  Mentioned Research  Executive presence: what it is and why it's important  The New Rules of Executive Presence  Equipment to Help You Elevate Your Online Executive Presence  Logitech for Creators Blue Yeti USB Microphone   IXTECH Boom Arm - Adjustable 360° Rotatable Microphone Arm  Shure MV7X Microphone   Rode PodMic Cardioid Dynamic Broadcast Microphone   Like What You Listen To?  Share the episode and show with a fellow colleague and podcast listener!  Leave a rating and review. Your feedback is valuable.   Related Episodes  Why is Influence Important in Leadership? Learn From My Doozies   3 No-Nonsense Rules for Influencing Executives and Senior Leaders  5 Communication Styles in the Workplace — Which Do You Speak?  Value-First Centre of Influence Framework: Proven Method to Build Career-Elevating Relationships  Need More Career Direction and Clarity?  Download the Finka Inc. Career Advancement Forecast  Connect with Finka on LinkedIn  Interested in Working with Finka on Your Company's Leadership Skill Development?  Book a Call   

Get Noticed! Send a text.Emily King is connecting overwhelmed professionals with high-calibre family "fixers." She and her business partner met at a software company, and set up FAYE (Family Assistant YayEe). At first, she found the families and the fixers, whom they call advisors. With some revenue, she then went out to raise venture fund capital.Jim and Emily talk about the dual market challenges (ie finding buyers and sellers at the same time), funding, their mistakes and her favourite book:Time Stamps:  •  00:01-02:23: Introducing Faye's concept  •  10:16-12:12: Pricing and value proposition  •  18:36-21:29: Fundraising strategies  •  25:39-29:31: Unexpected learnings and market insights#1 Release Distribution ServiceTell the World about Your Company with e-releases. $130 Off Newsmaker distribution.Buyers Into Loyal Fans With IncentivesGive away free marketing incentives including free hotel nights. LinkedIn Engagement using AIEngage AI use AI to write insightful and relevant comments on LinkedIn™ Repurpose content effortless with AISell transforms audio or video into multiple formats quickly. Import direct YouTube and RSS feeds.Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showBe a podcast guest. Share your story.Learn how to get noticed by podcast hosts.Check out the Podcast Guest Blueprint - click the link below.https://academy.theunnoticed.cc/

Are Hidden Tariff Refunds Sitting in Your Company's Blind Spot? In this explosive episode of Simply Trade, host Annik and duty drawback expert Ariana Cox reveal a game-changing strategy that could save your business significant money amid escalating global trade tensions. With Trump's new 25% automobile tariffs and increasing trade fragmentation, businesses are searching for financial lifelines. Enter duty drawback - a powerful yet often overlooked mechanism for recovering import duties, taxes, and fees.

To have influence, you need to tap into the influence of others. You need a centre of influence (COI). Influence is built and nurtured; it's not something you're automatically granted. And the process starts with building your influence network, or what I like to call, your centre of influence.   To grow in your career and leadership, it's essential to surround yourself with the right people. Knowing and working with the right people can bolster your chances of being hired into a new role, getting promoted, getting invited to important conversations, and expanding your network and reach in your industry.   But it starts with giving value.  Concluding the Influence Without Authority series, in this episode I dive into:  What a circle of influence is.  How to identify COIs in your company.  How COIs can help you break through the corporate noise.  3 steps to mapping your COIs.   The 3 types of influencers that will make up your COI.  Methods to add value to your influencers.   By the time you're done listening, you'll know exactly who to turn to and build relationships with, and how to shine in your Brilliant Difference, giving value to those who matter most.    Take the Communication Quiz  Discover Your Workplace Communication Style  Influence Amplifier Blueprint: Apply Essential Influence Rules in Real-Time  Grab Your Blueprint   Like What You Listen To?  Share the episode and show with a fellow colleague and podcast listener!  Leave a rating and review. Your feedback is valuable.   Related Episodes  Why is Influence Important in Leadership? Learn From My Doozies   3 No-Nonsense Rules for Influencing Executives and Senior Leaders  5 Communication Styles in the Workplace — Which Do You Speak?  Need More Career Direction and Clarity?  Download the Finka Inc. Career Advancement Forecast  Connect with Finka on LinkedIn  Interested in Working with Finka on Your Company's Leadership Skill Development?  Book a Call 

Do you know how you think, speak, and make decisions? What about for those you work with? If not, it's no wonder why your brilliant ideas aren't landing with executives and rallying teams together. That's why I'm sharing with you five communication styles in the workplace, so you can:  Communicate more effectively.  Adapt and tailor your message to others' communication preferences.   Elevate your impact and influence.   Using my career experience, I've created five workplace communication styles that are inspired by Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, meaning they're ordered in what people often require the most.   The five communication styles in the workplace include:  Certainty Connection Consequence Confidence Change What do each look like at work and which type is yours? Find out by tuning into this episode and taking my Communication Quiz!  Take the Communication Quiz  Discover Your Workplace Communication Style  Influence Amplifier Blueprint: Apply Essential Influence Rules in Real-Time  Grab Your Blueprint    Like What You Listen To?  Share the episode and show with a fellow colleague and podcast listener!  Leave a rating and review. Your feedback is valuable.   Related Episodes  Why is Influence Important in Leadership? Learn From My Doozies   3 No-Nonsense Rules for Influencing Executives and Senior Leaders  Need More Career Direction and Clarity?  Download the Finka Inc. Career Advancement Forecast  Connect with Finka on LinkedIn  Interested in Working with Finka on Your Company's Leadership Skill Development?  Book a Call     

If your message isn't sticking, it's because you're not doing these three things. I'll teach you exactly what these rules for influencing executives and senior leaders are, so people can buy into your ideas. Every. Time.   Rule 1: Know your audience.  Rule 2: Identify motivators.  Rule 3: Plot the transformation journey.  I've designed this episode as an immersive learning experience so you can see what these rules look like in action right away. Grab your copy of the Influence Amplifier Blueprint, fill it out, and translate the rules into your influence impact at work as I guide you along:   The most powerful yet overlooked aspect of influence.  The three most common influence mistakes and how to mitigate them.  Why you need to know your audience (you cannot skip this step).  The differences between your primary, secondary, and tertiary audience.   How to understand what motivates your audience's decision-making process.   How to plot your audience's transformation journey.  Influence Amplifier Blueprint: Apply the Influence Rules in Real-Time  Grab Your Blueprint Here   Like What You Listen To?  Share the episode and show with a fellow colleague and podcast listener!  Leave a rating and review. Your feedback is valuable.   Related Episodes  Why is Influence Important in Leadership? Learn From My Doozies   Need More Career Direction and Clarity?  Download the Finka Inc. Career Advancement Forecast  Connect with Finka on LinkedIn  Interested in Working with Finka on Your Company's Leadership Skill Development?  Book a Call   

You hear it all the time: you need to have influence at work. But why is influence important in leadership and what does it look like done right and wrong? You get to learn all of that from me. This episode sets the tone for a new series: Influence Without Authority.   No matter your position—manager, executive, president—your title can change but what no one can take away from you is your ability to inspire. Want to persuade senior leaders to agree to an initiative? You need influence. Trying to gain buy-in for a new process? You need influence. Collaborating with team members on cross-functional projects? You need influence.   You get the picture.   If you nodded along to any of these scenarios, you're in the right place. In this episode I'll help you learn:  What influence is and isn't.  Where you may be going wrong with your influence and why your message isn't sticking with your team and leaders.  How having strong influence can amplify your leadership and career.  How not having influence can drain and stall your career.  Why influence matters.  The best-case and worst-case of my own influence scenarios, so you can know what hinders and helps you to effectively influence.   What are you waiting for? Press play and get to the answer of why influence is important in leadership.   Like What You Listen To?  Share the episode and show with a fellow colleague and podcast listener!  Leave a rating and review. Your feedback is valuable.   Related Episodes  Influence Stack Part 1  Influence Stack Part 2  Need More Career Direction and Clarity?  Download the Finka Inc. Career Advancement Forecast  Connect with Finka on LinkedIn  Interested in Working with Finka on Your Company's Leadership Skill Development?  Book a Call 

Geraldine Brooks' latest, Memorial Days, is a deeply personal memoir about the sudden loss of her husband Tony Horowitz. In this beautiful and deeply felt book, Geraldine remembers her husband and honors his legacy and their love. She walks us through the days after his death while simultaneously also taking us through her mourning process. Find out why Memorial Days was important to her survival, and how writing the book helped her and her family deal with the impossible task of grieving. Find books mentioned on The Book Case: https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/shop/story/book-case-podcast-reading-list-118433302 Books mentioned in this week's episode: Memorial Days by Geraldine Brooks March by Geraldine Brooks Horse by Geraldine Brooks Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks The Secret Chord by Geraldine Brooks People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks Nine Parts of Desire by Geraldine Brooks After Annie by Anna Quindlen Grief is for People by Sloane Crossley The Light of the World by Elizabeth Alexander A Widow's Story by Joyce Carol Oates I Should Be Extremely Happy in Your Company by Brian Hall Overstory by Richard Powers Gilead by Marilynne Robinson The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Approaching change and trying something new can be downright scary. But what if it didn't have to be? It seems society has conditioned people to make change in one full swoop, immediately, seeking instant gratification, and it's setting up people to fail. Making a big change or trying something new is like going into a polar plunge head-first versus tiptoeing in and getting your body adjusted—it shocks your system.  What I'm saying is, your success of managing change and trying something new all comes down to how you approach change. With the right strategies and the best practices for using Edge Moves (incremental actions that bridge your comfort zone to courage zone), you can handle change with ease, elegance, and even excitement.   I teach you how in this Your Brilliant Difference Podcast episode.   Learn about these 10 strategies to approach change:  The 80/20 rule   Openness to become someone new Repetition Manage your FUDGE energy Anchor in the familiar Focus on skill development Sell the outline Build external support Have a Brilliant Difference project Bring an Edge Move mindset to everything you do  Like What You Listen To?  Share the episode and show with a fellow colleague and podcast listener!  Leave a rating and review. Your feedback is valuable.   Need More Career Direction and Clarity?  Download the Finka Inc. Career Advancement Forecast  Connect with Finka on LinkedIn  Interested in Working with Finka on Your Company's Leadership Skill Development?  Book a Call 

Around 70% of most change initiatives are unsuccessful in organizations around the world. How can we create organizations that have the agility to successfully create real change? Join us as Marco Blankenburgh, International Director of KnowledgeWorkx, shares his insights into how agility has shifted from sports and military roots to a key component in business leadership and development. Together, Marco and Shelley explore the significance of collaborative cultures inspired by sports teams and military units, and the journey of agility's integration into business, especially in project management and software development, while tackling the real challenges of change management in the corporate world.The conversation takes a cultural spin, navigating the complexities of implementing agile methods across diverse global landscapes. Cultural interpretations of agility can vary dramatically—sometimes even clashing with established hierarchical structures and traditional leadership roles. Dive into discussions on what truly defines a healthy organization beyond Western-centric norms, and the impact of different organizational structures on productivity and effectiveness. The episode untangles the assumptions tied to organizational health and their influence on agility implementation across various cultural contexts.In a world where organizations are increasingly global, Intercultural Agility becomes indispensable. Learn from real-world examples how businesses have adapted their processes to respect cultural nuances, ensuring global success. Marco and Shelley discuss the "two spotlights approach" for fostering agile cultures, emphasizing the need for collaboration and creating pockets of success as catalysts for broader cultural change. With insights from John King's book "Tribal Leadership," discover how transitioning from competitive to collaborative modes propels organizations to the "we" level where true agility thrives. Join us to unlock strategies for building agile, culturally aware organizations ready to conquer the global stage.| In this episode, you will learn:   -- About the linguistic and cultural issues that need to be taken into account when developing an agile environment.   -- The role of hierarchy within agile systems: directed vs directive destiny.   -- How to gauge when your organization has 'global DNA' and is ready to take on other geographies.| Learn More about:   -- Global Leadership - How to Become a Culturally Agile Leader   -- How Global is Your Company's DNA? -- Looking for a book to take your cultural agility to the next step, check out the Ultimate Intercultural Question Book brought to you by KnowledgeWorkx.com

Get Noticed! Send a text.Are you an entrepreneur feeling trapped by your business, working endless hours with little time for life? Join Ral West's inspiring journey from running a Hawaiian holiday travel business to becoming a multi-industry success story. Discover how she transformed her company from a struggling start-up to a thriving enterprise sold to Alaska Airlines, and then pivoted through cruise ships and real estate investments.Ral reveals her six critical business principles: systems, leverage, team-building, customer service, performance tracking, and passionate purpose. Her key message? Work on your business, not in it. By creating robust systems and a strong team, entrepreneurs can build businesses that support their lifestyle dreams, not constrain them.Learn how calculated risks, homework, and unwavering belief can turn entrepreneurial challenges into remarkable opportunities for growth and personal fulfilment.Book Recommended: "The E-Myth" by Michael GerberProfits Through PodcastingHelping health-focused entrepreneurs grow their impact and generate sales.Listen on: Apple Podcasts SpotifyTurn your ideas into unique productsCreate custom products with your own design!Search the whole Internet's podcastsListen Notes, The Best Podcast Search EngineTest before you invest - with PickFuRun a poll and get in-depth feedback from real people in minutes. Coupon: THEUNNOTICEED#1 Release Distribution ServiceTell the World about Your Company with e-releases. $130 Off Newsmaker distribution.Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showBe a podcast guest. Share your story.Learn how to get noticed by podcast hosts.Check out the Podcast Guest Blueprint - click the link below.https://academy.theunnoticed.cc/

A CEO is arrested for turning satellite receivers into DDoS attack weapons, and we journey into the world of bossware and "affective computing" and explore how AI is learning to read our emotions – is this the future of work, or a recipe for dystopia?All this and more is discussed in the latest edition of the "Smashing Security" podcast by cybersecurity veterans Graham Cluley and Carole Theriault.Warning: This podcast may contain nuts, adult themes, and rude language.Episode links:Korea arrests CEO for adding DDoS feature to satellite receivers - Bleeping Computer.Data on our minds: affective computing at work - IFOW. How Much Does 'Bossware' Really Curb Remote Work Slacking? - Inc. MN8 – 2 Channel EEG Headphones - Emotiv.Commercial EEG Headsets for Enterprises - Emotiv.‘Bossware' computer tracking devices harm workers' wellbeing, says report - The Times.Your Company's Bossware Could Get You in Legal Trouble - 1Password.The Abandoned, Apocalyptic Architecture of One Bold 1970s Retail Chain - Atlas Obscura.Bankrupt - BEST Products Co. - YouTube.Defunct BEST Products Store Architecture Documentary - YouTube.Play Winning Cribbage - Amazon.Cribbage Classic - iOS App Store.Smashing Security merchandise (t-shirts, mugs, stickers and stuff)Sponsored by:1Password Extended Access Management – Secure every sign-in for every app on every device.BlackBerry - Tune in and empower your team with the knowledge to stay connected, no matter what crisis. Learn more about BlackBerry's critical event management solutions.ThreatLocker - the Zero Trust endpoint protection platform that provides enterprise-level cybersecurity to organizations globally. Start your 30-day free trial today!SUPPORT THE SHOW:Tell your friends and colleagues about “Smashing Security”, and leave us a review on

Get Noticed! Send a text.Are you losing potential customers because your website content is text-only? In this episode, Ron Jaworski, co-founder and CEO of Trinity Audio, reveals how businesses can transform their written content into engaging audio experiences. From his "eureka moment" in 2017 whilst trying to listen to an article in his car, Ron developed a solution that now serves Fortune magazine and thousands of other clients.Discover how adding audio players to your website can triple visitor engagement time, boost SEO rankings, and reach the 30% of users who prefer consuming content through audio. Ron shares valuable insights about building a brand through education, leveraging client platforms for organic growth, and maintaining perspective during entrepreneurial ups and downs.Learn how Trinity Audio's plug-and-play solution, supporting over 140 languages and 600 voices, is making the internet more accessible whilst helping businesses engage audiences in new ways.Recommended by Ron: Book: "Siddhartha" by Hermann Hesse Podcasts: Huberman Lab and Diary of a CEOEveryday AI: Your daily guide to grown with Generative AICan't keep up with AI? We've got you. Everyday AI helps you keep up and get ahead.Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify#1 Release Distribution ServiceTell the World about Your Company with e-releases. $130 Off Newsmaker distribution.Buyers Into Loyal Fans With IncentivesGive away free marketing incentives including free hotel nights. LinkedIn Engagement using AIEngage AI use AI to write insightful and relevant comments on LinkedIn™ Publish your book with Piilot AIPIILOT combines advanced technology with human editorial teams to publish and promote your book.Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showBe a podcast guest. Share your story.Learn how to get noticed by podcast hosts.Check out the Podcast Guest Blueprint - click the link below.https://academy.theunnoticed.cc/

Richard Coplan: The Power of Team Ownership When Defining and Implementing Architectural Decisions Read the full Show Notes and search through the world's largest audio library on Scrum directly on the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast website: http://bit.ly/SMTP_ShowNotes. Richard shares a story about his time working as a Scrum Master for two teams at a bank. While one team excelled at developing APIs and took ownership of architectural decisions, the other struggled to build a relationship with the architecture team. Richard discusses the friction that arose from a top-down imposition of architecture and highlights the key anti-pattern of architecture governance. How can teams take more ownership of their architecture, and what role should architects play in facilitating collaboration? Listen in to find out!   [IMAGE HERE] Recovering from failure, or difficult moments is a critical skill for Scrum Masters. Not only because of us, but also because the teams, and stakeholders we work with will also face these moments! We need inspiring stories to help them, and ourselves! The Bungsu Story, is an inspiring story by Marcus Hammarberg which shows how a Coach can help organizations recover even from the most disastrous situations! Learn how Marcus helped The Bungsu, a hospital in Indonesia, recover from near-bankruptcy, twice! Using Lean and Agile methods to rebuild an organization and a team! An inspiring story you need to know about! Buy the book on Amazon: The Bungsu Story - How Lean and Kanban Saved a Small Hospital in Indonesia. Twice. and Can Help You Reshape Work in Your Company.   About Richard Coplan Richard joins us from the UK. He has been a software developer for many years and later became data-centric, eventually transitioning into the role of Scrum Master. Over the past decade, Richard has specialized as a Scrum Master and Agile Coach, with a focus on collaboration tools like Miro and helping firms streamline their team structures. You can link with Richard Coplan on LinkedIn.

Anita Kalmane-Boot: When an Agile Team Rejects Scrum, Knowing When to Walk Away Read the full Show Notes and search through the world's largest audio library on Scrum directly on the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast website: http://bit.ly/SMTP_ShowNotes. In this episode, Anita shares her experience with a team that had already gone through two Scrum Masters before her arrival. Despite her best efforts, she realized that the team didn't want to work with a Scrum Master. The situation was compounded by the challenges of remote work during the pandemic. Eventually, Anita made the difficult decision to step away from the team. She emphasizes the importance of seeking external perspectives and approaching situations without judgement. How do you handle a team that resists change, and when is it time to walk away? Listen in to find out!   [IMAGE HERE] Recovering from failure, or difficult moments is a critical skill for Scrum Masters. Not only because of us, but also because the teams, and stakeholders we work with will also face these moments! We need inspiring stories to help them, and ourselves! The Bungsu Story, is an inspiring story by Marcus Hammarberg which shows how a Coach can help organizations recover even from the most disastrous situations! Learn how Marcus helped The Bungsu, a hospital in Indonesia, recover from near-bankruptcy, twice! Using Lean and Agile methods to rebuild an organization and a team! An inspiring story you need to know about! Buy the book on Amazon: The Bungsu Story - How Lean and Kanban Saved a Small Hospital in Indonesia. Twice. and Can Help You Reshape Work in Your Company.   About Anita Kalmane-Boot Anita is a neurodiversity advocate and considers herself European, not bound to one single country. Anita is passionate about Agile but is losing hope in corporate organizations and their adaptation of Scrum. You can link with Anita Kalmane-Boot on LinkedIn.

Johann Botha: The Pitfalls of Traditional Project Management in Software Development Read the full Show Notes and search through the world's largest audio library on Scrum directly on the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast website: http://bit.ly/SMTP_ShowNotes. Project management struggles to deliver successful software projects because customers often don't know what they want upfront, and the world around us changes too quickly. Johann reflects on the outdated thinking rooted in the Industrial Age that hampers modern software development. How can an iterative approach help teams deliver projects on time and within budget? Johann shares insights on why traditional project management often fails in dynamic environments and discusses how concepts from books like Reinventing Organizations and The Machine That Changed the World can transform management practices.   [IMAGE HERE] Recovering from failure, or difficult moments is a critical skill for Scrum Masters. Not only because of us, but also because the teams, and stakeholders we work with will also face these moments! We need inspiring stories to help them, and ourselves! The Bungsu Story, is an inspiring story by Marcus Hammarberg which shows how a Coach can help organizations recover even from the most disastrous situations! Learn how Marcus helped The Bungsu, a hospital in Indonesia, recover from near-bankruptcy, twice! Using Lean and Agile methods to rebuild an organization and a team! An inspiring story you need to know about! Buy the book on Amazon: The Bungsu Story - How Lean and Kanban Saved a Small Hospital in Indonesia. Twice. and Can Help You Reshape Work in Your Company.   About Johann Botha Johann joins us from South Africa, helping build digital-age capabilities by developing practical skills to solve problems, grow people, and facilitate difficult change. A long-time proponent of Lean and Agile, Johann consults, coaches, speaks, and writes on the topic. He is also the chief examiner for the EXIN Agile Scrum product. You can link with Johann on LinkedIn and connect with Johann on Twitter.

Brand Naming: The Complete Guide to Creating a Name for Your Company, Product, or Service by Rob Meyerson  ABOUT THE BOOK: You don't have a brand—whether it's for a company or a product—until you have a name. The name is one of the first, longest-lasting, and most important decisions in defining the identity of a company, product, or service. But set against a tidal wave of trademark applications, mortifying mistranslations, and disappearing dot-com availability, you won't find a good name by dumping out Scrabble tiles. Brand Naming details best-practice methodologies, tactics, and advice from the world of professional naming. You'll learn: What makes a good (and bad) name The step-by-step process professional namers use How to generate hundreds of name ideas The secrets of whittling the list down to a finalist The most complete and detailed book about naming your brand, Brand Naming includes insider anecdotes, tired trends, brand origin stories, and busted myths. Whether you need a great name for a new company or product or want to learn the secrets of professional word nerds, put down the thesaurus—not to mention Scrabble—and pick up Brand Naming. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Rob Meyerson is a namer, brand consultant, and principal and founder of Heirloom, an independent brand strategy and identity firm.  Before founding Heirloom, Rob's roles included head of brand architecture and naming at HP, director of verbal identity at Interbrand in San Francisco, and director of strategy at FutureBrand in Southeast Asia.  His past clients range from the Fortune 500 to Silicon Valley startups, from San Francisco to Shanghai, including brands such as Adobe, GE, John Deere, Disney, Intel, Microsoft, and Walmart. Rob was recently on The Marketing Book Podcast (episode 482) to discuss the 6th Edition of Designing Brand Identity: A Comprehensive Guide to the World of Brands and Branding which he co-authored with Alina Wheeler. Rob has written about brand strategy and brand naming for leading publications such as Entrepreneur, TechCrunch, Insider, The Guardian, VentureBeat, and Branding Strategy Insider.  And, interesting fact – Rob Meyerson was NOT consulted by Elon Musk for naming advice when renaming Twitter to X! Click here for this episode's website page with the links mentioned during the interview... https://www.salesartillery.com/marketing-book-podcast/brand-naming-rob-meyerson

This week Lindsay is joined by Melody McCloskey, the CEO of the wildly successful company- StyleSeat. They go deep into all things imposter syndrome and how to finally overcome it, how to build your mental resilience, navigating motherhood, and the change of perspective that it brings to being a CEO and business owner.  TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro To Episode 03:01 - The History of StyleSeat 07:14 - How to maintain Self Belief in the early years 10:52 - The State of Entrepreneurship in 2024 16:52 - Ease is a State of Mind 21:41 - Finding Joy whilst being Being a CEO 27:08 - How Motherhood changes Perspective 31:24 - Being Genuine on Social Media 34:55 - The Day in a Life of a CEO 43:49 - Your Company is like a Relationship 47:03 - The Key Principle of being an Entrepreneur 54:50 - How WFH Affects Family Life 59:19 - Closing Thoughts RESOURCES + LINKS Join The Société: The Place to Build A Freedom-Based Business Get Our Weekly Newsletter & Get Insights From Natalie Every Single Week On All Things Strategy, Motherhood, Business Growth + More.  Get $25 Off An Appointment Of $100 or More at StyleSeat With Code “BossBabe25” FOLLOW bossbabe: @bossbabe.inc Natalie Ellis: @iamnatalie Melody McCloskey: @melody