Unleashed - How to Thrive as an Independent Professional (Will Bachman)

Use this episode for meditation or perhaps just as some white noise when you need to focus: ten minutes of the waves lapping on the beach at Chuburná, Yucatan, Mexico, where we stayed for a few days in July 2018.

Ask me a question, view transcripts of past episodes, and sign up for the weekly Unleashed email at:

askunleashed.com

Our guest today is Mary Kate Scott, a McKinsey alum who has been running her own boutique healthcare consulting firm, Scott & Company, since 2002. She has been a close friend and mentor of mine for years, and in this episode we cover a wide range of topics including:

- Three things MK does before every proposal, including her five-factor rule for evaluating potential projects

- The three phases her consulting practice has gone through over the past 17 years

- Maintaining relationships with clients over time

To learn more about MK's practice, visit:

http://www.marykatescott.com/

To ask a question for me to answer on a future episode, or to sign up for the weekly Unleashed email, visit:

https://www.umbrex.com/unleashed-podcast/

Key points include:

• 05:50: First line role in Mexico
• 11:48: Starting his own consulting firm
• 13:45: A case study
• 18:24: Creating his own subsidiary

Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.

Lawrence Adjah is an alum of Harvard, McKinsey, Stanford. He is a community builder, business advisor, and pastor.

Several years ago, Lawrence organized a family-style dinner for some acquaintances at a restaurant in NYC. Rule: no phones at the table, no discussing work. Treat tablemates like family.

Participants wanted to attend another dinner and bring people they knew. A movement was born.

Now, the Family Dinner Foundation that Lawrence founded has 50,000 participants. 

Last year, Lawrence and his board began exploring how to build community beyond the dinner table, and that focus has now taken center-stage in the age of the coronavirus.

http://lawrenceadjah.com/

Our guest today is Josh Spodek, the author of Leadership Step by Step.

Josh is an independent professional who

• coaches individual clients
• teaches leadership and entrepreneurship as an adjunct professor at NYU
• does speaking engagements
• runs online courses in leadership and entrepreneurship on SpodekAcademy.com

For the show we met at Josh’s apartment in Greenwich Village, and in the first part of our conversation we discuss the blackboard in his room and the new course he is currently developing, which is sketched out in chalk.

We also talk about what Josh has learned from blogging every single day since 2011, the impact on his fitness from doing 90,000 burpees over the past few years, and how he fits four months of garbage into one tote bag.

Josh’s approach to teaching leadership and entrepreneurship is very experiential and organized around a series of exercises. We discuss several of these, including what you can learn from three raisins.

You can learn more about Josh and take his online course at http://spodekacademy.com/

And buy his book here:

https://www.amazon.com/Leadership-Step-Become-Person-Others/dp/0814437931

Per Sjofors runs a firm called Sales for Profit – they have developed survey tools to measure a customer’s willingness to pay, and the help their clients

• determine what marketing method is most effective in their market
• which advertising targets the company should focus on
• which product features drive the highest willingness to buy
• and the optimum price of a given product or service

In this episode, Per gives an overview of his firm’s methodology and how they work with clients.

One thing Per told me that surprised me is that he is getting a substantial number of leads from Quora.  He’s been answering questions on Quora, establishing himself as an expert there, and it is actually leading to business.

You can learn more about Per’s firm at https://www.sales4profit.com/

Our guest today is Christina Ungaro, the Executive Vice President of Corporate Development at JLL.

In case you aren’t in the real estate world: JLL is the second-largest commercial real estate services firm in the world, ranked 189th on the Fortune 500, with revenue of $16 billion in 2018.

Christina was hired by JLL to build the corporate development group, and she has completed 32 acquisitions (mostly professional services firms) since she joined JLL.

In this episode, Christina gives me a quick primer on the commercial real estate services industry, discusses lessons learned in building her team, and – significantly if you are ever thinking of selling your practice, Christina shares what she looks for as a buyer when she is considering the acquisition of a professional services firm

To learn more about JLL, visit jll.com

To learn more about Christina, check out her LinkedIn profile, a link is in the show notes:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/christina-ungaro-0a17321/

If you are seeking to engage an independent consultant, or if you are an independent consultant and would like to join a global community, email Will Bachman at unleashed@umbrex.com

Show Notes:

Chris Heivly and Will Bachman discuss the concept of startup communities and the importance of building them. Chris is the co-founder of MapQuest, which was sold to AOL for $1.2 billion, and the author of the Build the Fort. His second book, The Startup Community Builder's Field Guide, focuses on how five simple lessons learned as a 10-year-old can set entrepreneurs up for startup success. Chris defines a startup community as a set of people involved in innovative activities in a particular geography. He explains that startup communities can be incredibly powerful in helping entrepreneurs to succeed and should be proactively built by providing resources, mentorship, and capital.

The Benefits of a Startup Community

Chris talks about the concept of startup communities and how they are no longer geographically bound. He believes that networks are essential in order to develop a successful startup community, and that all members of the community, such as corporate innovators, investors, founders, researchers, and university students, should work together for the greater good. Additionally, he mentions that the concept of startup communities applies to industry-specific communities as well, and not just geographically bound ones. He believes that the key to advancing technology is through startups and corporate innovation, and that these networks should be utilized to the fullest extent.

Chris points out that it is important to rely on people outside of one's geographic network to build a successful community.  He explains that it can be difficult for founders to invest time and energy into the community due to the amount of tasks they have to complete in their business. He mentions that it is important to build meaningful connections in order to make a successful community and connect with venture capitalists, local investors, and to get involved in the local economy to make sure that it is thriving, and that one will gain knowledge and potential customers by doing so.  Chris suggests startup lawyers, marketing experts, economic development professionals, and people from universities want to ensure the success of startups and help create a vibrant local economy, and he shares a case study on a startup community he was involved with.

The Advantages of a Local Tech Scene

Chris talks about the advantages of being in a local tech scene, rather than working in a virtual space. He adds that the local physical advantage is that one can easily access mentorship and advice in a formal sense. He notes that this may come in the form of attending events, or engaging with other startups in the same building. He also points out that networking with local resources can be beneficial for finding answers to questions, and finding the right attorney for legal needs. He explains the importance of providing resources, such as programming and co-working spaces, to help new entrepreneurs get their businesses off the ground. Chris emphasizes the value of what they call gear, or ad hoc advice and mentorship, as an invaluable resource. These resources can be found through serendipitous sparks, such as running into people at coffee shops or events. 

Chris suggests that the best way to create events and activities that will engage the community is to listen to what the people want and find a leader who is motivated to make a change. He encourages grassroots-style initiatives that come from the bottom up, and to move forward with the goal of helping or supporting others.

The Three A’s that Help Build Local  Community 

To help the local community, Chris suggests that it can be done in various ways, such as running a Little League team or getting involved in the arts. He recommends getting involved in the entrepreneur community and how it can have a great economic impact. 

Chris talks about the three A's framework in his book which stands for actors, activities, and attitudes. This framework is designed to make the ecosystem more inclusive and inviting for everyone to play a role. Actors can range from economic developers, government bureaucrats, university people, corporate members, founders, investors, and more. Activities vary depending on the maturity of the ecosystem. Attitudes are the most forgotten part of the framework and are important in creating a collaborative, supportive, and inclusive mindset. Chris encourages everyone to adopt a better attitude and behavior in order to create a better ecosystem. He offers a few steps to drive this forward.

To build an active network that you can lean on, Chris suggests introducing two people from your network who don't know each other, and having a 'gift first mentality' by reaching out to others without expecting something in return. He shares a story from 2009 to 2010, where he ran around doing 275 connections in five months, and at the end asked a simple question: What can I do for you?. He encourages people to ask what keeps them up at night, and what their challenges are, so that they can be helped.

Building a Network of Trust

Chris believes that by helping others without expecting anything in return, a strong network of trust and support is created that can benefit everyone. He has met with over 4000 people in the Raleigh-Durham area to build these relationships. He encourages young people to do the same to get more done faster. In return, these contacts are more likely to help him with projects such as writing a book or speaking at events. Chris believes that by investing time and effort into forming meaningful relationships, success can be achieved more quickly.

Chris has encountered thousands of people over the past 15 years and has created a system of pre-investing with each of them individually. He explains that he has an open office hours system where anyone can sign up for a 20 minute meeting. He also explains that, although he doesn't have a strong connection with all 4000 people, he can activate them whenever he needs to. His purpose is to support and empower founders to create successful businesses and cities. He hopes to accomplish this through his meetings and connections. Chris shares a few success stories from the people he has met and connections he has made, and the path he took after the success of his startup MapQuest.

Timestamps

01:49 Building a Startup Community 

03:47 Conversation on Building a Startup Community 

06:48 Exploring the Benefits of Joining a Local Startup Community 

13:58 The Advantages of Being Local in a Start-up Scene 

16:52 Building a Startup Community in Raleigh, NC 

25:14 The Four Stages of Ecosystem Maturity 

29:33 Exploring the Benefits of a "Gift First" Mentality in Building Community Connections 

36:33 Connecting People for Mutual Benefit 

43:06 Career Development and Corporate Venture Funds 

45:20 Writing the Build a Fort Series 

Links:

Website: http://heivly.com/

The Book: Build the Fort 

CONTACT INFO:

Twitter: @chrisheivly

Email: Chris@buildthefort.com

Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.

How do you pay a subcontractor?

In this episode, I try to answer that question, sharing ten years of lessons learned, covering:

1) How do you actually transfer the money, covering options including check, PayPal, wire transfer, ACH, and bill.com

2) Tax implications, W9, 1099, and 'nexus issues' you need to be aware of

3) What to ask your subcontractor for in terms of an invoice

4) How to track payments to subcontractors

Celine Teoh is an executive coach who helps senior leaders convert potential into performance by making the soft skills practical. She is a certified Tiny Habits Coach with Stanford’s Behavior Design Lab, and a facilitator for Stanford Business School’s popular Interpersonal Dynamics course. She is also an ex-McKinsey consultant, business operator, marketing strategist, and investment banker with years of strategy consulting experience with Fortune 500 executives in Asia and the USA. She holds an MBA from Stanford and a BSc from the London School of Economics.

 Agnès Le is an executive coach with a focus on emotional intelligence with 20 years of experience in talent development, a multicultural background, and an MBA from Stanford. She's a leadership coach in the Executive Education and MSx programs at Stanford business school, and a group facilitator for the school’s most popular elective, Interpersonal Dynamics, also known as Touchy Feely. She is also an instructor at Stanford Continuing Studies where she teaches the class “Building a Career of Meaning and Impact.”

Key points include:

• 10:54: The challenges of practicing empathy
• 15:22: Three hacks based on our research and experience
• 25:53: Unpacking status
• 44:38: Understanding the market

Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.

Show Notes:

In this episode of Unleashed, Will Bachman discusses cold outreach with David A. Fields. David advises that cold outreach is a last resort tactic and should not be included in the mix of marketing strategies. Instead, he suggests that consulting firms should focus on the five marketing musts to build their network.

Why Cold Outreach is Inefficient

David emphasizes that cold outreach is remarkably inefficient for most consultants, as it is often slow to close and has a long sales cycle. He suggests that firms should experiment with cold outreach to find the best approach based on client feedback and experience. David also shares some historical insights about cold outreach. Cold outreach tends to respond better when closer to product sales when hardcore selling messages works better. David states that, when selling expertise and experience which is trust driven, cold outreach doesn't work well.  

The Aggressive Reframe Approach

Aggressive reframe, which involves asking for something rather than just asking for it, can also work well for cold outreach. David suggests that most consulting firms think they should differentiate versus competition, but this is not how they win business. David explains what the aggressive reframe approach is and how it works for consultants.

The 111 Messaging Effective Outreach Technique 

David discusses the effectiveness of 111 messaging, a technique developed for cool contacts in your network core. This approach is particularly effective for cold outreach on LinkedIn, as it requires some modifications. He explains that 111 messaging is a way to construct messages to people, focusing on the other person and their needs. It is a right-side-up email, one line, and one question that must be easy to answer. The 111 approach is designed for cold outreach and works well on LinkedIn. The message should be one-sided, one-line, and asks one simple question. The message should be short and simple, and the recipient should be able to answer the question easily. David shares the response rate from this technique, which is better than any other engagement technique, and offers examples of simple questions to ask. 

How to Use Cold Outreach Effectively

David talks about using cold outreach correctly  in acquiring clients. He believes that it is not efficient enough to get leads, as it requires a long sales cycle and a high close rate. To do cold outreach correctly, he suggests viewing it as the first step in a three-year process of winning clients and think of it as an investment in gaining future clients. David shares his tips on how to engage someone connected through LinkedIn who may be a potential client. The best practices in messaging are discussed, including keeping messages short to the point and focused on a topic that meets the needs or interests of the recipient. David also shares a story about using focus groups and how companies can be encouraged to launch products that nobody wants. He talks about  the Ben Franklin approach, which involves asking for a small favor instead of trying to give a favor, such as asking for help on articles, webinars, research, podcasts, or other activities.

How to Use Content as Lead Magnets

The conversation turns to the concept of lead magnets, which is content that people can download and engage with on social media. David offers the example of his two published books which have generated millions of dollars in business. He believes that a book is a lead magnet, but it is not free on the website. He suggests that the best way to convert people who consume content into clients is by creating an opportunity for them to join in and engage in conversation. It is suggested that, instead of just putting content out there, it is important to create engagement and opportunities for people to join in and interact with the content. 

It is recommended that, if someone comments or downloads a piece, there are steps that need to be taken to reach out to that person.  Higher engagement approaches, webinars, and podcasts that generate a conversation have been more successful than just putting content and lead magnets out there. David discusses the importance of making it easy for people to reach out to a firm. He believes that longevity and having published around 500 articles in addition to books contribute to this success. He also mentions that they do not engage with their tribe members, but rather let them know about the Boutique Consulting forum and he discusses models for engaging with tribe members.

Timestamps:

04:55: Cold outreach techniques, including Ben Franklin approach and 111 messaging

10:03 Using 111 outreach for consulting firms to re engage with leads

17:16 LinkedIn outreach strategies for connecting with potential clients

20:37: Lead magnets, cold outreach, and converting blog subscribers to clients

26:35: Creating opportunities for conversation in content marketing

32:24: Cold outreach effectiveness with client success stories

Links:

Sales Benchmarks: https://www.davidafields.com/important-sales-benchmark-for-your-consulting-firm/

Website: www.davidafields.com. 

Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.

Our guest today is Rick Condon, a former submarine officer and a former Engagement Manager at McKinsey. He has been running his own consulting practice since 2004.

The majority of Rick’s clients are privately held mid-market companies and he works on a range of topics including preparing companies for sale; turn-around efforts, and jump-starting growth.

You can read about Rick’s firm Inside Consulting at insideconsulting.net

Hung Nguyen is a McKinsey alum and a principal at OUTLAST Consulting, a purpose-driven professional development + strategy firm focused on fueling innovation and empowering diverse talent. Prior to OUTLAST, she headed the Digital Center of Expertise at BP, where she piloted user-centric ways to recruit, develop, and deploy talent. Today, she talks about diversity inclusion and strategies companies and individuals can use to improve inclusion awareness.

Hung can be contacted through her LinkedIn profile https://www.linkedin.com/in/misshungnguyen/ or reached through the Outlast LLC website.

Key points include:

03:47: Situations that involve professional development for diverse talent

09:05: Tactics used to deal with difficult situations

12:21: Responding without threatening

16:13: The structure of diversity training

24:19: Clients’ objectives in diversity training

34:30: The broader impact of diversity inclusion

Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at: www.umbrex.com.

Show Notes:

Will Bachman and John Horn talk about competitors and how they should be taken into account when formulating a strategy. John points out that lowering the price is an easy response to a new product or market entry, which can prevent success. He suggests that understanding the competitor's mindset is a key element to predicting their next move and positioning oneself for success. He also emphasizes the importance of being aware of the competitors' strategies, as it can influence the success of any new idea or product.

A Framework to Understand the Competitor’s Mindset

John states that companies should pay attention to both their customers and their competitors depending on the type of market they are in. For established markets, such as toilet paper, companies should focus on competitors and their pricing, product innovation, and market entry challenges. For newer markets, like AI, companies should focus on customers since customers may not know what they want and the market is open and wide. John believes that it is important to have different departments that focus on each aspect since customer and competitor focuses require different approaches. However, it is essential for companies to be aware of both their customers and their competitors in order to remain competitive in the market. 

John talks about the importance of competition intelligence in developing an organization's strategy. He explains the Blue Ocean analogy-- the idea of swimming in uncharted waters to find success. He emphasizes that one must understand why the competition is not in the blue ocean before considering it as a viable option. He then outlines his four-step framework for gathering competition intelligence: reviewing public communication and actions; assessing competitor assets and resources; considering the human factor; and predicting, observing, and adjusting. This framework can help organizations build a picture of their competitors' mindset and ultimately develop a successful strategy.

How to Gather Competitive Intelligence

John offers advice to a growing company that wants to build a competitive intelligence function. John recommends gathering information from companies that scrape and gather information from publicly available sources such as SEC filings, the company's website, and social media. He notes that the most valuable information comes from within the organization, and suggests running WarGames, which are business simulations that involve setting up players, choices, and a timeframe to unlock competitive insight. John gives a few examples of questions that should be asked. Companies can use a CRM system to gain better insight into their competitors. The idea is to start with one question, such as Who do you talk about? and then gradually add more questions to the CRM form to prime sales agents to ask about competitors. This will help the company track which competitors are discussed in different geographies and customer types, and what pricing, product portfolio, partners, etc. are discussed. This data can then be used to identify which sales agents have reported the most about a particular competitor, and to ask them for more information. This will make it easier for the company to collect information that may already be in the heads of their staff.

Collecting Data to Understand Competitors

John talks about the value of collecting data to understand competitors. He suggests that data should not be collected by marketing or finance unless they are strategically focused and deliberate, as it may not receive enough focus. He adds that asking questions up and down the supply chain can be a great way to collect information, but there can be challenges in how it is implemented. John explains that competitive insight functions are cost centers, meaning that they don't directly drive revenue, so it can be difficult to get buy-in from the senior level team.  He explains the best way to ensure competitive intelligence is properly implemented.  When using competitive insight to make strategic decisions within an organization, it is important to start small and focus on one or two competitors at a time. It is also important to identify which teams within the organization need what type of information. John also stresses the value in using anecdotes and using story over data to gain support from senior leaders. 

Investing Competitive Intelligence

John highlights the value of focusing on the competitor’s USP to gain valuable insight. 

He explains how to convince senior leaders of the need for a competitive insight function. He suggests using stories to demonstrate the value of CI and its ability to help prevent costly mistakes. He also suggests that if senior leaders are convinced of the importance of CI and can see its value, they will continue to invest in it. He gives an example of a company where the CI function had such strong support from senior leadership that anyone making a strategic presentation to the CEO had to first consult with the CI group or leave the room. His conclusion is that, if senior leaders can be convinced of the value of CI, they will continue to invest in it.

Finally, he provided links to his own firm, Gateway Insights, and the Washington University Olin Business School website for anyone who wanted to contact him and learn more about competitive intelligence.

Timestamps:

03:10 Balancing Attention Between Customers and Competitors 

08:15 Understanding the Competition for Strategic Planning 

09:05 Investigating the decision makers

13:25 Building a Competitive Intelligence Function for Growing Companies 

15:30 Competitive intelligence type of dashboard function

21:50 Collecting Data and Voice of the Customer Insights 

26:57 Exploring the Role of Competitive Intelligence in Decision Making 

27:46 Competitive insight functions as cost centers

29:18 Defining which team needs what information

31:14 Using anecdotes to inspire action from leaders

Links:

Website: www.gatewayinsights.com

CONTACT INFO:

Email: johnhorn@wustl.edu

Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.

David Burnie is a McKinsey alum and the founder of The Burnie Group, a boutique consulting firm based in Toronto. We discuss how we started as an independent professional and then proceeded to build a firm and how he has partnered with software firms to offer robotic automation. You can sign up for his firm's newsletter and read more about The Burnie Group at www.burniegroup.com

Tom Critchlow is a freelance strategy consultant and writer of the book The Strategic Independent - Theory & Practice for Independent Consultants. Tom specializes in digital marketing and how to generate leads, understand clients and their needs, and how to shift to a leadership mindset. You can check out Tom’s work at tomcritchlow.com or connect with him on Linkedin. 

Key points include:

• 04:18: SEO consulting
• 22:27: Fees and pricing
• 34:41: Examples of new content initiatives 

Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.

Have you ever asked someone to do a task, and they agree, only later to find that they didn't understand exactly what you were asking for?

In this short episode, I share how the Nuclear Navy uses formal communications to ensure that orders don't get garbled.

Unleashed is produced by Umbrex. To learn about how we can help your firm find the right independent management consultant for your project needs, visit www.umbrex.com

Nick Craig is the author of Leading from Purpose: Clarity and the Confidence to Act When It Matters Most, published in June 2018.

Since 2006, Nick’s firm, Core Leadership Institute, has helped more than 10,000 leaders discover and lead from purpose.

In this episode, Nick shares his perspective on:

• What purpose is
• How to discover your purpose
• The benefits of leading from purpose

While his firm primarily leads private workshops within organizations, they do have two workshops coming up that are open to the public:

Boston from October 18-19, 2018

London from December 4-5, 2018

Learn more on their website at coreleader.com

Show Notes:

LinkedIn has become a powerful platform for professionals to connect, share insights, and build their personal brand. But how can executives effectively leverage LinkedIn to maximize their content strategy? To answer this question, Will Bachman talks to Justin Nassiri, founder of Executive Presence, who conducted a comprehensive analysis of client posts on LinkedIn. Justin talks about software his company uses for data analytics to see valuable data on engagement and trends and how to use it. 

The Power of the Hook

One of the most significant insights from Justin’s analysis is the importance of the hook in LinkedIn posts. The hook refers to the first line of a post, which aims to capture the reader's attention and entice them to engage further. Nassiri emphasizes the need for a bold and provocative hook, stating, "The first line of a post really determines its success." By taking an extreme stance or making a surprising statement, executives can stop the scroll and compel readers to delve deeper into their content.

Justin  advises executives to avoid generic and overused hooks, such as "I'm humbled to be featured by Forbes." Instead, he suggests crafting hooks that are concrete, surprising, and contrary to common beliefs and offers a few examples. Furthermore, Nassiri highlights the importance of formatting the post to make the hook stand out. By using line breaks and creating distinct lines, executives can make their hooks more visually appealing and increase the chances of capturing readers' attention.

The Visual Advantage

Another key finding from Nassiri's analysis is the significant impact of visuals in LinkedIn posts. According to the study, posts with photos receive 115% more views than those without any visual content. Graphics, on the other hand, result in a 28% increase in views. He emphasizes the need for original and relevant visuals. Stock images are not effective in capturing readers' attention and should be avoided. Instead, executives should use their own photos or graphics that directly relate to the content of their posts. For example, if the post discusses leadership, including a photo of a team or a relevant graphic can enhance the post's impact. Justin also offers a few tips on how to generate ideas for visual content. 

The Power of Data Analysis

Beyond the specific findings, Justin highlights the broader value of LinkedIn as a tool for data analysis, and how executives can use LinkedIn to gain insights into the topics and ideas that resonate with their audience. By analyzing the performance of their posts, executives can identify their "zone of genius" and focus on topics that generate the most engagement. He encourages executives to view LinkedIn as a platform for testing and refining their content strategy. LinkedIn provides a data-driven approach to understanding what content is valuable and to whom. This data-driven approach allows executives to refine their messaging and focus on topics that truly resonate with their audience.

The insights from Justin’s analysis have significant implications for executives looking to enhance their presence on LinkedIn. Looking ahead, it is essential for executives to continue evolving their content strategy on LinkedIn. While certain tactics may become overused or lose their effectiveness over time, the fundamental principles of effective writing and storytelling remain timeless. Executives should strive to provide valuable insights, educate their audience, and create engaging content that resonates with their target audience.

Frequency of Posting on LinkedIn

Another important aspect of LinkedIn thought leadership is the frequency of posting , the type of post, and the audience.  Justin explains how the post is displayed, breaks this down line-by-line, and emphasizes the need to post consistently and frequently, recommending two to five posts per week. He highlights the significant impact of increasing the frequency of posts, with a three and a half times increase in monthly views and a 3.7 times increase in monthly likes when going from two to three posts per week to five posts per week. He also suggests posting at 7am local time, as this allows for maximum visibility and engagement.

Content Development Tips

In terms of content, Justin advises against using articles, links, and reposts. Outbound links and reshared content tend to receive significantly fewer views compared to original posts. However, Nassiri provides two workarounds for including links in your posts. One option is to publish the link as the first comment in the post, while the other is to add the link after the first hour of the post. He talks about how short-term fads can be exploited but should not be relied on as evergreen content. Justin recommends ending your posts with a statement rather than a question. According to his analysis, posts that end with a question perform 30% worse than those that end with a statement. This suggests that people may be fatigued by the overuse of questions to drive interaction. Instead, focusing on authoritative content with clear takeaways and actions can lead to better engagement. Justin shares pros and cons on the types of content commonly created.

In conclusion, optimizing your LinkedIn thought leadership requires a strategic approach. By using visuals effectively, posting frequently, avoiding articles and links, and ending with statements, you can enhance your visibility and engagement on the platform. As LinkedIn continues to evolve, it is crucial to stay informed about algorithm changes and adapt your content strategy accordingly. By following these insights from Justin Nassiri, you can position yourself as a thought leader on LinkedIn and maximize your impact in the professional community.

Timestamps:

01:19 Methodology and scope of the study using Shield App.ai

02:09 Insights from the study: Best practices in posts

04:39 Importance of the first line and the need for bold and provocative statements

09:40 Tips for creating a strong hook and the importance of distinct lines

10:14 Factors affecting the visibility of the post and the need to entice viewers to click "See more"

14:07 Importance of using original and relevant photos in posts

17:35 Selfies may not perform as well after algorithm change.

19:11 The best time and frequency to post

26:28 What to avoid in LinkedIn posts.

32:12 How to end a LinkedIn post

Links:

Website: ExecutivePresence.io

CONTACT INFO:

Justin@executivepresence.io

Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.

Today's episode is a new feature here on Unleashed - a book recommendation.

I really loved the recently published book: The Art of Noticing: 131 Ways to Spark Creativity, Find Inspiration, and Discovery Joy in the Everyday, by Rob Walker.

Here is a link to Rob Walker's website page on the book:

http://robwalker.net/noticing/

If you sign up for the Unleashed email at askunleashed.com, each week I’ll let you know about the latest episodes of the podcast, a book recommendation, and periodically, some amazing bonus materials.

Michael Katz is the author of four books, an award-winning humorist, and the founder of Blue Penguin, a company that helps professional service firms and solos talk and write about their work in a clear and compelling way. He has an MBA from Boston University and a BA in Psychology from McGill University in Montreal. In today’s episode, Michael talks about how he helps his clients. Learn more about Michael’s business at www.bluepenguindevelopment.com. 

Key points include:

02:15:  Business newsletter best practices

13:41: Results that can be achieved through a newsletter 

15:27: Building an email list

18:46: Newsletter management software comparison

Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.

Our guest today is Katrin Siebenbuerger Hacki, who runs a boutique healthcare consulting firm based on Switzerland.

Katrin’s firm works with medical device, biotech, and other life sciences clients by providing marketing, sales, business developing, and funding services.

You can learn more about her firm’s work on their website:

http://www.medows.ch/

To ask me a question, download transcripts of past episodes, or sign up for the weekly Unleashed email which includes summaries of each show and other bonus features, visit

askunleashed.com

Sven Beiker has a PhD. in Mechanical Engineering and Vehicle Dynamics; he is a technology expert in the field of automotive and high-tech topics with a strong interest in consumer products with a holistic view regarding the impact on the environment, society, business, and policy. His special focus is in autonomous, connected, electric, shared vehicles, which is what we explore in this episode. You can learn more about ACES at www.siliconvalleymobility.com, or reach out to Sven on LinkedIn.

Key points include:

12:47: The issue of charging electric vehicles

18:33: Electric vehicle charging infrastructure

23:52: Shared mobility

26:54: Micro mobility

Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.

Joe has been a successful start-up CEO and operating executive at high-growth tech companies. He was named Entrepreneur of the Year in 2012 by Crain's New York Business and was #9 on Business Insider's 2013 "Silicon Alley 100" list. Joe is the Founder & CEO of ExecThread, a VC-backed crowdsourcing platform and premium job-sharing network that enables professionals to access the “hidden job market”. ExecThread is the largest global aggregator of unpublished executive-level job opportunities, and this is what he talks about in today’s episode. You can learn more about Execthread at www.ExecThread.com.

Key points include:

• 02:15: How ExecThread works
• 09:18: The ExecThread vetting process
• 14:49: Advice to people looking for executive roles
• 20:44: Advice for employers

Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.

Kim Calichio is a chef and educator. 

When the pandemic shut down NYC, she realized there were many New Yorkers who would not be eligible for government assistance and who would be going hungry.  

She set up Lifelife Grocery, which buys groceries from wholesale restaurant suppliers and involves volunteers to pack and deliver the groceries to 700 families per week.

You can support this effort and feed a family for $35 per week by donating here:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/lifeline-food-packages-for-families

Visit the website for Kim's firm, The Connected Chef, here:

https://theconnectedchef.com/

Show Notes

Jacob Bank, founder and CEO of Relay.App, talks about the rise of AI agents, a type of chatbot that can work on your behalf in the background. He explains that AI agents can perform tasks similar to junior-level employees or interns. 

How AI Agents Work

An example of an AI agent working on your blog post is Chat GPT, which can automatically draft a blog post about a new recipe. The agent may ask for feedback and then publish it for you. This makes AI agents less of a thought prompt partner and more like an intern who takes on a mission on your behalf. There are two ways AI agents can take action on your behalf: making direct computer calls called API calls, or controlling your computer. API calls allow agents to make direct connections with tools like Salesforce, Calendly, Microsoft Teams, Google Calendar, and HubSpot. The second approach involves the AI controlling your computer, i.e., constantly looking at the screen and clicking buttons on it. Relay.App focuses on business productivity applications and automated calls, so it cannot log into your bank and perform actions on your behalf. However, a tool using the computer use capability would need two factor authentication and captcha.

AI Agent Interaction: Solutions and Problems

AI agents can interact with any website or tool that has an API, such as email browsers, CRM systems, and business productivity tools. There are three categories of AI agents: APIs, which perform tasks on a computer screen, AI in-built capabilities, and capabilities in reasoning. One problem AI agents need to solve is how they interact with their tools, such as reading and writing data from Salesforce, and how they can do this either via an API or by controlling the browser. Additionally, AI agents have the ability to extract information from PDFs, translate language information, turn text to speech, create videos automatically, and browse the web and do research.

Three Models of AI Agents

There are three models of AI agents to keep in mind: one class is a tool like relay.app, where the tool comes on your cloud or services, and interacts with things, while another class is a tool owned by the customer or freelancing agents. Models to consider when building AI agents: pre-built AI agents, which are commonly used in customer support tools, custom AI agents, and freelancing agents. These models are designed for specific vertical use cases and can be hosted on a platform or servers. AI agents can interact with various tools and platforms, including email marketing tools, CRM systems, and cloud-based versions of Microsoft tools. They can also perform tasks such as transcription, summary notes, and internet research.

Customer Service Agents

Customer service agents can be trained on a company's knowledge base. These agents can take various actions, such as replying to emails, triggering password reset emails, or issuing refunds. There are three main types of customer support agents: pre-built agents for specific use cases, custom built agents on easy-to-use platforms like lyndee.ai, relevance.ai, and Zapier, and engineers building their own agents using developer-focused frameworks. There are two options for building agents: one that interacts with APIs, and another that almost takes over your desktop. The fully browser-based approach is less reliable and predictable, but API-based approaches provide clearer guardrails for the agents.

Common Use Cases for Relay.App 

The most common use cases for Relay.app include email handling, calendar management, customer interaction and relationship management, and marketing content creation. Email calendar management involves extracting information from emails, summarizing PDFs, forwarding them to others, drafting or applying to emails, labeling them, and archived emails. Personal productivity use cases involve managing emails, scheduling meetings, and reminding people to RSVP. Customer interaction and relationship management involves researching prospects, sending personalized emails, creating contracts, and reviewing support tickets. Marketing content creation involves creating life cycle marketing campaigns, blog posts, LinkedIn posts, and Twitter posts. These are the big three use cases for AI agents. However, there are also a wide range of businesses with different bespoke use cases, so they can build AI agents to do custom tasks.

AI Agent Meeting Prep

Jacob shares the step-by-step process to using the AI agent. The agent will help prepare for meetings by providing information about the person they are about to meet. The next step is to add a trigger, which is what happens in the outside world that causes the agent to wake up and start working on our behalf. The trigger can be based on an event in an application or on a scheduled basis. In this case, the trigger will be when an event is upcoming in Google Calendar. The agent will then be able to check if any changes in the person's calendar are made and reschedule the meeting. The AI agent will then be able to look at all the meetings that the person has tomorrow, and the time picker will show that the trigger will happen daily at 5pm.

Using AI Agents to Find Events

Jacob introduces a new step in Google Calendar that allows users to find events and filter them based on criteria. The step is set up to find all events that match the specified criteria, such as start time coming after today or before today plus two. If no events are found, the system can either notify the user or continue with the day without meetings. The next step is to use an iterator to iterate over the list of events found in the previous step. The output of one step can be used as input for the next step, as it often references previous information. In this case, the list of events is the list of events found in the previous step.

Using AI Judgement

To use AI judgement, Jacob adds a step to an AI step, selecting Custom Prompt. This prompts the AI to provide detailed instructions and insert relevant data for context. For example, if everyone has responded to a meeting, Jacob sends an email stating "looking forward to seeing you tomorrow" and if not, an email asking if the meeting still works for everyone. A path is created, which allows the user to decide whether to proceed with the AI's task. The first branch of the path is everyone replied, where the user can choose which rules determine whether to go down that path. In this case, the user selects "everybody replied," which will send an email to the list of guests, stating "looking forward to seeing you tomorrow." The email can be written manually or sent by the user.

AI Agents' Primary Target Audience

The primary target audience is non-technical individuals who have never written code or used code tools. The goal is to make the product easy for everyone to use. The company offers a partner program with automation and AI experts and agencies to help businesses set up workflows or advise on AI usage. Jacob also provides YouTube tutorials that can be helpful for creating workflows. Once people watch tutorials and follow them, they can understand the process at each step. The hope is that everyone can create their own workflows without needing a partner. However, complex business needs may require assistance.The goal is to make the product accessible to everyone, regardless of their technical skills. The company also offers a partner program with automation and AI experts to help businesses set up workflows and advise on AI usage.

Relay.App Pricing

The pricing of the tool is a standard self-serve freemium model, with subscriptions based on how much users use the product. The free tier offers 200 steps and 500 AI credits, while the first paid tier is $9 a month, which includes more steps and AI credits. The team tier starts at $59 a month for companies using it with multiple people. As users use the tool more, it needs more steps and AI reasoning. Bundles of credits are available on top of the subscriptions.The typical cost for a typical business is between $100 and $200 a month. However, if users are getting value from the product, they will pay $100 to $200 a month. 

Finding Talent with Relay.App

On the Relay.App website, which features a gallery of common use cases, such as competitive research, pre-meeting dossiers, and email extracting. The app also includes a human-in-the-loop step where users can ask for help in identifying the right profile based on their information. This human-led approach can help AI agents make more informed decisions and ensure the effectiveness of their work. The app also includes a human-in-the-loop step, allowing users to identify the most suitable profile based on their information. 

Timestamps:

03:12: Capabilities and Limitations of AI Agents 

10:01: Interaction Models and Use Cases 

14:13: Building an AI Agent: Step-by-Step 

29:56: Advanced Features and Customization 

31:25: Pricing and Availability 

33:33: LinkedIn Profile Finder Use Case 

38:02: Conclusion and Resources

Link:

Company website: https://www.relay.app/

Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.

Jeff Gothelf is a leading expert on digital transformation an business agility. He is a keynote speaker, consultant, and the author of four books.

In today's episode we focus on his latest book, Forever Employable: How to Stop Looking For Work and Let Your Next Job Find You.

Learn more about Jeff's work and sign up for his newsletter at:

https://jeffgothelf.com/

Trond Arne Undheim is a futurist, speaker, entrepreneur and former director of MIT Startup Exchange, based outside of Boston. He has accelerated four unicorns and helped launch over 50 startups. 

In this episode we discuss his latest book, the 450-page Pandemic Aftermath, which he wrote between February and April of this year.

Visit Trond's website:

https://trondundheim.com/

Check out his podcast, Futurized

https://trondundheim.com/podcast/

And buy Pandemic Aftermath on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0894QJWW3/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

Our guest today is Brian Hecht, who freaked out his family in 1994, just two years after graduating from Harvard College, by leaving a perfectly fine job to join an Internet company – before that was a thing.

Brian went on to have a successful career as an Internet entrepreneur, and today he is a Venture Partner at a NYC startup accelerator called Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator. Check them out at eranyc.com

And as a hobby, he, along with his cousin Rachel Dodes, hosts the very popular and hilarious podcast This Week in Nope, in which they dissect the most abominable news of the week and shut it all down, usually over whiskey.

Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, the world's first global community connecting top tier independent management consultants with one another and with clients.

To inquire about joining our community or engaging one of our members on a project, email Will Bachman at unleashed@umbrex.com or visit www.umbrex.com

Our guest today is Dorene Stockman, an insurance agent with the Owens Group, an independent agency.

Dorene helped me get my own insurance policy, and I thought she was very knowledgeable and a helpful advisor on that process, so I asked her to be on the show to share her advice for independent professionals on the types of coverage we need to consider getting.

In our conversation we discuss the types of coverage that are applicable to most independent professionals, namely:

• Business owners insurance – closely related to General Liability policy
• Umbrella policy
• Professional liability policy
• Privacy / cyber policy

We discuss policies that independent professionals should consider getting if you hire an employee or engage a subcontractor, including

• Workers comp
• Disability
• Unemployment insurance

For those independt professionals that serve on the board of a non-profit or for-profit, we discuss directors & officers insurance

Dorene also shares tips on how to select a broker, how often you should re-quote your policy, and how to work most effectively with a broker.

Dorene prepared a much more exhaustive list of policy types that are applicable to narrower groups of independent professionals – if you email me at unleashed@umbrex.com I’ll send you a copy

You can find Dorene’s firm at owensgroup.com

Reach Dorene at: dstockman@owensgroup.com

Sri Kaza, a former McKinsey partner who specializes in sales and service, left the firm to put his sales expertise to work as the SVP of Commercial Operations at Viking Cruises, and subsequently led sales for a company offering a SaaS-based solution to obtaining tax credits.

Sri is now running his own independent consulting practice while also developing two separate SaaS startups. One of them is a tool to help companies hire the employees most likely to perform well and stick around, based on academic research and testing that looks at 70 personality traits.

The other one helps companies optimize their incoming leads by routing that lead to the right sales person.

Sri’s consulting is focusing on these areas, allowing him to better understand unmet needs.  So while he serves clients he is also doing market research for his startups.

In our discussion we explore in some detail the concept of how to optimize incoming leads, and Sri shares some initial steps that you can help your clients with. Sri also mentions that he is happy to partner with other independent consultants, so if you are serving a client with a large number of incoming leads and more than, say, 10-20 sales reps, reach out to Sri to see if he might be able to help. Or if your client hires a large number of front line service personnel every year, Sri may be able to help your client reduce training and replacement costs with his recruiting solution.

Richard Langlois, author of the book The Corporation and the 20th Century: The History of American Business Enterprise, and Will Bachman discuss the transition from entrepreneur-led businesses to modern multi-unit businesses. Richard talks about the drivers behind this transformation, including antitrust, which led to unintended consequences such as making coordination between firms illegal, and the shift from vertically integrated businesses to modular corporations.  His book highlights the impact of the depression, which eliminated many financial institutions, making it possible for internal capital markets to function and fund innovation. His book also explores the issue of  price controls and government interference with markets also interfered with market mechanisms, making it difficult for smaller businesses to coordinate resources.

From Entrepreneur-led Businesses to Multi-unit Businesses

Richard explains that the rise of large companies and far-flung enterprises in the mid-20th century required conscious management and professional managers who weren't also owners, and that transactions in a market require market supporting institutions, such as financial markets and legal systems, which can be provided in a decentralized way or within the firm. He argues that the success of large, vertically integrated corporations is partly due to the lack of success of alternatives to these structures. Antitrust also plays a role in this transition, as it made it difficult for firms to engage in complex contracts and do things internally. He talks about how the transition from entrepreneur-led businesses to multi-unit businesses was driven by factors such as antitrust, the Great Depression, World War 2, and the New Deal. Richard offers a few examples of antitrust in action with the concept of block booking, where movie studios pre-sell entire blocks of movies to cinemas without allowing them to preview them first to ensure the studios could recoup costs of production.

Another interesting aspect he cites is the leverage theory. Taking us back to the 1930s, he talks about IBM who used control over proprietary punch cards to sell their mechanical computing equipment to maintain quality control and price discrimination, which is charging high prices to those who want the product and low prices to those who don't. He goes on to explain how this became the "one lump of monopoly theory," and what this means.

 The History of Leasing Machines and Government Opposition

Richard defines the concept and history of leasing machines, which began in the early industrial revolution. In Britain, the textile industry was highly vertically disintegrated. Entrepreneurs could rent equipment to get into manufacturing products. This allowed entrepreneurs to lower upfront fixed costs and easily enter the business. However, the federal government's antitrust policy made it difficult for companies to lease their machines and wanted them to sell them. This led to lawsuits against them from the entrepreneurs who, once they knew how to use the manufacturing equipment, decided they wanted to break the lease to rent cheaper equipment from a competitor. 

However, manufacturers enforced long leases and prevented customers from buying cheaper equipment elsewhere, and breaking their original lease. This practice was seen as anti-competitive, as retailers couldn't compete on price, but manufacturers wanted retailers to compete on quality, service, repairs, and service rather than price.

Resale Price Maintenance 

In the early 20th century, companies would charge high prices for complex products like vacuum cleaners and washing machines, which required hard salesmanship and servicing. This discouraged customers from visiting full-service showrooms and purchasing cheap products online. Resale price maintenance is a strategy to prevent resellers from freeriding on services, but the antitrust authorities argued it was anti-competitive because it wasn’t allowing resellers to compete on price.  This was partly intellectual and partly thinking that businesses tend to be anti-competitive, and partly in the interest of consumers. He talks about management consulting and the role of scientific management and how it is all about learning through trial and error, and coming up with new theories.

 Regulating the Corporation and Controversial Opinions

One view on antitrust is that it is driven by what profit opportunities there are in the world and what relative prices are. He believes that part of the reason the large corporation got torn apart into much more specialized corporations was in part that market supporting institutions had come back to life, capital markets were working again, and external capital markets were more effective than internal capital markets and firms. Regulations were impending innovation, and so there were profit opportunities for entrepreneurs who could pressure Congress and the executive branch to try to undo some of the regulations that made it hard for them to innovate.

He states that it is important to be aware of the potential unintended consequences of antitrust. He argues that if antitrust goes against complex contracts as anti-competitive, it could lead to people hiding those contracts within the boundaries of the firm. This idea is controversial, as it suggests that the history of corporations was a story about institutional choice and some institutions being preferred over others.

 Deregulation, Holding Companies, and Pyramidal Business Groups

Richard talks about the common belief that the rise of neoliberalism in the late 1900s led to deregulation, but he argues that most of the deregulation occurred before this, as the market economy transitioned from the Depression and World War Two. He goes on to talk about the concept of holding companies, which were once common in the early 20th century, and how  most industrial organizations today are organized around business groups, with a family or foundation at the top owning controlling shares and subsidiaries, but The US is an outlier in this, due to public policy concerns about allowing one company to own the stock of another.  Richard talks about  private equity in the modern corporate world, wholly owned subsidiaries, and majority and minority stockholders.

 The Modular Corporation

The corporate form of corporations evolved over time and became more akin to the incorporation of modules. These modules are created like personal computers, allowing them to interact and buy shares from other modules without necessarily being integrated with their operations. This modularity was a key factor in the creation of the corporation and it differs from the vertically integrated business model where everything is connected to everything, but this doesn’t scale well. So, as corporations grew, they began to recognize the need for modularity, breaking up operations into smaller pieces that didn't constantly transmit information to each other.  These modules were wholly-owned subsidiaries, for example, Chevrolet was a module of General Motors. During the conglomerate era, people could buy these divisions from one another. This allowed them to operate through the interface of the market and the corporate hierarchy.

 The US Monetary System and the Gold Standard

Richard explores the history of the US monetary system, which was initially tied to gold. This was a conscious decision by business interests, particularly those involved in international trade, to ensure the currency was taken seriously by other countries like Britain. However, the US imposed tariffs to protect manufacturing interests, which were essentially attacks on exporters. Exporters, who were primarily farmers, wanted a weak dollar, while importers and financiers wanted a strong dollar. Keeping the currency low was a common strategy in developing countries. Anchoring to the gold standard kept the currency stable.  The 19th century saw the demand of a mixed standard with silver. This was driven by inflation, as tying money to other items led to more money and a decrease in the value of the dollar. The West, who were exporters, supported free silver, and the East, who were financiers dealing with the British and importers, wanted a strong dollar. The monetary macro was simpler in the days of a fixed metallic standard, which stopped happening after World War One. After World War One, the US was technically on the gold standard, but it was a managed gold standard where people hoarded gold. Most economic historians believe that these manipulations led to the Great Depression, as the Federal Reserve had just been created without knowledge of its actions and allowed the country to fall into a depression.

 Timestamps:

01:22 What drove the transformation into the corporate world

05:17 Transactions in a market require institutions

07:36 Antitrust and anti-trust

05:39 Why did we see the end of the large managerial firm?

09:44 Leverage theory and hedging

15:09 The one lump of monopoly theory

20:37 How to stop free riding

27:12 How important are ideas in anti-trust policy?

32:03 Why did holding companies become illegal?

37:12 Why vertically integrated companies were precluded by deregulation

44:33 Recommended biographies

Links:

http://langlois.uconn.edu/

 The book: https://www.amazon.com/Corporation-Twentieth-Century-American-Enterprise-ebook/dp/B0BRBWG6LX/

Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.

What should you say when you are meeting for the first time with an individual at a client you are already serving?

Here's the approach I've used the past few years: 

“I’d be happy to provide context on the project, but I don’t want to go over material you are already familiar with. What have you already heard about this effort?”

In this episode, I explain why I use that question.

Every week I send out an email with summaries of each Unleashed episode, transcripts of each episode, and often some bonus material. If you’d like to receive it, send me a note at unleashed@umbrex.com

Tom Schwab runs Interview Valet, a firm that helps its clients get booked on targeted podcasts where they can speak directly to their ideal customers.

In this episode, Tom shares his perspective on why being a guest on a podcast is a great way to raise your visibility

How to prepare for an interview

How to promote the interview

How to work with a podcast interview booking firm like his

And How to get invited on shows if you want to do it yourself

You can learn more about Interview Valet on their website, https://interviewvalet.com/

And if you want to connect with Tom, his LinkedIn URL is in the show notes

https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomasmschwab/

If you'd like to receive Unleashed bonus features, email Will Bachman at unleashed@umbrex.com to receive the weekly Unleashed email.

Our guest today is Mike Feiner, who has been an influential figure in my own life since I took his class High Performance Leadership at Columbia Business School.

Mike is now on his fourth career.

He was the Worldwide Chief People Officer at Pepsi – so the head of HR and the top advisor on all people matters to the CEO.

Here is a factoid: in the last three years, according to The New CEO Report by Feigen Advisors, 81 individuals have ascended to the CEO role. in the Fortune 250.  Of those 81, eight of the CEOs had worked previously at Pepsi, several of them while Mike was the head of HR.  Something special was clearly going on.

After Pepsi, Mike developed and taught one of the most popular courses ever at Columbia Business School.

While he loved teaching, after ten years he wanted a new challenge and took the role of Senior Managing Director at Irving Place Capital where he Lead firm's efforts in guiding portfolio company management teams build, grow & develop their leaders & managers.

And now Mike is an independent professional, serving as a consultant to CEOs and senior leaders.

Mike is also the author of the bestselling The Feiner Points of Leadership: The 50 Basic Laws that will make people want to perform better for you. I’ve given out copies of this book dozens of times – it is the most practical book on what leadership is that I’ve ever read.

In our wide ranging conversation, we talk about how to apply these basic laws of leadership as an independent professional

We talk about the Law of Intimacy, the Law of Feedback, the Law of Professional Commitment, the Law of the Emperor’s Wardrobe, and more.

Mike’s been a lifelong runner, running nearly every day for over 40 years, and we also talk about his suggestion that business professionals need to think of themselves as Professional Athletes. We’re in a marathon, not a sprint, and we need to think about personal fitness, broadly conceived – exercise, diet, sleep, mindfulness all factor into our long term success as much, if not more than our knowledge of valuation methodologies or the latest digital marketing techniques.

You can read more about Mike’s work on his website, feinerconsulting.com 

In my conversations with independent consultants, a common question I get is how to generate more business.

There are a lot of things one could POTENTIALLY do to generate more revenue, and some people flail around putting effort into initiatives that may have a low return on investment.

Of course we all want to put our time and energy into areas with a relatively high return on investment, and I’ve found that it is useful to break down all the possible factors into what I call the Consulting Revenue Equation.

Also check out Episode 221, in which I discuss with David A. Fields some ways to increase your conversion rate.

If you are looking to stay productive while between projects, one area to invest time is setting up technology tools for your practice.

In this episode, I share 17 recommendations.

I mention some previous episodes of this show in my discussion, including:

Episode 172: David A Fields on setting up a CRM system

Episode 236: Evernote

Episode 237: MixMax

Episode 73: Calendly

Our guest today is David A. Fields, the author of The Irresistible Consultant's Guide to Winning Clients: 6 Steps to Unlimited Clients & Financial Freedom.

David is leading an upcoming professional development program for independent consultants that I thought could be valuable for many of the listeners of this show, so I asked David if he’d share an overview of the Solo Practice Accelerator. The next one is August 18-19, 2019 in San Francisco, CA.  

Details: https://members.davidafields.com/solo-practice-accelerator

If after listening to this episode you are interested in attending but those dates don’t work for you, then subscribe to David’s blog and you’ll get notified of the next one.

David kindly offered a bonus for listeners of Unleashed who attend the Accelerator – if you attend the program and let him know you heard about the program on this show, he will schedule an hour-long, private one-on-one phone call with you to discuss your practice.

David has been a popular guest on the show three times before:

Episode 001, where David shares highlights from his book

Episode 170, where David discusses how to make outbound calls

And Episode 172, where David shares his approach to setting up a CRM system.

If you are interested in hiring an independent consultant or joining a global community of independent consultants, email Will Bachman at unleashed@umbrex.com

Our guest today is Neil Booth.

In our discussion, Neil shares how he became a deep expert in how to build a really well designed model – he followed what could be termed the Benjamin Franklin method. Neil then turned that skill into a career.

Neil also shares some modeling best practices – such as splitting up your formulas – do one step at a time – cells are cheap. We also geek out on cell styles, how to define constants, and whether you should include macros in your model.

Neil is currently working at the investment bank Houlihan Lokey where he established the firms’ Financial Modeling as a Service group.

His group offers corporate training in financial modeling best practices, and will also build the financial model for you.

If you’d like to follow up with Neil you can reach him at NBooth@HL.com.

David Minifie is the Chief Experience Officer and Executive Vice President of Corporate Strategy at Centene Corporation.

Centene is a Fortune 500 company that provides a portfolio of services to government sponsored healthcare programs.

In this episode, David explains to me the role and responsibilities of a Chief Experience Officer, which includes and expands the responsibilities he previously held as the Chief Marketing Officer.

You can learn more about Centene on their website, centene.com

And you can see more of David’s background on his LinkedIn profile – a link is in the show notes.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/c-david-minifie-50250a/

Each week we send an email with summaries of the latest Unleashed episodes, transcripts of each episode, and bonus materials. To subscribe, email unleashed@umbrex.com

To connect with Will Bachman on LinkedIn, visit https://www.linkedin.com/in/willbachman/

Our guest today is Michael Frankel who has an amazing background – he’s been a corporate attorney at Skadden Arps, an investment banker, a private equity advisor, VP level business development roles at GE, LexisNexis, CFO of two companies, and held board positions.

Michael is currently the Head of the Deloitte New-venture Accelerator.

Michael shares his perspective on a range of topics including

• how large consulting firms are setting up talent pools of independent consultants
• interim CFO roles
• how consulting firms are investing in Artificial intelligence to enable experts with technology

Here is Michael's profile on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankelmichael/

Sign up to receive the weekly Unleashed email that includes a transcript of each episode, book recommendations, and consulting tips, at: https://www.umbrex.com/unleashed-podcast/

Jay Altizer has worked at Bain and Company, PepsiCo, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Deloitte Consulting. His extensive experience includes driving transformations and high-stakes change in a variety of industries such as CPG/FMCG, manufacturing, distribution, airlines, technology, and B2B products/services, but in this episode, he shares his knowledge and experience of the food industry. To learn more about Jay’s firm visit https://www.fallingbranchadvisorsllc.com/, and he can be reached at jay.altizer@fallingbranchadvisorsllc.com. 

Key points include:

01:49: The multiple roles in the value chain

10:40: The different types of companies in mid-market food space

13:00: Issues facing food companies in the $20-500 million range

18:39: Trade spending and discounting in the food industry

Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.

Show Notes:

In this discussion, Professor Bryan Caplan discusses the science and ethics of housing regulations and the argument for housing deregulation, which he believes benefits everyone across the political spectrum, including lower costs and more equity. 

Barriers to Radical Housing Deregulation

Bryan believes that to achieve radical housing deregulation, it would require convincing a large audience of people that it is a good idea. He explains that most people don't see the connection between letting people build and low prices, and there is a hypersensitivity to the harms a building can cause. The conversation also explores issues of environmental regulations and renewable power, and opposing forces lobbying to keep current housing regulations in place, such as community activists and the construction industry. 

Housing Developers and Zoning Laws

The discussion turns to various types of regulation and barriers faced by developers, including zoning laws, which are often used to separate industry from commercial and residential areas. He talks about the expression “the zoning tax”, used by economists. Bryan believes that abolishing these regulations would be the best solution, and that, unfortunately,  there is a slippery slope in allowing owners to preemptively stop someone from using their property as they want, it stymies action of any kind, and it can lead to laws that are overreaching and, most often, unnecessary. He talks about the law of nuisance and the burden of making a lawful complaint should be the responsibility of the complainer and not of the court to mitigate potential complaints in advance. 

Historical Preservation and Housing Regulations 

He discusses the issue of  historical preservation regulations, which may not necessarily lead to the demolition of historic buildings. Market forces play a role in preserving historic buildings, as people often value them and don't want to tear them down. However, if there is a significant difference between the value of renting office space in historic buildings and the extra value from turning them into residential spaces, the market is spoken. He mentions that every historic building was built on the rubble of a previous, more historic building. Bryan states what he believes is the best, most easy solution to this problem. He also offers an example of why the motivation to preserve many historic buildings is quite ironic. 

Environmental Building Regulations

Bryan addresses the environmental regulations that new builders face when building new buildings. He believes that current environmental protection laws are counterproductive, as they prevent developers from building in areas with favorable climates and reducing carbon emissions. Instead, he suggests making it easier to build in areas with good conditions, such as Southern California, where the weather is good and housing units can be built for millions of people. He talks about the importance of privatizing government land, particularly in the US, and suggests that developers should focus on what people want to pay for rather than environmental philosophy. He also discusses the lack of research on building codes and standards, which are often focused on land use regulations and safety regulations. He believes that the free market can ensure quality products, and explains how licensing, certification, and insurance companies play a role. 

Accessibility Requirements in Housing Regulations

The conversation turns to accessibility requirements, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Bryan suggests a voluntary system where developers can target specific markets for ADA accessible buildings. He also discusses the challenges of building skyscrapers and density regulations in the United States. He argues that while technology has allowed for the construction of tall buildings, getting government permissions to build them is difficult, especially in desirable areas. He suggests that if skyscrapers could be built closer to desirable locations, it would make living in these areas more affordable. Density regulations are another issue, as 80% of residential land is zoned for single-family homes. This makes it difficult for builders to build multi family homes, which is often expensive due to the paperwork involved. However, if housing is cheap enough, it is possible to have spacious apartments and entire floors of skyscrapers at a reasonable cost. Bryan also discusses the difference in cost per apartment or per square foot between single-family and multifamily housing. 

Building Costs and Economies of Scale

Building costs can be influenced by economies of scale, with skyscrapers being more expensive per square foot. Research shows that, averaging over the United States, regulations roughly doubles the cost of housing, with San Francisco and Manhattan having the worst regulation costs. Deregulating a small part of New York City could lead to skyscraper development almost immediately due to high prices in surrounding areas. However, if all the land was deregulated, then building skyscrapers of a certain height would no longer be profitable if there were many skyscrapers in the area and housing costs had been lowered. Overall, the cost of housing per square foot in a neighborhood depends on factors such as land, labor, structure, and regulation.

Community Engagement and Developers

Community engagement and public hearings are crucial for developers to build a building, as they must negotiate with the community to determine the benefits they will provide. However, many complaints are unmet, leading to delays and potential financial losses. A book called Neighborhood Defenders provides transcripts of land use meetings in Massachusetts, revealing that the complaints are often from paranoid homeowners, not wealthy homeowners, who fear disturbance or the neighborhood's character. The democratic process, while effective, puts the power to veto progress in the hands of paranoid people who don't speak for anyone but themselves.

Local Politicians and Housing Developments

Local politicians often claim to focus on increasing the tax base and lowering housing costs, but they often face criticism for their actions. The most simple-minded emotional arguments often prevail, as politicians are not there for the long term and may prioritize re-election over long-term goals. The antipathy for the housing industry is rooted in the fact that it is a big business, and housing is the second most vital necessity after food. Despite this, housing is often maligned, as it is the second most vital necessity after food. 

Affordable Housing Regulations 

Bryan discusses the concept of affordable housing requirements and their various versions. He identifies three common approaches: subsidizing demand and strangling supply, rent control, and public housing. The most common approach involves government subsidies for poor people to buy housing while restricting the supply. The least common approach is taxing the housing industry to produce different types of housing, which can make unsubsidized homes even more expensive while making affordable ones less expensive. Public housing, on the other hand, addresses the issue of not having enough housing and produces more housing. However, this approach generally faces issues such as high costs, lower quality, and poor maintenance by nonprofit sectors. 

Noise and Nuisance Regulations

When it comes to noise and nuisance regulations, Brian compares the old system to the new system. Bryan suggests that there was a better system during the period without regulation, where complainers could take recourse to the courts. He also mentions the homeowner association (HOA) as an intermediate market system for handling complaints. HOAs are flexible and limited to one area, allowing residents to be aware of the rules in place and decide whether they want to buy in or not. Bryan closes the conversation with a brief discussion on the ratcheting of regulations, economists, embedded interests, and political psychology.

Timestamps:

00:23: Housing deregulation, with insights on opposition forces. 

04:42: Regulations and their impact on development, with a focus on zoning laws, historical preservation, and the role of the government in decision-making 

12:29: Preserving historical buildings and environmental regulations

16:19: Government regulations and building codes, with a focus on the free market and insurance companies setting standards

21:05: Regulations and their impact on affordable housing

27:35: Housing costs in New York City, with a focus on Astoria

32:21: Skyscraper construction costs and community engagement challenges

37:44: Affordable housing requirements and their impact on development

43:02: Housing regulations and their impact on affordability

48:12: Regulations and their challenges in society

52:54: Housing regulation and special interests

Links:

Website: http://www.bcaplan.com/ 

Email: bcaplan@gmu.edu 

Substack: http://betonit.substack.com/

Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.

Earlier this month, I visited London, Amsterdam, Paris, Munich, and Zurich to meet up with independent management consultants. 

While I originally imagined I would fly from one city to another, I ended up taking the train from London all the way to Zurich, and it was fantastic.

In this short episode, I share five reasons why you should take the train in Europe instead of flying between cities, and some tips from a train-riding novice.

Umbrex member and McKinsey alum Tim DeRoche is an independent management consultant, a screenwriter, an award-winning novelist and a non-fiction writer.

In Episode 66 of Unleashed, Tim discussed his novel Huck and Miguel, a re-imaging of the story of Huck Finn, set in modern-day Los Angeles.

In today's episode, Tim discusses his latest (non-fiction) book, A Fine Line: How most American kids are kept out of the best public schools.

Learn more about Tim: https://timderoche.com/a-fine-line/

Amanda Wright has a Master of Business Administration in Finance and a Bachelor of Science in molecular biology. She is an experienced management consultant who provides business advisory services to her clients.  Today, she talks about her program to help women from professional services firms make the leap to independent consulting.

Key points include:

02:07: The structure of the Take the Leap program

09:43: The importance of the company name

13:31: Building the right mindset for a successful business

17:59: Managing your money

25:00: Marketing the coaching program

You can learn more about the Take the Leap program at https://www.thewrightcompany.ca/taketheleap and sign up for Amanda’s weekly newsletter.

Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.

Our guest today is Umbrex member Amanda Setili, and we discuss her new book that is being published today: Fearless Growth: The New Rules to Stay Competitive, Foster Innovation, and Dominate Your Markets

Amanda has been a guest on the show before, on episode 8, when we spoke about the Strategic Agility Think Tank which she established, and her first book, The Agility Advantage.

In today’s discussion we dive deep into the content of her new book.

In the first half of the show we discuss five strategic dilemmas that companies face.

These dilemmas include tough choices such as:

To what extent should we develop a carefully thought out plan vs plunging in and trying something new?

and

When new capabilities are needed, should we build them internally, acquire, or partner?

Amanda’s book suggests that these five dilemmas require seven new rules, and we touch on each one of those in the second half of the show.

If you work on strategy projects, this book is full of fresh thinking and well worth reading.

You can read more about Amanda’s firm at www.setili.com

Show Notes:

Marilyn Lin, a customer support thought leader with over two decades of experience, discusses the importance of customer support in driving business success in the Software as a Service (SaaS) industry. She has led global Technical Support Teams that not only resolve issues but also foster customer loyalty, drive renewals, and inform product strategies. In today's competitive SaaS landscape, customer support is not just a cost center but a linchpin of retention and growth.

Customer Support in the SaaS Industry

The conversation turns to the different terms for customer support, such as customer support, customer service, customer care, and customer success. Marilyn identifies the difference between terms. She equates customer success to the team focused on the health of a customer, focusing on how they are leveraging and using the product and solution, realizing value from their investments. They are more akin to the account management side of the organization, taking care to understand the customer's top priorities and helping guide them through leveraging and using the solution and products they have purchased or subscribed to. She explains that customer support and customer service are terms used interchangeably to describe the teams that help customers resolve issues with using their products or services. In B-to-B environments, customer support are more technical support teams, while customer care and customer service is more tactical and often describe teams within B-to-C environments.

Subcategories within Customer Support

There are different subcategories within customer support, such as onboarding teams, which help new B2B customers onboard with a SaaS company. Major functions  tied to customer support include customer training and onboarding, customer delivery teams, and customer escalation teams. The support delivery team handles cases and interacts with end users, helping them find solutions to their issues. A customer escalation team is involved when customers escalate issues or outages, ensuring timely resolution. Marilyn explains that historically, customer support organizations have been seen as reactive and cost centers rather than a strategic arm. However, there is a treasure trove of insights from the interactions with end users, which can be used to drive improvements in the product and solution. This information can feed into the product development cycle, helping product and engineering teams prioritize their roadmaps and drive the voice of the customer. Support teams can also provide insights related to training and enablement, usability, and user experience, which can be shared with the enablement and design teams.

The Importance of Customer Support in Business

The importance of customer support in a business is discussed, including the need for analytics to understand the impact of the customer support team and how that ties back to customer retention rates. A high retention rate can lead to increased value and a better brand image. Marilyn talks about key metrics she pays attention to as VP of customer support, including the importance of understanding the time to resolution, common themes of issues, and the financial impact of these metrics is mentioned. In a recurring revenue environment, it is crucial to highlight top case drivers or issues tied back to the customers and provide the ARR to the executive team. The need to prioritize areas like product bug fixes or feature enhancements is stressed, and the cost to serve customers, breaking it down by segments and regions to better understand customer needs and improve efficiency. By focusing on these metrics, businesses can better serve their B2B customers and drive more value. Examples are shared.

Tracking Trends and Changes in the Support Business

In a VP of Customer Support role, key metrics include time to resolve issues, first time to resolve, and the ability to address user issues with the first interaction. Additionally, the team and individual level is monitored to identify areas for improvement. Employee engagement is a key focus, with companies conducting quarterly or twice a year employee satisfaction surveys. The focus is on analyzing trends and identifying high priority areas for improvement. In a support organization, it is crucial to prioritize employee experience, provide the right tools and processes, and listen to employee feedback. Support leaders should prioritize their team's well-being, as it translates into better customer service and interaction. By taking care of their employees, support leaders can improve their overall customer experience.

Evaluating a SaaS Company’s Customer Support

In evaluating a SaaS company, it is essential to consider whether the support organization has a strategic roadmap outlining their vision and quarterly milestones. This roadmap should evolve as business objectives and priorities change. A more holistic view of investments should be considered, not just focusing on key metrics. Marilyn suggests that organizations should give their team the support to take time to step back and look for ways to make things more efficient, such as creating knowledge articles based on interactions to prevent customers from having to log cases. Training and enablement should be provided for employees to continue learning and grow.

AI Customer Support Solutions

AI solutions are being evaluated and implemented by support organizations to enhance customer service. Marilyn led the first support team at Salesforce  to leverage AI and machine learning within their support processes, using SupportLogic. The app helped identify potential cases that would escalate, allowing managers and teams to be aware of potential cases and provide timely resolutions to end users.

The SupportLogic app has improved the way managers manage their teams and assigned cases to the right agents with the right knowledge and experience to handle unresolved cases more efficiently. This has led to improvements in the way managers manage their teams and elevating the customer experience provided by their support agents.

Timestamps:

03:40: Defining Key Customer Service Terms 

07:47: Classification of Customer Service Roles 

10:22: Transforming Customer Support from a Cost Center to a Revenue Driver 

13:00: Metrics and KPIs for Customer Support 

18:00: War Stories and Practical Examples 

21:48: Daily, Weekly, and Monthly Metrics for VP of Customer Service 

25:44: Evaluating Customer Service in SaaS Companies

29:07: Implementation of AI in Customer Service 

Links: 

Resource: https://umbrex.com/resources/how-to-analyze-a-saas-company/

Website: Golotusgroup.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marilynlin/

Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.

Kay Formanek is a global speaker on Diversity and Inclusion. Kay has also worked for leading global professional services organizations for over 20 years as Partner and Managing Director. Her proven approach to leading diversity strategically draws on extensive research and advisory work with over 50 organizations; she is now an author, and her book,  Beyond DNI: leading diversity with purpose and inclusiveness, is coming out this month. In today’s episode, Kay talks about the benefits of diversity and inclusion.

For more information, you can visit Kay’s website at beyonddiversityandinclusion.com

Key points include:

01:14: Kay’s background, and the inspiration behind her book

06:24: How she helps CEOs reach their aspired level of diversity

11:25: The dimensions of diversity

15:19: Implementing diversity initiatives

Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.

Show Notes:

Will Bachman welcomes Alex Boyd, the founder of Revenue Zen, a B2B organic growth marketing firm. Alex talks about organic growth marketing and how it is simply sharing knowledge about a product or service through platforms like websites, forums, and social media without relying on paid advertising. Alex's strategy works because clients are drawn to the content and reach out to him. He is now helping other B2B companies achieve success through organic growth marketing.

Developing Organic Content for B2B Markets

Alex Boyd works with B2B clients who typically have an average order value of at least 20k to 50k or more. He helps them to find their voice, clarify their thought process, produce content, get it out there, and watch that turn into leads and pipeline. His clients are usually software companies, consultancies, and other service providers who sell digitally and have a higher than average ticket size. By writing LinkedIn content that is well targeted and speaks to their audience and producing blog posts that are targeted to niche, lower volume keywords, his clients can see a huge ROI with just a few leads.

Alex talks about how they help software companies create content. He explains how they have a structured interview with the founders of the companies to understand their needs and goals, and draw out their expertise. Then, they create content that focuses on the specialty of the company as well as how technology can be used as part of the process. He emphasizes that the founders may not be social media writers, but they can provide valuable insights on how to implement the solution. Alex offers a sanitized case study of a software client. Most of his clients receive targeted, well-written content that they can post themselves. 

Alex’s business helps clients craft effective social media content that can help them generate leads. He advocates for a structured interview process to draw out the client's expertise, and then they can coach them or produce content that the client can edit. Alex shares a few interview questions that help draw out valuable information on the company that helps build engaging content that yields results. He identifies the type of content that works. 

Tips on Creating Engaging Content 

He suggests starting with an origin story, as it helps the client's network to understand why they started the business. He also suggests asking about the client's favorite interview questions to draw out the information. Alex believes that making up content for social media does not work, and that it is important to draw out the expertise and knowledge of the client to create effective content. He emphasizes the need to be short and insightful in content marketing. 

Alex explains how to manage reaction and engagement to social and content posts, and how to transition from commenting on someone's posts to having meaningful conversation. He offers tips on backlinks, messaging and responding, and how to prep the groundwork for posts.  Alex said that the majority of the 135 engagements he has brought in from his LinkedIn posts and comments have been inbound. He suggests that the best way to have a conversation with someone is to have a natural conversation that doesn't have a direct lead into one's service but is still relevant. Will asks for tips on how to move from commenting on someone's posts to having a live conversation. Alex suggests providing a targeted note expressing interest in talking and engaging in meaningful conversations that don't lead to a sales pitch. He adds that the best conversations are those that don't lead to a sales pitch but are still relevant.

When engaging potential customers on social media, it is important to be mindful of how you approach them. Instead of leading directly into a sales conversation, it is best to demonstrate your expertise by asking questions that show your credibility. To do this effectively, ask questions related to the topic that you know about, and make sure they include your expertise. For example, if your expertise is in SEO, you could ask questions about backlink distribution and content production. Pretend you are giving a micro-consulting engagement and think about the value you can provide. This will help you create questions that demonstrate your expertise without feeling like a sales pitch.

How to Gain and Engage with Clients on LinkedIn

Alex explains how to choose questions that demonstrate your knowledge, and how to comment on a LinkedIn post. In addition to using a Sales Navigator account in order to highlight posts from those people, he suggests using a bookmarking system or a spreadsheet to track the posts, and how focusing on a smaller group of potential leads is the best way to comment on relevant posts.

Alex also suggests engaging with other people in the same space, such as influencers, consultants and software companies, as this can be more effective than engaging directly with the prospects. To find these people, Alex suggests creating pre-made influencer lists, which can be done by looking at which creators and consultants get the most engagement from decision makers. Finally, Alex recommends having offline conversations with others who also sell to the same market.

Alex talks about the software he created, Aware, to help with posting content on social media which orchestrates all LinkedIn activity on one platform to organize the process and save time. The typical person using Aware are usually growing on LinkedIn but want to spend less time managing LinkedIn data.

Sales Leadership on Social Media

Alex shares tips on how to drive engagement and points to Dan Morris as an example, whose posts do not get a lot of engagement but are targeted to a specific niche and resonates with them. He suggests creating content that is targeted to the right audience and that asks questions or request for reposts to encourage engagement.

He talks about sales leadership and how to best use social media to increase engagement and reach more people. One of the tips is to make sure the first couple of lines of a post are as powerful as possible, and to take the best line from the end of the post and put it at the beginning. He also shares how to respond when a post does gain a lot of attention to take advantage of the momentum. He suggests that virality often does not lead to much net new pipeline and it can even be distracting. If clients do have a post go viral, Alex suggests that they not try to respond to everyone, but instead look for the signal in the noise and prioritize business development. Alex also offers insight on the best and worst days and times to post on LinkedIn.

Alex states that it is more important to post quality content than to post frequently. He suggests that people should choose a quality threshold above which their content must be and be consistent. He also advises against pushing out half-assed content in the name of frequency. He suggests that if people are able to spend 3-4 hours a week planning and creating good content, they will do better. He also offers recommendations on formatting content whether text, video, or images.  He also offers one last piece of advice on sharing content for best results. 

Timestamps:

01:30 Unlocking the Potential of Thought Leadership for B2B Clients 

06:36 Uncovering the Power of Interviews for Content Marketing Success

13:03 Connecting with Social Media Engagers 

14:54 Transitioning from social media to Live Conversation 

18:22 Commenting Tips for LinkedIn

25:16 Proactive Ways to Engage with Clients and Followers 

25:48 The Benefits of Using Aware for LinkedIn Success

31:23 Tips for Generating Engagement on LinkedIn

35:32 Maximizing Engagement and Business Development Through Social Media Posting

Links:

Website: https://revenuezen.com

Website: https://useaware.co

CONTACT INFO:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexcboyd/

Get in touch with Alex: https://www.gated.com/@alexboyd

Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.

Jonathan Schwartz discusses how to analyze a manufacturing company. Jonathan's background includes working in operations improvement, starting with manufacturing and then transitioning to banking and non-manufacturing roles. He has worked with private equity firms and has been a lean champion at a private equity firm.

Sales and Operations Planning Process

One of the first types of analysis Jonathan talks about is the sales and operations planning process (SOP), which involves integrating what is being told to the sales team with what is being produced. This alignment and match is based on the equipment and production capabilities of the company. The main idea is to align what is going to make the plant the most money with how it is incentivizing the sales team.The main idea is to align what is being sold with what is being produced, and to charge more based on the value added services provided by the company. This aligns with the company's goals and equipment to make the most money.

Production Scheduling Process

Jonathan explains that the production scheduling process in a company can be complex, with different tools used for larger plants and more complex situations. For example, a simple company might schedule production in batches, depending on the flexibility of their equipment and the economic batch size. This helps avoid having a large amount of inventory sitting in inventory when orders are placed for other parts. In some cases, private label products may not be suitable for production, while others may require make to stock or make to order processes. Delays in customization can affect the capacity to build up inventory. To assess the quality of a factory's production scheduling, it is important to consider the number of changes in the schedule over time and overall on-time delivery. An assessment of inventory levels can help identify bottlenecks, quality problems, equipment downtime, or matching schedules from pre-production steps to middle production steps. Visualizing the inventory levels and identifying visible metrics or schedules can help identify areas for improvement. Jonathan shares a couple of war stories as examples.

New Process Implementation and Change Management

The conversation turns to implementing a new process. In manufacturing, while some change management communications can be done ahead of time, training should be done right before the team starts using the new process, rather than a week or two weeks ahead of time. As soon as you implement something that makes their jobs easier, employees become a fountain of ideas and improvements, which can lead to quick changes in morale and overall productivity. Jonathan states that a clear production schedule is crucial for ensuring everyone knows what's up next for their line and is prepared for any changes. By implementing a two-bin system and addressing stockouts, organizations can improve on-time delivery numbers and predictability. He suggests that steady usage can help determine the appropriate amount of inventory to hold, while unpredictable demand can lead to overstocking. He explains how to avoid stock outs and also emphasizes the importance of supplier quality evaluation, which involves ensuring parts are qualified for new products before they are released to production.  Jonathan shares an example from a Motorola plant in Atlanta.

Supplier Quality Management

Jonathan discusses the importance of supplier quality management in a manufacturing plant. He emphasizes the need for a sophisticated system to identify and address problems in parts and suppliers. This system involves intake department workers, who need to know whether a part goes into income inspection or goes straight to stock. Inspectors need to be trained to identify and address issues,  as it is costly to inspect parts and impossible to inspect 100% of everything. When assessing a manufacturing plant's supplier quality management program, Jonathan talks about the metrics in place and how they are used. These metrics include the percentage of bad parts and good parts when present. He stresses that the system should be communication-intensive, with production line personnel communicating with materials managers when a part is bad or a whole set of parts is bad. Incoming receiving clerks should know which parts from which suppliers are  flagged for inspection. Inspectors should track the issues and communicate them back to the supplier.

Efficiency in Manufacturing ERP Systems

Jonathan explains that this involves implementing Kanban and minimizing touches on work-in-process inventory. The conversation turns to the plant layout, including the dock, incoming warehouse, and presentation of parts to the line. Jonathan explains that traditional cost accounting practices can lead to mismeasurements. He provides an example where a plant manager was measured on absorption, which is the amount of overhead he could absorb based on the accounting cost per unit; this led to a lack of inventory quality and poor on-time delivery and productivity. He mentions that traditional measures may not be relevant to workers on the factory floor.

Lean Improvements in a Production Line

Jonathan shares an example of implementing lean improvements in a production line with 180 employees. He emphasizes the importance of minimizing the WIP (work-in-process inventory), ensuring that people only work as much as needed, not as much as possible, thus minimizing inventory levels and the amount of rework when a problem arises. This approach improved quality and throughput, as it reduced the number of reworked items and improved throughput. He also highlights the importance of using fixtures that ensured that tasks were done correctly, even if it took more time. This approach also improved visibility and communication throughout the line. By minimizing the WIP, rebalancing the line, and ensuring that tasks were done correctly, the company achieved significant improvements in quality and output metrics.

Timestamps:

02:23: Overview of Production Scheduling and Sales and Operations Planning 

04:47: Complexities of Production Scheduling 

07:32: Assessing Production Scheduling Effectiveness 

12:44: Implementing Lean Improvements and Supplier Quality Management 

12:59: Evaluating Supplier Quality Management Programs 

27:05: Material Handling and Internal Logistics Efficiency 

33:27: Celebrating Victories and Improving Morale 

Links:

Resource: https://umbrex.com/resources/how-to-analyze-a-manufacturing-company/

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/jonathandschwartz

Email: jonathanschwartz13@gmail.com

Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.

If you are setting up a podcast or blog, here are strategic questions to consider. Question 1 is discussed in Episode 344, and Questions 2-5 discussed in this episode.

1. What is my objective? (Covered in Episode 344)

2. Who is my target audience?

3. What content does that audience want?

4. What will be the format of my podcast or blog?

5. What should I name my podcast or blog?

Our guest today is Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, the author of a fantastic new book titled The Public Health Crisis Survival Guide: Leadership and Management in Trying Times, published by Oxford University Press.

This book is a great read for any leader, not just those in public health, since the lessons are so broadly applicable, and the stories are so fascinating.  Also recommended for consultants who want to know how to advise a client through a crisis.

Josh is a physician and a public health leader who has held senior leadership roles at the city, state, and federal level.  He’s been the Commissioner of Health for the City of Baltimore, the Principal Deputy Commissioner at the FDA, and the Secretary of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. And he is currently a Vice Dean at the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

In this episode, Josh shares stories of crises he faced – include one on the very first day on the job.

The Public Health Crisis Survival Guide is not a dry manual – it is full of absolutely amazing stories – including the story of Frances Kelsey, the heroine of the FDA, who saved an untold number of American children from being born with birth defects because of her courageous refusal to approve thalidomide, despite industry pressure.

The book has very practical advice on how to recognize a crisis, manage a crisis, communicate through a crisis, and work to prevent the next crisis, and it is highly recommended.

Vijay is a former digital and technology leader at KKR leader and a founding member of  McKinsey Digital Labs in South East Asia. He is a highly accomplished expert consultant and Interim Chief Information Officer, and he currently serves Fortune 500 enterprises and companies invested in by the PEI 300. In this episode, he talks about a case example that illustrates the Agile methodology play in real life. Vijay can be reached through LinkedIn or Umbrex.

Key points include:

03:08: Case example: a legacy bank in S.E. Asia going digital

08:48: Getting people to participate in hackathons

18:15: The concept of the sprint delivery cycle

22:38: The Agile process from having the business and making it a working product

Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.

Our guest today is Alisa Cohn, an executive coach, a writer, and a member of Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches.  Marshall Goldsmith is considered by many to be the leading executive coach in the world, and Alisa shares the story of how she got to know him and get selected to join this exclusive group.

You can learn more about Alisa through her website, www.alisacohn.com, and while you’re there you can sign up for her newsletter, which she calls a “barrel of goodness.”  You can also reach out to her on Twitter, @alisacohn.

The weekly Unleashed email includes transcripts of each episode, book recommendations, and consulting tips. Sign up here:

https://www.umbrex.com/unleashed-podcast/

Over the past couple decades since I left the Navy, people have often asked me what it was like to serve in a submarine.

Well, if you are sheltering in place, here are tips to simulate submarine life at home.

While it's great to pursue excellence, there's a strong argument for getting bad at something.

--

Unleashed is produced by Umbrex. To learn about our global community of independent management consultants, visit www.umbrex.com

Our guest today is Tim Hughes, who has written the book on social selling; he is the author of Social Selling: Techniques to influence buyers and customers, as well as Smarketing: How to achieve competitive advantage through blended sales and marketing.

As you’ll hear from Tim, social selling is not actually about selling, or at least not about trying to sell – it is about building relationships.

Tim’s LinkedIn headline is: Should have played Quidditch for England, and in today’s discussion he explains why he leads with that.

Based on Tim’s advice, I have updated my own LinkedIn Headline and Summary, and since I’ve done that I’ve received a couple unsolicited comments in favor – so I’ll vote in support of Tim’s recommendations.

Tim’s firm is called Digital Leadership Associates and you can learn more about their work on their website: dlaignite.com

Unleashed is produced by Umbrex. If you are an independent consultant interested in joining our community, or if you are looking to hire an independent consultant, reach out to Will Bachman at unleashed@umbrex.com

Marcia Nuffer has an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. As McKinsey’s Chief Learning Officer, Marcia was responsible for building one of the most lauded global leadership development programs in the world. She has over 25 years of strategy and leadership development experience and runs her own company, BlueShor.

Key points include:

05:15: Roleplaying in training

12:35: The McKinsey Academy

17:57: The Senior Training program

20:38: Examples of exercises for senior partners

27:51: The work at Blueshor

45:07: The assessment Marcia developed

You can learn more about Marcia’s company on the website at www.blueshor.com, and you can reach out to Marcia through email at marcia@blueshor.com.

Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at: www.umbrex.com.

Umbrex member Ushma Pandya is the Co-Founder and Partner at Think Zero Inc, an environmental consulting firm supporting businesses' waste reduction and diversion goals.

In this episode, Ushma walks me through the stages of a typical waste reduction project, and shares some of the surprising things she has found in the recycling bin.

You can learn more about her firm at: https://thinkzerollc.com/

To receive the weekly Unleashed email that includes a summary of each episode, transcripts, and bonus features, send Will Bachman an email at unleashed@umbrex.com

In today’s weekend edition of Unleashed, I share a list of 20-25 questions that David A. Fields and I usually ask our clients during the initial conversation to help engage the client and secure the project.

Key points include:

• Focusing on the client’s needs
• Understanding the scope of the project
• Understanding the client’s expected outcomes
• Insight into the internal team and the stakeholders involved

In this episode, tips on how NOT to submit expenses to a client.

And my suggestion on one right way to do it.

Our guest today is Robert Glazer, an entrepreneur, keynote speaker, and best-selling author.

Glazer writes Friday Forward, a weekly email that goes out to 100,000 subscribers. That started as a weekly inspiration email to his team, they forwarded it to friends, and – boom.

He is also the Founder and CEO of Acceleration Partners, an award winning global affiliate marketing agency – and on this episode he explains what an affiliate marketing agency does.

Glazer was selected by Marshall Goldsmith as one of the 100 coaches that Marshall is mentoring – an incredible honor to be part of that select group.

AND he is the author of Elevate: Push Beyond Your Limits and Unlock Success in Yourself and Others, which we discuss on this episode.

You can find links to his podcast, his books, his columns, and sign up for Friday Forward at his website, https://www.robertglazer.com/

Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez is a thought leader in the area of project management.

Antonio is the author of two books:

The Focused Organization: How Concentrating on a Few Key Initiatives Can Dramatically Improve Strategy Execution

And

The Project Revolution: How to Succeed in a Project Driven World

He has been awarded the title of Thinker of the Month by Thinkers50, and has presented on the topic of project management at more than 120 conferences around the world.

To learn more about his work, visit

https://antonionietorodriguez.com/#!/about

If you are interested in joining our global community of top-tier independent management consultants, email Will Bachman at unleashed@umbrex.com

Our guest today is Steve Woodruff, also known as the King of Clarity.

Steve is the author of Clarity Wins.

He helps individuals and businesses discover their professional DNA, define their offerings, target their ideal clients, and articulate their differentiating message.

You can learn more about Steve’s work at https://www.stevewoodruff.com/

Never miss an episode of Unleashed - sign up for our weekly email at askunleashed.com

Our guest today is Michael Fertman, a marketing consultant who runs The B2B Marketing Group based in New York City.

In today’s episode, Michael explains the fundamentals of Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

If you are looking to have your website ranked higher in search engine results, and SEO is a bit of a black box to you, then this episode could be a good place to start.

You can learn more about Michael’s work on his website, theb2bmg.com and you can find Michael on LinkedIn here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/fertman/

To receive Unleashed bonus material, subscribe to the weekly email by emailing Will Bachman at unleashed@umbrex.com

Our guest today is Kenny Jahng, the founder of Big Click Syndicate LLC, a strategic positioning agency offering content marketing consulting & advisory to nonprofit, cause-driven & faith-based organizations and churches across the country.

Kenny has an amazing list of clients that includes the Princeton Theological Seminary, California Baptist University, Redeemer Presbyterian Church, The United Methodist Church, & Wesleyan Investment Foundation, among many others.

In our discussion, Kenny educates me on what content marketing is all about. The core of what he does starts with helping clients on their strategic positioning, building internal alignment on the mission and the vision of the organization.

Often, this exercise has implications beyond communications and informs strategic decisions the client makes.

We also discuss lead generation, and how Kenny helps clients build thirty or more custom landing pages that each focus on a niche audience, providing something of value to earn the right to continue a conversation with that visitor over time.

I was incredibly impressed by the sophistication of what is going on behind the scenes, and we just scratched the surface.  If you are intrigued by what you hear in this episode, you can learn more about Kenny’s work at www.kennyjahng.com.

Our guest today is a good friend of mine, Umbrex member Paul Millerd. 

Paul has experience at McKinsey and BCG as well as the Board & CEO Advisory Group at Russell Reynolds Associates, one of the top executive recruiting firms in the world.

He currently has a wide portfolio of activities – he is a real Renaissance talent.

He is currently an independent strategy consultant, a career coach, the host of a podcast, Boundless, an active writer who puts out great posts several times a week. He hosts Jeffersonian dinners, he is interested in the gift economy and the future of work, Paul has created a career transition playbook and other course materials including a story course.

In this episode we have a wide ranging discussion covering just a few of Paul’s interests – I encourage you to check out his website and sign up to his mailing list. Visit think-boundless.com

Our guest today Nir Eyal, author of Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products, which has been a huge bestseller and is considered a must-read book in Silicon Valley.

Nir’s latest book is Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life, which is being released on September 10. I’ve read a review copy, begun putting his recommendations into effect, and I highly recommend this book to anyone who has ever been distracted.

In today’s episode, Nir shares highlights from the book, and gives a summary of his four-part approach to becoming indistractable.

Nir has a bunch of free downloads that go along with the book on his website at: www.NirAndFar.com/Indistractable

While you are on his site, definitely sign up for Nir's weekly email - I love it.

The schedule maker tool that Nir mentions in our discussion is at: https://nirandfar.com/schedule-maker/

And distraction guide here: https://www.nirandfar.com/distractions/

If you are interested in joining a global community of top-tier independent professionals, email Will Bachman at unleashed@umbrex.com and please include your resume and LinkedIn URL

Richard Steel is an entrepreneur, investor, and the author of Elevated Economics, How Conscious Consumers will Fuel the Future of Business. He explains how corporations are moving forward with socially responsible business strategies to meet the demands of stakeholders, with a specific focus on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues.

Key Points Include:

• 0:40 - The tectonic shift in investing
• 02:52 - The total value of ESG assets
• 03:50 – The next generation of wealth migration
• 09:30 - Business Roundtable’s new statement of the purpose of a corporation.
• 13:33 -  Corporations zero emissions goals
• 16:40 - The role ESG plays in the company
• 20:27 - How the conscious consumer finds ESG information

Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, the fastest way to find the right independent management consultant for your project. Learn more at www.umbrex.com

Todd Cherches is a visionary leader with experience as a consultant, trainer, executive coach, TEDx speaker, keynote speaker, panelist, professor, author, blogger, and thought leader in the field of leadership and visual thinking. In this episode, he talks about his patented VisuaLeadership® approach. You can learn more about Todd and his work at www.toddcherches.com or www.bigbluegumball.com.

Key points include:

• 06:18: How to host a creative meeting to drive growth
• 11:43 Exercises in visual leadership
• 24:07: The origins of visual leadership

Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.

Show Notes:

Terry Roopnaraine, a technical consultant for international development projects, has been working in the field for about 25 years. He provides technical services to support projects funded by bilateral donors, UN agencies, and multilateral agencies like the World Bank. Over the last decade, an increasingly important area of the practice has been working with foundations.

Terry's work involves providing services that are required to make these projects work and deliver the best impacts on the ground for the beneficiary populations they serve. There is a huge accountability chain because these projects are often funded through the public purse of one country or another, so there must be some kind of proper accountability and evaluation.

The Role of a Technical Consultant

Terry talks about the roles a technical consultant might play. He divides his work into two broad areas: project implementation and management, and learning evidence and evaluation. The implementation side of technical consulting focuses on getting a project up and running, recruiting staff, putting in inputs, designing activities, and ensuring that things are run according to time and budget. The learning evidence and building the knowledge base aspect of technical consulting is also crucial, as it ensures that a program is delivering on time, not leaking funds, and has robust monitoring systems in place to capture change systematically. Evaluation of effectiveness is another dimension of technical consulting, as it is about delivering the best impact for the beneficiary population. 

Research and Evaluation in Technical Consulting

Over his career, Terry has worked more in the research evidence and evaluation side of technical consulting, which is partly an artifact of being a refugee from academia.

His intellectual and academic orientation was research-directed, and when he moved to development work, he focused more on research evaluation and evidence building. One of his early projects was Conditional Cash Transfer Evaluations in Latin America, which were an aid instrument that aimed to incentivize uptake of health and education services. These programs were popular throughout Latin America and were easy to evaluate quantitatively. However, there was a growing awareness that the program's effects were not as expected. To understand why the program didn't have the expected effects, Terry began conducting ethnographic and qualitative research. He worked with other qualitative researchers to push the idea that understanding the voices of people who were benefiting from these programs was important. Terry talks about the projects he worked on during the early 2000s in Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Peru and how his background in anthropology influenced his approach, and how they conducted research differently from previous projects.

Challenges of Conducting Ethnographic Research 

Terry explains the challenges of conducting semi-structured interviews for management consultants and how they approach this process. The interviews were conducted in a way that was more accessible to anthropologists than for management consultants. Terry talks about the process of conducting ethnographic research in a short training workshop format. He highlights the complementarity between quantitative research findings and qualitative research findings. Survey work is broad and generalizable, while qualitative research is done over a smaller sample and is more in-depth. For example, in Nicaragua, an iron supplement for children was given out for three years, but blood tests showed no effect. In the next round of community field research, the researchers asked questions about the iron sprinkles and found that it was commonly believed that the sprinkles had a terrible reputation due to alleged health risks, and no-one wanted to pass them out. 

The Importance of Household and Nutrition Research

Terry also discusses the importance of household research in nutrition research. Household research is crucial because it helps observe people preparing food, feeding children, hygiene, sanitation practices, dietary diversity, and meal frequency. One example is in Cambodia, where an organization gave eligible families chickens to supplement their meat-poor diets with eggs and animal protein. However, people were not increasing their consumption of chicken and eggs, instead selling the chickens to buy bulk staples like rice. Recently, a project in Rwanda for UNICEF found that people living in resource-constrained circumstances are looking for bulk heavy foods, such as maize meal, sorghum, cassava, or rice, as the first thing they look for because they are concerned about financial or food security, and these foods provide bulk and store well. This approach allows for a deeper understanding of the issues faced by people in these communities. He discusses the importance of a sufficient and diverse diet for children, particularly under two years old, in remote areas. 

Terry shares his experience with personal safety in various countries, including rural areas where he has worked. And while he has taken a Hostile Environment training course, he believes that shared humanity is the most effective safety mechanism, as most people have no desire to do harm. By being receptive, respectful, and engaging with people in a positive way, most places are generally safe.

Effectiveness in Development Aid and Philanthropy Programs

Regarding the effectiveness of development aid and philanthropy programs, he states that the appropriateness and relevance of a program to an area are crucial, as it should address specific needs in a direct way. He identifies how certain approaches are ineffective, and stresses that a direct relationship between needs on the ground and the program is more likely to succeed. The design of the program should be simple and efficient, as most successful programs are simple and straightforward.

The context of the program is also important. The more functioning the governance context, the more likely the programs are to succeed. For example, in Rwanda, a country that has experienced genocide, the efficiency of food distribution was impressive.

Terry talks about how initiatives worked in Rwanda and the importance of collaboration with government ministries to deliver health, nutrition, or education projects, as they are more likely to produce impact. However, in countries with weak governance, the government may not be a viable partner in delivering development programming. To scale up projects, the government must be involved. 

Timestamps:

00:04 Technical consulting in international development

05:32 Technical consulting in development projects

12:35 Anthropological research methods in cash transfer programs

20:35 Ethnographic research methods and findings in global health

27:18 Food security, safety, and anthropology in various countries

33:18 Development program effectiveness with a development economist

Links: 

UNICEF Ethiopia study: https://www.unicef.org/ethiopia/reports/unicef-generation-el-nino

Paper on El Salvador’s Conditional Cash Transfer program: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00220388.2015.1134780

Paper on nutrition in Rwanda: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mcn.13420

Study on Peru’s CCT in indigenous communities: https://publications.iadb.org/es/pueblos-indigenas-y-programas-de-transferencias-condicionadas-ptc-estudio-etnografico-sobre-la-0

Suggested readings:

Rossi, Lipsey, Freeman: Evaluation, a systematic approach (not terribly exciting, but a real wealth of evaluation info)

Olivier de Sardan & Piccoli: Cash transfers in context: an anthropological perspective (this collection contains an essay I wrote together with my collaborators on the Peru project)

Lewis, Rodgers and Woolcock: Popular representations of development: insights from novels, films, TV and social media (fun read, one of the authors is a good friend of mine)

Amartya Sen: Development as freedom (still a classic)

Paul Richards: Ebola: a people’s science helped end an epidemic (fascinating study, quite anthropological, of the community response to Ebola in Sierra Leone)

Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.

Show Notes:

Jeremy Greenberg discusses the AI-powered audience simulator built by the Avenue Group. The tool allows users to provide a set of custom instructions for different audience segments, like research or interviews. It allows users to ask questions of qualitative and quantitative nature, and within minutes, results from simulated respondents are obtained. The tool mirrors the sentiment of collective segments and audiences, similar to chats or LLMs on a one-on-one basis. This tool is useful for collecting the opinions of celebrities, for example, Steve Jobs, highlighting the immense power of LLMs in capturing the distributions of the underlying population.

Creating an Audience

Jeremy discusses the process of updating the front end and the first section of the tool. He states the importance of setting this to create an audience, which is the global population interested in a specific topic, such as Americans drinking Coca Cola. This audience is then used to create sub-segments within the audience, each with its own criteria. For example, if the audience is comprised of decision-makers who decide on software for small businesses, they can segment them into different countries.

The Creation of Segments

The second section of the tool allows for the creation of segments. These segments can be categorized by industry, such as executives responsible for sourcing and procuring uniform rental services. For example, if the audience is comprised of executives in the food service industry, they can create a segment with one trait, such as "work in the food industry." The third section allows for the addition of more traits, such as "work in the food service industry," to further narrow down the audience. This allows for more targeted and targeted marketing efforts.

An Example of Segmentation

Jeremy uses the example of the janitorial services industry to identify the three segments. They create a review section that outlines the different traits and elements that comprise each segment, with a sample for each and a percentage base of the total. The group is asked questions about their current use of uniforms and key buying criteria.

Jeremy recommends starting broad and going deeper with research, such as asking about the company, title, years in the industry, demographic information, and other relevant details. Open-ended questions can be added to gauge the industry's knowledge and understanding. For example, asking about the company's history and the number of vendors they work with could provide valuable insights.

Quantitative questions can also be added to gauge the wallet fragmentation and the primary vendor's satisfaction level. For example, asking about the number of vendors they have for uniform rental services could provide insight into the distribution of the wallet. Additionally, asking about the top three criteria for selecting a vendor can help determine the industry's competitiveness.

The Inspiration for Building the Tool

The inspiration for building the tool came from research in academia. He cites a podcast called "Me, Myself, and AI" where they talked about research they’d done and hypothesis tested  on price sensitivity related to income and brand value, which demonstrated that AI can understand these factors. They also wanted to understand the distributions of different responses, mirroring the reality of the world. To achieve this, they worked with an advisor and member of a research team at the Wharton School. This allowed them to learn how to use the tool in more advanced and creative ways. The tool is currently being developed and is in the process of being bolted up with all its features and capabilities.

Analyzing Responses from Segments

Jeremy talks about the process of creating a tool for analyzing responses from different segments. He discusses the importance of creating a sequence of events within the tool, such as creating 60 different personas and interviewing each one individually. The tool also ensures that subsequent respondents are aware of previous responses to avoid repetition and create a distribution that is representative of the actual segment. The results of the survey can be viewed in Excel and Google Sheets, with column headings that represent traits and the segment response. The questions include the industry, company, title, years in the industry, and number of vendors. Jeremy explains how the tool provides information on the internal consistency of the responses. 

Conducting Research and Comparing Data 

Jeremy emphasizes the importance of getting comfortable with the tool's accuracy and comparing it with their own data. He believes that this will be a significant impactful tool for conducting research. He also mentions that the panel industry faces challenges in getting surveys and finding people, and the power of these models is strong. He believes that the future of the survey tool will likely involve collaboration with various organizations, such as consulting firms, research firms, and researchers from various industries. 

For listeners interested in signing up for the beta version or to be put on the waiting list, email: info@avegroup.com

Timestamps:

00:25: AI-powered audience simulator for market research

06:09: Creating segments and adding traits for a target audience in market research

14:14: Uniform rental services, including vendor selection criteria and annual spend

19:11: Building a tool to simulate human responses using AI, with a focus on understanding price sensitivity and brand value

25:09: Vendor selection for uniform rental services

29:42: Using AI to improve survey research with demos and beta program

Links:

Demo Video: https://us17.campaign-archive.com/?u=66d85c8e8b72aebc12535cdfa&id=c98ffd78d4

Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.

After COVID started, Umbrex member Dr. Agnes Kunkel started the 2023 Podcast, interviewing experts for their take on what life will be like in the year 2023.

Check out all the episodes of the 2023 Podcast at:

https://20-23.earth/

Dr. Kunkel is an expert in negotiations. To learn about her consulting and training practice, visit: https://dr-kunkel.com/

Unleashed is produced by Umbrex. To learn more about how Umbrex can help your firm find the right independent management consultant, visit www.umbrex.com

Tom Libelt runs Smart Brand Marketing, and one of their main services is helping creators to promote their online courses.

In this episode, Tom shares tips on how to create a marketing funnel to sell your course, and also shares advice on which platforms to use to create your course.

Learn more about Tom's firm at:

https://smartbrandmarketing.com/

Unleashed is produced by Umbrex. To learn more about how Umbrex can help your organization find the right independent management consultant for your projects, visit

www.umbrex.com

Show Notes:

Markus Starke, an advisor for cybersecurity and digital process transformation, has recently been working in cybersecurity for the AI applications that corporations are using. Marcus explains that, AI plays a significant role in work, particularly in intelligent process automation. This concept involves combining technologies like robotic process automation, process mining solutions, chatbots, Optical Character Recognition, and more advanced forms of machine learning and generative AI to build end-to-end processes. However, cybersecurity issues can affect these automation systems, especially as more users use them individually.

Safety Measures with AI Automation

Markus talks about several dimensions of cybersecurity with AI automation. To ensure the safety of AI-related automation situations, clients are asked to review their setup from a Target Operating Model perspective. A framework is created to guide this process, including governance, secure development processes, and creating awareness about potential risks. Governance involves governing roles and responsibilities, access, user rights, and other aspects of the system. Secure development processes ensure that solutions only access the data they should access, store data securely, and use encryption.

Securing the platform is another dimension, involving standard frameworks for cloud-based solutions. Awareness about the human factors in reducing risk levels is crucial for achieving good cybersecurity. And lastly, monitoring and reporting ensure that the environment is controlled to a degree.

Examples of Cybersecurity Threats Using AI Tools

Markus discusses cybersecurity threats with AI tools, such as generative AI (GPT) for working on company data. One example is a human user extracting data from their corporate data pool and sending out an email with this data, and sending it to their private email account, which could be used in a public chat GPT instance. This can be controlled by creating awareness and setting up standardized IT security control mechanisms to limit data extraction from corporate networks.

Another example is using proprietary corporate data for advanced data analytics on GPT, which could expose it to a potential attacker. Private computers are typically less secure than corporate ones, making them more prone to being attacked or losing data to an attacker. Corporations generally want to limit the type of data that is made publicly available in generative AI applications. He states that it is not always clear what happens to the data that is input to AI applications. 

Markus also discusses the risks associated with using consumer versions of chat GPT, as any data uploaded could potentially be put into its training data. However, there are options for setting up AI applications in a limited way for specific corporate use cases, but it is important to evaluate these solutions on a case-by-case basis to ensure they fulfill specific needs and governance. With Gen AI, it is crucial to balance between limiting too much while maintaining control.

AI Tools Retaining Data

The discussion revolves around the use of AI tools, such as Zoom, which may be retaining data on calls or transcribing them without letting users know. This raises concerns about the accessibility of information to organizations. It is essential to ensure that these tools align with cybersecurity standards and are compliant with protection requirements. However, this may be a case-by-case consideration, and Markus emphasizes that it is always necessary to question security processes. In addition, he mentions that it is crucial for independent consultants to raise awareness about cybersecurity and AI. Basic rules apply to the use of AI, such as ensuring data is stored in controlled instances and using strong protection mechanisms like passwords, access rights, and encryption. When working with clients, it is important not to make their lives too simple by creating AI solutions for specific business problems. Cybersecurity can sometimes be perceived as slowing down businesses, but it is an essential control that must be maintained. Independent consultants should review these aspects and not make their work too easy. Markus strongly recommends that consultants should be aware of active and forthcoming regulations that apply to AI when setting up solutions for clients. 

Timestamps:

0:03 Cybersecurity risks in AI-powered process automation

03:10 Governance and security for AI-related automation

05:53 Cybersecurity risks with AI tools and data

10:48 AI data security and control

14:47 Cybersecurity and AI in business

Links:

Freelance Website: http://starkeconsulting.net/

Company Website: https://www.ten-4.de/

Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.

In this episode of Unleashed, Will Bachman talks to Scott Ratliff,  who is a principal at the search firm Beecher Reagan. Beecher Reagan is a specialty retained executive search firm that works across three industries: professional services, digital and technology services, and private equity. As a principal at Beecher Reagan, Scott leads the commercial excellence sales and marketing practice, focusing on growth roles across these industries. Scott talks about commercial leaders within professional services, specifically in three forms: true Hunter BD people, who are responsible for going out into the market, setting meetings, driving revenue, and bringing in new logos; a hybrid, who owns client relationships, farming large accounts, finding new lines of business within those accounts; and a commercial operations type of role, who sets up and builds out a sales structure, identifying the right people to process technology to build or develop a sales culture within a firm. Depending on the size of the firm, its growth journey, and the talent available, firms may have specific roles specific to one of these verticals or firms looking for someone who can come in and play across.

Scott explains that some types of professional services firms have people who are separate from the actual delivery teams brought in as commercial salespeople effect. The traditional model in consulting involves starting as an analyst and working your way up to the manager level, where you shift into being commercially wired and focused. However, there has been a spike in commercial leadership in several places, such as the lower middle market, high growth, emerging market, and larger firms looking to build out new functional capabilities or geography. In addition to selling services, commercial leaders should also understand how to sell services specific to that functional area. This helps firms continue to supercharge growth and drive revenue.

The Roles of Hunter/BD People in High Growth Firms

Scott discusses the roles of Hunter/BD people in high-growth firms. He explains that these roles can range from five to $10 million firms looking to grow organically to $25 million and potentially leverage M&A. The role involves understanding prospective clients, targeting companies, gathering data for an effective approach, outreach, scheduling meetings, and creating a lead generation engine. The Hunter BD person's role is crucial in identifying potential clients and building relationships with them. They are responsible for taking initial calls, developing relationships, and deciding whether to bring in a partner or subject matter expert. Different firms have different compensation structures, with some expecting the sales leader to close business and the delivery team to execute or the role may be to generate meetings. There are two types of Hunter BD profiles: those who understand the business well enough to take the sales cycle from start to finish, build relationships, understand the selling proposition, and close deals. Another version of the role  involves supercharging what partners do well, pitching services, and understanding the problem statement of potential buyers. Scott suggests that the effectiveness of each role depends on the business's needs at its current stage of growth and the resources available. It is important to consider the business's staffing and talent requirements when choosing between meeting setters and sales leaders.

Sales Success Strategies

Scott emphasizes the need for a combination of strategies to achieve success in sales. First, a strong strategy is needed. Second, having the right technology in place to generate strong leads is crucial. He shares a few steps and mentions how important relationships are in selling services. People who have worked in the industry and built up a network can leverage their network to sell directly to potential buyers or introduce them to potential buyers. The best salespeople are not only doing one or the other, but also setting the engine, pursuing cold outreach, getting their story out there to the right people, and leveraging their own network and relationships. The typical background of successful salespeople is in the digital and technology services space, where they have exceptional sales training programs. However, when hiring commercial talent into professional services, it is important to see their experience in selling services and speaking to different types of customers. In conclusion, a combination of strategies, including cold calling and cold outreach, is necessary to achieve success in the sales world. It is essential to find individuals with a strong sales DNA and experience in both sales and professional services to ensure a successful transition into the industry.

Evaluation Process for Sales Candidates

Scott emphasizes the importance of communication skills and the ability to quickly connect with people within an organization. He also emphasizes the importance of talking in numbers and making things simple for clients. The typical compensation range for salespeople is typically between 150,000 and 250,000, depending on their experience level. However, at the high end, senior sales people typically earn between $350 and $400,000. Scott talks about attracting talent.  One of the most common questions asked by candidates is whether they are ready to walk away from their current position with existing relationships and recurring business. To help incentivize or help with the ramp period, firms should focus on having someone who can bring existing relationships with buyers who are fit for the role. This could include senior executives, civilian clients, or heads of business units at large companies. In summary, Scott emphasizes the importance of communication skills, numbers, and a strong understanding of the company's business processes when evaluating candidates for sales roles.

Support Teams and Building a Commercial Team

Scott suggests that hiring someone at this level should build a commercial team around them. This could include someone handling marketing, leveraging LinkedIn, and generating leads through marketing. A research person is also crucial in this team. In a professional services firm, the number of people involved in lead sales is considered a team number. The first 30-60 days should be spent identifying the right setup of the team and finding ways to make the most out of their resources. The sales leader or Chief Commercial Officer would lead the team in lead generation, research, and building lists for target audiences. The research capabilities may include using tools like LinkedIn Sales Navigator to build lists and target different businesses. The audience for the firm will impact the size of the research function, but it is essential to leverage existing technology for lead generation and segmenting for cold outreach. By targeting the right people and buyers, the team can create targeted messaging and drive sales growth. 

Compensation for Sales Leaders 

Scott discusses the compensation for sales leaders in a professional service firm, including the process metrics for hiring salespeople, such as meeting frequency and revenue generation. For a salesperson at a higher level, the goal is to generate millions of dollars in revenue. However, the number of meetings may vary depending on the size of the deal and the industry. For a sales leader at a 150,000 base, the typical number of meetings would be two meetings per week. The number of meetings depends on the size of the deal and volume expectation. If the salesperson is selling large deals or farming accounts, the number of meetings may decrease. However, the goal is to maintain double-digits of meetings once the business is up and running. When hiring a sales leader, professionals should consider their organization's capability to handle downturns and be agile in their offerings. Scott believes that hiring a sales leader can help the company adapt to market changes and build new capabilities. By identifying different markets and products, the sales leader can help the company handle downturns and rapid changes. The best sales leaders are creative and can sell their product in various places, allowing the firm to hire against these expectations. This approach allows the sales leader to continue growing and function in challenging times.

Incentive Compensation for Commercial Leaders

Scott shares what a company should address before bringing in a sales leader. He discusses the normal rates of success expected in a sales leader and the incentive compensation for commercial leaders, and the different ways firms structure it. He talks about the various models for building a strategy,  how long the new logo belongs to the salesperson, and how much of that is shared with the partner who delivers the work, leading to recurring business. Some firms have a higher volume, a less consolidated sales model where the income is going elsewhere, while others focus on maintaining relationships and expanding on new accounts. Scott emphasizes the importance of paying attention to the core DNA of successful salespeople, which includes competitive spirit, motivation, commercial mode, and strong communication skills. The best salespeople are motivated, commercially awaited, and have a piano driver of their own success and fulfillment through their work. They also have strong interpersonal skills and a sense of people. By testing for these qualities and the experience of the sales leader, organizations can feel comfortable in the value they can bring to their organization. 

Timestamps:

00:40 Recruiting commercial roles in professional services firms

01:49 Commercial leadership roles in professional services firms

06:14 Sales roles and responsibilities in consulting firms

12:04 Sales strategies for professional services

17:56 Evaluating sales candidates for consulting roles

20:38 Sales compensation and ramp time for high-potential salespeople

25:32 Building a commercial organization for a consulting or professional services firm

31:15 Hiring a sales leader for a professional service firm

36:25 Sales leadership and incentive compensation strategies

Links:

Website: https://beecherreagan.com/

CONTACT: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-ratliff-0294362b/

Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.

This is part three in a six-part podcast miniseries on how to improve the client experience. 

In this episode, I share tips on how to provide a great client experience during the onboarding / kickoff phase.

Episodes 129-133 cover the five phases of a project lifecycle:

1. The proposal phase
2. Onboarding / kickoff phase
3. Project execution
4. Wrap-up
5. Post-project

I learned this five-part framework from David A. Fields, and encourage everyone to visit his website:

https://www.davidafields.com/

If you subscribe to the weekly Unleashed email, you’ll receive a summary checklist that includes the points from the whole miniseries. Sign up here:

https://www.umbrex.com/unleashed-podcast/

Ready, Set, Go! is a great way to start a footrace.

For any artistic or entrepreneurial project, not so much.

When you have a new project in mind, there is no Ready. There is only Go.

Matt Sobieski discusses the process of helping a manufacturing plant improve its performance by understanding the problem statement and 47 different analyzes. He suggests talking to the plant manager or head of operations to understand the biggest challenges, cost buckets, operational constraints, and capacity constraints.

Diving into One of 47 Analyzes

Matt explains more about the 47 analyzes, one of which is the cost of goods sold, breakdown, and margin analysis, which helps in understanding the cost structure of the plant. This includes examining production, backlogs, inventory levels, and other factors. In the case of an agricultural manufacturing company during the pandemic, the focus was on streamlining their ordering process to increase productivity. Matt also discusses the importance of understanding the big cost buckets, such as labor, materials, waste, and inventory management. He shares a case where a client had issues with their cost per unit, where they could not get their arms around their cost per unit. The data provided by the client was not high-quality, and it was difficult to differentiate between different lines. Matt shares a few ways to address this issue. 

Dealing with an Inflationary Environment

In the current inflationary environment in the US, costs have been increasing, particularly labor costs. Consultants can help plants by asking questions and providing a fresh perspective to understand why material costs and overtime costs are high. This can lead to better scheduling and equipment utilization, which can help reduce costs and improve productivity. One example of this is an agricultural manufacturing plant where the plant manager was unaware of the importance of morning production meetings. By asking open-ended questions and being curious about how things run, consultants can identify areas for improvement.

Overall Equipment Effectiveness

Operations professionals should always have a plan for the day and recover from deviations when necessary. Asking open-ended questions and understanding the fundamentals of operations can help identify areas for improvement. One analysis that consultants like to use is the overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), which is a measure of overall equipment effectiveness. OEE is calculated by comparing the performance of different pieces of equipment and identifying areas for improvement.  Matt goes on to explain how the analysis of OEE is defined and quality calculated. He stresses that it is crucial to calculate the correct OEE and quality first time, as not all units are produced correctly. It is important to ensure that the correct approach is taken when analyzing OEE data.

Identifying Waste in Manufacturing Plants

Matt discusses the concept of identifying waste in manufacturing plants, including the classic seven or eight types of waste. They highlight the importance of removing waste to improve efficiency and productivity. One such type is intellect, which involves people using their brain power inefficiently. To identify waste, they suggest using GEMBA (Go where the work is happening) to observe people and their actions. One example is an automotive plant that had a production cell with two operators, causing a lot of motion. To address this, they moved parts from one end of the line to the middle, reorganizing the path for forklift drivers. This resulted in faster unloading times for parts coming in and out of the area. Matt emphasizes the impact of simple things like moving parts to central locations and reducing the time spent on unloading parts and shares an example that helped eliminate waste and improve efficiency and productivity.

The Importance of Fresh Perspectives when Addressing Issues in Supply Chains

Matt shares an example of a company that had to print labels for products and then wait for them to be printed. To address this, they developed a Kanban system where labels were printed ahead of time for all SKUs, eliminating the need for waiting for labels. This solution was cost-effective and efficient, as it saved labor costs. He also discusses the importance of managing risk in supply chains, particularly during the pandemic. He highlights the importance of understanding the risk associated with individual suppliers, which can help in making informed decisions about ordering buffer stock, onboarding another supplier, or building capability in-house. Matt explains the importance of eliminating single sources of failure in manufacturing. He cites examples of poor performing plants and underinvestment in automation and offers suggestions on factors that need to be analyzed and used to understand what drives failures.

Asset Management Analyzes

The discussion moves on to asset management analyzes, such as make versus buy, capex, effectiveness, equipment and technology, and life cycle management, which are crucial for businesses to understand their costs and make the right capital investments. Capex is important in determining the cost of repairing a machine versus replacing it, especially in a constrained environment like manufacturing. Assessment utilization is also important, as it helps businesses optimize their equipment usage and preventive maintenance. For example, an aluminum manufacturing plant faced a bottleneck in its cold mill, which was fixed by running longer strands of the same material. This allowed the plant to maintain a lower OEE while maximizing asset utilization.

About Matt Sobiesky

As an independent consultant at McKinsey, Matt focuses on operations and capability building. He has experience working with clients struggling with cost reduction, capacity increase, or growth readiness. He has worked with a colleague who is known for his expertise in Lean methodology and has a network of manufacturing professionals eager to help them solve their biggest problems. Matt’s passion for operations stems from his background in operations and his passion for helping clients improve their operations. He has worked with clients who are aspirational and want to be the best of the best, and he is eager to help them achieve their goals.

Timestamps:

02:00: Understanding Cost Structures and Early Analysis

05:25: Challenges in Cost Bucket Analysis

07:05: Insights from Cost Bucket Analysis 

10:06: Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) Analysis

16:35: Identifying and Eliminating Waste 

18:55: Supply Chain and Procurement Analyzes 

25:34: Technology and Automation in Manufacturing 

29:08: Asset Management and Capex Effectiveness 

33:12: Matt Sobieski's Current Practice and Contact Information 

Links:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewsobieski/

 https://umbrex.com/resources/how-to-analyze-a-manufacturing-company/

Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.

Jonathan Paisner has worked with B2B Fortune 1000 companies to evolve and implement their corporate brand to adapt for the changing needs of their business. He has held leadership and senior consulting roles at DeSantis Breindel, CoreBrand (now Tenet) and Siegel & Gale, and previously, he created and ran the brand licensing division of A&E Television Networks. In this episode, he shares his expertise in brand architecture. You can reach out to Jonathan on Linkedin or through his company website BrandExperiencedGroup.com.

Key points include:

• 02:32: Brand architecture as a window to the overall business strategy
• 11:51: A case example of brand building 
• 21:06: Securing alignment between teams and departments

Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.

Our guest today is Umbrex member Susan Drumm, a BCG alum and the CEO of Meritage Leadership Development.

Susan has extensive experience in running virtual meetings via videoconference, and in today’s episode she shares a set of tips to make virtual meetings more effective.

Susan is publishing an article on this very topic tomorrow, March 16, and you can find that article and more of her writing at

www.meritageleadership.com/blog

If you find some value in this episode, I encourage you to check out Episode 65 of this show, in which Susan provides tips on facilitating high-impact offsite events. In that episode our discussion focused more on content, which in today’s discussion we focus more on tactical aspects of running  a virtual meeting.

In today’s episode I suggest that someone on each meeting be designated to send a recap email; I discuss recap emails in more detail in Episode 203.

I also mention the real-time polling tool Mentimeter, and to learn more about that tool, check out Episode 53 in which I interview Johnny Warstrom, the CEO of Mentimeter. To get your own account, visit www.mentimeter.com

Steven Pressfield’s books have been hugely influential on my life and it was a real thrill to welcome him on the show.

Steve is the author of Gates of Fire and about a dozen other novels, mostly historical fiction set in the time of ancient Greece and Rome.

He’s also the author of the modern classic The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles.

Steve’s latest book is A Man at Arms, a fantastic deliver-the-message tale about a retired Roman legionnaire who has been ordered to intercept the messengers who are trying to deliver Paul’s letter to the Corinthians.

I liked this book so much that I’m giving away 25 copies to listeners of this show.

Get your copy here: http://bit.ly/GetAManAtArms

For more info about Steve, visit https://stevenpressfield.com/

Key points include:

09:56: What to do when the muse visits

15:16: Why Steven reads non-fiction.

16:17: Research for Steven’s books

22:25: Children developing creativity

26:11: Resistance is universal

27:53: How Steven recognises a professional

31:20: Thoughts on masculinity

Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at: www.umbrex.com.

Our guest today is Robin Albin, a brand strategist and brand sherpa based in the New York area.

Robin has invented – or reinvented – over fifty brands for startups and major corporations across many categories, with particular expertise in cosmetics, health and wellness, and fashion.

In our discussion Robin shares some case studies of how she works with clients to help them express the promise that the brand wants to make to its customers.

To learn more about Robin, visit her website,

www.insurgents.io

Submit your question to be answered in a future episode. Record and submit at: askumbrex.com

The weekly Unleashed email includes the transcript of each episode, book recommendations, and consulting tips.

Sign up at: https://www.umbrex.com/unleashed-podcast/

Show Notes:

In this episode of Unleashed, Will Bachman interviews Nancy Mackay, founder of MacKay CEO Forums (MC ACO), a peer advisory group that provides confidential peer support groups for CEOs and business owners across Canada. The group aims to populate the world with inspiring leaders by offering confidential peer support groups to hundreds of members. Nancy states that, in today’s challenging fast-paced business-world, and with a growing mental-health crisis, leaders need more peer support and trusted advisors. The Mackay community includes over 1200 CEOs, executives, and business owners from various industries across Canada, participating in over 114 person peer learning groups. Over 60 consultants have been trained and certified to offer peer learning support to members, and the leadership team is focused on supporting form Chairs who offer peer learning support. Nancy started her group over fifteen years ago and still Chairs the group. Her group has 14 CEOs from various industries, with revenue sizes ranging from 5 million to 5 billion plus. Most of the groups are for entrepreneurial, privately held individuals who want to grow their businesses. The meetings are confidential, non-competitive, and require six meetings a year for a day, and they hold a 2-day annual retreat. Each meeting features a one-hour speaker, followed by confidential updates where CEOs discuss their biggest issues, challenges, and opportunities related to business, family, and personal. They place issues they want help with on the table, and after the issues are discussed, the group encourages sharing experiences.

A Forum that Helps CEOs

One of the biggest objections to joining a peer group is the lack of time. However, the reality is that everyone can make time, and having a group of 14 CEOs with a growth mindset can save time and provide support for all issues, including business, family, and personal. All the forum Chairs at MacKay are modern, trusted advisors with extensive experience working with CEOs, executives, and business owners, playing a crucial role in Chairing meetings and retreats, creating a confidential space for CEOs and executives to be vulnerable and succeed in their careers without sacrificing their health and important personal and family relationships.

Nancy shares examples of how peer groups have helped individuals navigate their transitions, such as selling their business, scaling their business, finding talent, and recession and succession planning. 

Nancy highlights the importance of segmenting peer groups, with specific groups catering to different types of CEOs, CFOs, HR Rows, and cross-functional executives. These groups ensure that each member's background experience is taken into account, ensuring that everyone is a best fit for the group. The group also address personal and family issues, allowing members to discuss their challenges and successes without sacrificing their health or family relationships. Members can build lifelong friendships and support networks to help them navigate their careers and personal lives.

Three Tips to Being an Effective Chair of a Peer Learning Group

To be an effective Chair of a peer learning group, Nancy shares three key tips: not being the "star in the room", it should be all about the members. The second tip is to ensure that you create a space of vulnerability where members can share their experiences and mistakes, and remembering that no-one is the "smartest person in the room." The leadership philosophy is about judgment-free and sharing experiences, helping CEOs and executives become masterful at telling stories and being vulnerable; the third tip is to remember that being a Chair is focused on helping people and not just being nice. It’s more about challenging them and holding them accountable.

 In conclusion, peer learning support provides valuable advice and mindset shifts for CEOs and executives, helping them navigate their transitions, find talent, and build successful cultures. By taking a step back and focusing on the members, Chair members can create a supportive environment for their peers and achieve success in their respective fields.

Nancy explains who could apply to become a Chair with the organization. Chairs must have had their own independent consulting practice for at least three years and have over 18 years of experience working with CEOs, executives, and business owners from various industries. The most successful Chairs are partnering with the MacKay CEO Forums and signing up for their certification program to build world-class peer learning groups for CEOs and executives. The MacKay CEO Forums have launched over 100 groups and are constantly evolving and improving. The best fit Chairs have a proven roadmap to success on how to build these groups and achieve Chair mastery. The certification program is experiential learning, not a bootcamp approach, and includes one-on-one coaching, pure learning on a weekly basis, observation, co-Chairing, and they can move on to the Chair Mastery program. 

Nancy explains the benefits to joining the MacKay CEO Forums, which provides access to current, relevant, and high-level information through access to a peer group, an annual summit, conferences, content, and expand their business network. In summary, it provides connectivity across forums. Being part of the broader network of the MacKay CEO Forums provides a proven roadmap to success. Forum Chairs are highly rated speakers with MacKay CEO Forums, making it a lucrative opportunity for members to expand their business network and engage with people in the community. 

The Origin Story of MacKay CEO Forums

Nancy shares the story behind founding the company. She was invited to speak at a CEO peer group meeting in Vancouver. She was the first female speaker invited into the CEO group, and after her presentation, the Chair asked her if she’d like to become the forum Chair. This was at a time when they didn’t let women in. However, Nancy instigated the progression to allowing women into the forum. The organization has since grown to include multiple forums and an institution that supports successful consultants and business leaders.

MacKay CEO Forums is a beneficial corporation.  It takes a stand on diversity, equality, and inclusion. For the first five years, she ran the business together with her husband and business partner. She decided that the world needed more peer support and focused on building ten of these CEO groups across Canada. The goal is to populate the world with inspiring leaders, to find other like-minded consultants who have a passion for helping business leaders, and she wants to help them achieve success with their business. They are currently on the path to having 10,000 members across the world. 

The MacKay peer learning group for business leaders is primarily based in Canada. They have a Chair capability assessment that allows individuals to self-assess their suitability for the role. The forum is currently looking to partner with consultants based in BC, Alberta, and Ontario as its primary areas for growth over the next year.

Common Mistakes Consultants Make

Nancy shares the common errors consultants make and emphasizes the importance of sharing experiences and stories, rather than giving advice or telling people what to do. This creates a space for a different approach to influencing and creates more inspiration for people to take action. The forum's leadership philosophy includes the Mackay Mastery Model for Inspired Leadership, which focuses on inspiring oneself every day. Chairs are trained in time mastery, Eagle mastery, passion, mastering innovation, mastery, social contribution, mastery, and Health Mastery. To keep meetings on track, Chairs should use the right language when a conversation feels meandering or getting off track. They should start and end on time, respect people's time, and be intentional about how they spend their time. Time mastery and goal setting are part of the organization's culture, and members expect the Chair to use a timer during peer group meetings. For those interested in learning more about the forum, contact Nancy directly at Mackay CEO forums.com or visit their website. 

Timestamps:

01:11 CEO peer support groups in Canada

04:48 Leadership, business growth, and personal development for CEOs and executives

11:12 Running effective peer learning groups for executives

17:51 Building and leading peer learning groups for CEOs

23:41 Starting and scaling a peer learning group for CEOs

29:32 Leadership philosophy and effective meetings

Links:

Website: MackayCEOForums.com.

CONTACT INFO:

Email: Nancy@mackayceoforums.com

Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.

William Magnuson, a professor at Texas A&M Law School and former Harvard University professor, discusses his book For Profit: A History of Corporations. The book covers eight different corporations throughout history, illustrating different facets of corporations. William  chose these eight corporations because they were relevant to the modern world and their importance in shaping society. He aimed to explore the origins of corporations, focusing on foundational moments in corporate law, such as ancient Rome's tax-gathering entities, and the Medici bank. He talks about how studying corporations over 2000 years  brought to light trends and why today’s citizens are more impacted by corporations than at any other time in history. 

William considered including the Soviet Union, which was one of the world's great experiments in trying to structure and economy without corporations. However, he did not include any consumer packaged goods or retail companies on the list. He also considered researching other major tech companies like Apple, Google, and Microsoft, but ultimately chose not to include them. He also considered adding Japanese corporations, as there is a long history within corporate law scholarship that has similarities with US law but also some major differences. He highlights the importance of understanding the legal concept of corporations and the evolution of their features over time. He also acknowledges the potential for further research into other cultures and corporations, such as Japanese corporations, which could provide valuable insights into corporate law scholarship.

Common Characteristics of the Modern Corporation

The concept of a corporation has its roots in various ancient cultures, including the Incas, Chinese, and Japan. Europe was largely based on the Roman model, which outsourced government services to private individuals or organizations. This model was copied in Renaissance Italy and eventually moved up to the joint stock era in the 1600s. Japan has a long history of large conglomerate organizations, which are family-oriented and have evolved over time. The American corporation is largely based on the European tradition. Some common characteristics of modern corporations include limited liability, professional management class; single entity operation, and immortality, where a corporation never dies or ceases to exist, unlike partnerships, which end when one partner dies. This is important because historically, partnerships ended when one partner died, which was problematic for tax gathering in ancient Roman republics. Corporations are immortal, meaning they continue to exist even after the death of a single member or stockholder. 

The Birth of the Corporation

The Roman Republic's Fabian strategy, which involved avoiding set battles and using private enterprise, played a significant role in the creation of corporations. In 218 BC, during the Punic War between Rome and Carthage, the Roman commander Cornelius Skipio wrote to the Senate, asking for supplies to continue the war. The Roman senate ran out of money, they made a plea to Roman citizens for support, and in return they asked for several terms, and this led to the  idea of private enterprises as a solution to the problem, and legal rights for specific entities. 

In the Roman Republic, corporations had to have certain institutions in place to function effectively. These institutions included the Senate passing laws, corporate attorneys, banks, and other infrastructure. The rule of law was crucial for these entities to thrive, as it allowed them to enforce contracts in court. This rule of law was a key factor in the rise of the corporation in Renaissance Florence, where fragmented policies and conflicts between duchies, barons, kingdoms, empires, and city states were prevalent. The Medici bank, for example, created a rule of law within the city of Florence, creating separate entities with 15 branches, each serving as its own entity. This allowed them to create a rule of law in a world that didn’t have it. 

Cities and Religious Organizations as Corporations

Religious organizations, such as monasteries, were also considered corporations, but they were not in the same line of business. Cities, on the other hand, were outliers in the history of corporations, as they sought to protect their liberties and rights. Cities were able to benefit from incorporation, as they were protected by the Magna Carta. Corporations are flexible entities that can be used for various enterprises. William explains the element of limited liability, which is a fascinating element of corporations. It provides risk protection for owners, allowing them to gather capital and launch larger enterprises. However, the concept of limited liability was not always clear, and some statutes are still ambiguous. For example, the East India Company, which was one of the first corporations to adopt limited liability, was a case study that illustrates the importance of limited liability in the early years of corporations.

Early Ideas of Governance in Corporations

William discusses the concept of governance in corporations, focusing on the separation of owners and managers and how to align them. This separation is crucial for modern corporations with hundreds of thousands of shareholders, as it prevents conflicts between managers and shareholders. One example of this is Ford Motor Company, founded by Henry Ford in the early 1900s. Ford was known for his fiddling around and raising money from wealthy investors, but faced criticism from shareholders who were concerned about his financial performance. This led to a conflict of interest between Ford and his shareholders, which eventually led to the foundational concept of fiduciary duty in corporate law. William also discusses the history of shares trading hands, mentioning that in ancient Rome, there were physical certificates representing stock ownership. However, there is little evidence on the exact structure or form of the stock market. Today, the system is moving towards an electric electronic system, making it more complex. William teaches a class on the settlement of trades, which is one of the main focuses in FinTech and other research interests. He also discusses the evolution of the stock trading system, highlighting the importance of understanding the complex nature of the process of trading shares.

The History of Corporate Advisors

William discusses the history of corporations using professionals outside their four walls to advise them. He cites KKR, a private equity firm, as an example of a corporation that uses an ecosystem of professionals to help it operate in the world. The role of these professionals has become more important as corporate law and the corporate form become bigger and more complicated in the modern world. Institutional investors have also played a role in the venture capital industry, often spearheading companies with the interests of venture capitalists. Facebook's structure and story are shaped by its funding model, which was honed into the idea that venture capitalists would take bets and try to reach rapid growth to create a platform effect. This model is emulated by many other startups today. There is a big debate about the corporate purpose, whether they should focus on profit or consider environmental, social, or governance issues. Throughout his research, William was surprised to find that the structure of corporations has always been similar to the debates within society, and major corporations have always led to major changes in how they are regulated. For example, mass production, oil production, and concerns about too big to fail have led to new issues being raised when there is mass production or oil production.

Misconceptions about Corporations and Their Role in Society

William discusses the misconceptions about corporations and their role in society. He argues that corporations were created to promote the common good, not just profit, although what could be debated is what the common good means. This idea is based on historical evidence, such as the creation of the Florentine government and Queen Elizabeth England. He also discusses the debate surrounding fiduciary duties and the role of boards of directors, managers, and officers in determining the interests of shareholders. He disagrees with some scholars about the role of fiduciary duties and the broad discretion granted to managers to consider other interests beyond shareholder profit. He believes that this broad discretion has been informed by his research into the history of corporations and the factors that have led them to thrive. William's next book is on the history of law, focusing on foundational moments in time when the way we think about law, the rule of law, the Constitution, judges, and democracy have changed. He goes back to ancient Athens, ancient Rome, and the development of the code, moving up through the US Constitution Magna Carta to the current draft of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. 

Links:

Some additional book recommendations on corporate history from Professor Magnuson:

• Ernst Badian, Publicans and Sinners: Private Enterprise in the Service of the Roman Republic

• Raymond de Roover, The Rise and Decline of the Medici Bank

• William Dalrymple, The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company

• John Micklethwait & Adrian Wooldridge, The Company: A Short History of a Revolutionary Idea

CONTACT:

Twitter: @profmagnuson

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-magnuson-56479473/

Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.

I’ve been working on eliminating decisions from my life wherever possible and replacing decisions with habits and routines.

One area in particular that I’ve focused on for the past few years is my morning routine. I’ve tried adding and removing elements to see what works best for me. 

In this episode, I share the current version of my morning routine, which helps me win the day.

I don't suggest you adopt my routine, but I do encourage you to find a routine that works for you.

A book on the topic I recommend is My Morning Routine: How Successful People Start Every Day Inspired, by Benjamin Spall and Michael Xander.

Marc Feigen is considered the leading CEO advisor in the United States; Fortune magazine called him the “CEO Whisperer.”

Marc currently advises a dozen Fortune 200 CEOs, and in today’s episode he shares the questions those CEOs are facing and the steps they are taking to address the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

To learn more about Marc’s firm, visit: http://feigenadvisors.com/

Show Notes:

In this panel discussion, Lisa Carlin, director of Future Builders and author of the newsletter Turbocharge Weekly, and strategy execution specialist  introduces the three panelists, who discuss the challenges of traditional strategy development, including volatility, uncertain business environments, and significant digital and AI disruption. The panelists,  Will Bachman, Founder of Umbrex, a global community of independent management consultants,  Alex M.H. Smith, breakthrough strategist and author of No Bullshit Strategy, and Rob McLean, investor, philanthropist and co-author of  two books on strategy, discuss the challenges of traditional approaches to business strategy. 

The Problem of Business Strategy

Rob emphasizes that, previously, strategies were deterministic and assumed certainty in business plans. However, increasingly, there is global uncertainty, and risk and probability should be included in a strategy. He mentions that there are assumptions about uncertainty that don’t hold true. He also highlights the fast change and that the cadence of strategy is changing, but despite this, many enterprises are locked into three and five-year plans.  Alex explains why he believes that many businesses lack understanding of effective strategy development and deployment. He emphasizes the importance of making precepts accessible, engaging, interesting, and usable for medium-sized businesses. He believes that traditional strategy is not bullshit but has limited purchase as it doesn't address the needs of small and medium-sized businesses. Will shares his experience with 500 conversations per year with clients seeking consultants, and he shares the main trends in what clients want from consultants and states that it has not changed dramatically over the years, but he also stresses the need for alignment, clarity, and action. Alex identifies the importance of substance and the ability to convert to action. He mentions the difficulty of achieving engagement, encouraging action, and the underemphasis of style in communications. He suggests thinking about strategy as a motivational discipline. Alex suggests that focusing more on sexing up the strategy can make a significant difference in making progress. He suggests that if strategy is viewed as a motivational discipline, it is essential to motivate people to do it. He believes that making the strategy “sexier” will bring stronger results in engaging and motivating buy-in.

Problem-solving, Strategic Intent and Strategic Development

Robs talks problem-solving as a driver of strategic development. The identified problems are  viewed through different lenses to achieve a 360-understanding. He mentions the greater premium on new data, and on trials and experiments, and mentions strategy that includes peeling back layers of uncertainty, putting people in a position where they can make decisions and evolve the strategy. He uses an example from Amazon to illustrate this.  He also points out that strategic intent is often confused with strategy, as strategy is an integrated set of actions that build value and competitive advantage. Rob shares his experience with the concept of continuous development,  and how businesses have changed the timeline on strategic development and clarity on the future. Alex states that medium-sized businesses face a challenge in understanding strategy literature, as it is often constructed to be relevant to large, polar businesses like Amazon. This makes the strategy literature inaccessible for single-brand founders or CEOs, as it is often too broad. This gap in communication between the concerns of large companies and those running small businesses makes it difficult for the latter to effectively develop and communicate their strategies.

Business Strategy in the Context of Technology and Culture

The discussion revolves around the impact of AI on consulting and strategy building. Lisa mentions a top-rated technology podcast, which emphasizes that the number one difference will be strategy and that the most significant impact of AI will be on product managers.  Will builds on the use of AI for strategy consultants. He explains the difference between  skills and services that rise in status and which ones are lower in status and where using AI is applicable. He offers examples on both using an energy storage company as an example.  

Dark Room Consulting

Lisa brings the discussion towards  “dark room” consulting where the consultants and executives operate in private before disclosing the strategy to the company at large. Alex  explains why he prefers this approach, stating that while it may not be politically beneficial, it can provide a sense of involvement and ownership for a radical, meaningful move. However, this approach can also lead to a slightly autocratic approach, as seen with Steve Jobs and Elon Musk, who were both successful business leaders but also tyrants in their own businesses.

Rob talks about the workers’ strategy as bifurcating, and he shares an example from McKinsey where they used AI, and that employing “dark room” tactics can work well however working closely with the front line is also important in strategy building. Will shares a story from his days as a submarine officer that clearly demonstrates the benefits and need of front line work a consultant needs to do. This also involves gathering information, and Alex adds how this allows everyone to feel involved, while maintaining the core idea and decision-making  back to the people who lead the company. While this approach may not be as democratic as some may prefer, it is essential for businesses to adapt and evolve to stay competitive in today's competitive market.

Q&A Session

The conversation opens up to questions and panelists are asked to share one recommendation. Rob suggests a problem-solving approach that recognises uncertainty, a tolerance for ambiguity, and taking steps forward feeling the stones beneath the feet. Alex states that, if a change in results is desired, changes to strategy must be made. Will focuses on implementation, stating that strategy implementation, or execution, or transformation is in high-demand and notes that increased resources in these directions are needed to make the change happen. The conversation covers a variety of areas including strong leadership vs. dictatorship, helping people feel comfortable with uncertainty, the need for monitoring and evaluation improvement during implementation, and the importance of measuring the impact of their work, particularly in implementation. And finally, the audience shares their key takeaways from the discussion. 

 Timestamps:

05:43: Strategy development for small to medium-sized businesses

10:11: Strategies for effective communication and implementation in business

17:01: Strategy in a rapidly changing world, with a focus on dealing with uncertainty and ambiguity

25:08: Strategic planning for businesses of varying sizes, with a focus on the challenges of scaling and the importance of industry knowledge

31:04: The impact of AI on strategy development and execution

37:13: Strategy development, emphasizing the importance of gathering insights from frontline employees and changing meaningful aspects of the business to improve results

42:46: How to handle uncertainty in business strategies

47:33: Implementing strategies with uncertain outcomes

Links:

Connect with the other two panelists on LinkedIn: 

Robert McLean:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-mclean-412268ba/

Alex M. H. Smith:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-m-h-smith/

For for more like this, please subscribe to Turbocharge Weekly: Fast-track your strategy. 3 tips in 3 minutes from 50+ implementations. Join 8,000 leaders now. https://info.theturbochargers.com/register-turbocharge-weekly

Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.

Mike Sarraille is a former Recon Marine and retired US Navy SEAL officer with twenty years of experience in Special Operations, including the elite Joint Special Operations Command. He is also the co-author of The Talent War: How Special Operations and Great Organizations Win on Talent.

Today, Mike Sarraille is the CEO and founder of of EF Overwatch, an executive search and talent advisory firm, and Talent War Group, a leadership and business management group. 

In this episode Mike shares his perspective on how to identify and attract top talent.

Learn more about Mike's firm EF Overwatch:

https://www.efoverwatch.com/

Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, the fastest way to find the right independent management consultant for your project. Learn more at www.umbrex.com

Spish Rurak is a McKinsey alum, the president of Rurak and Associates, and a noted advisor and consultant to consultants. Spish works with many consultants from top-tier firms based in the U.K. and has served as a career transition coach to several thousand management consultants. Today, he discusses the challenges of the remote job search and interview and how to overcome them.

Key points include:

02:05: The differences of the job search during the pandemic

09:41: Supply and demand channels

17:26: The advantage to the job seeker

22:52: Three channel recommendations for the job seeker

33:29: Outreach tips

44:47: Organisation tips

You can reach out to Spish on LinkedIn. 

Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at: www.umbrex.com.

04:22: The services of a financial advisor

10:16: Insurance planning

20:27: Retirement accounts

31:38: Tax changes for an S corporation

Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.

Maureen Pritchard is a trust and estates attorney based in New York City.

In today’s episode, Maureen discusses:

• What information you should gather before meeting with a trust and estates attorney
• What is the benefit of creating a will?
• What are the benefits of creating a trust?
• What are the considerations in designating a guardian for your children?
• What other documents, besides a will or trust, should be included in an estate plan?
• How much will it cost to have the documents prepared?
• Why not use LegalZoom?
• How to select a trust and estates attorney

Maureen kindly shared several documents that can help you get started:

12 tips for guardianship

Estate Planning Worksheet

Will Design Sheet

Contact info for Maureen is on her firm’s website:

https://www.wpaslaw.com/

Erik Lautier is an expert in ecommerce, marketing, and digital strategy.  After over two decades in roles dealing with ecommerce and marketing for brands like Lacoste, Bebe, and Francesca’s, he founded Erik & Co, an ecommerce and marketing consultancy serving seven and eight-figure DTC brands, retailers, and/or their private equity owners. In today’s episode he shares his expertise in ecommerce. Learn more about Erik and his company at www.Erik.co.

Key points include:

07:17: The shift from theatre to ecommerce

10:14: The layers of an ecommerce assessment

12:38: Benchmarks and opportunities

18:26: The choke points in ecommerce

Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.

Not every job has a fixed location, but job-posting websites seem to think they do.  

There should be an option to list "Remote" as the location.

Dorie is a strategy consultant, executive coach, keynote speaker, a recognized branding expert, and author of several books, including the bestseller The Long Game, Entrepreneurial You, Reinventing You, and Stand Out, which was named the #1 Leadership Book of the Year by Inc. magazine and one of the Top 10 Business Books of the Year by Forbes.

She has worked with a variety of high-profile clients including Google, Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, Fidelity, Yale University, the IMF, and the World Bank. In today’s episode, Dorie talks about her working philosophy and her newest book, The Long Game: how to be a long-term thinker in a short-term world. Learn more about Dorie’s work at www.DorieClark.com.

Key points include:

07:53: How to maximize connection dinners

18:51: Setting boundaries

25:03: The Long Game toolkit

31:01: Creating an online course

Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.

Our guest today is Kevin Stoneham, an independent consultant who is the former COO of PwC IT Services.

Kevin's current focus, DigiServ LLC, focuses on digital transformation, and we discuss in particular Kevin's experience with robotic process automation.

Learn more about Kevin at: 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinstoneham/

Ask a question, download transcripts of previous episodes, and sign up for the weekly Unleashed email at:

askunleashed.com

Show Notes:

In this episode of Unleashed, Will Bachman talks to Jared Simmons, business consultant, coach, and speaker, on design to value. Jared defines the term ‘design to value’, offers examples of how it can be used, and talks about the various steps involved. 

Using the example of a design to value playbook, Jared talks through each essential step that should be included.

Step one is defining value and creating a shared understanding of it. This involves getting everyone on the same page about the intended purpose. Understanding value involves both the company running the project and the end consumer of the product. The project's goals should be determined, such as cutting costs, making it more of a premium, or growing volume. 

Step two is mapping out the value chain end to end, from materials to end use, and understanding the basic cost structures associated with each step. This ensures that the project is designed to value both the organization and the end consumer. Jared discusses the importance of mapping the value chain for a product or project. 

Step three is understanding consumer priorities and preferences which is crucial in determining what they care about and are willing to pay for. 

Step four involves mapping these preferences to each other, such as the cost of delivery or raw material(s).

Step five is creating projects and programs to capture defined value. 

He emphasizes the need for a shared understanding of who is responsible for which steps in the value chain, including incoming raw materials, converting them into products, and the decision rights and responsibilities within those steps. He also highlights the importance of understanding how each person in a large company works with different materials and services, and what they are trying to accomplish within their roles, such as procurement, shipping costs, currency, and supplier selection.

Jared advises senior associates to understand high-leverage starting materials and manage them effectively to achieve cost savings. He emphasizes respecting the intelligence and effort of those involved in the value chain and not just looking at the price but also considering what makes the cost palatable for the procurement person and the rest of the organization.

Mapping the value chain is a crucial step in achieving cost optimization in a product or project. It requires a deep understanding of the decision rights and responsibilities within the organization, as well as respecting the intelligence and effort of those involved.

Internal and External Benchmarking

Jared discusses the importance of internal benchmarking in converting products across the entire value chain. He believes that external benchmarking can be problematic due to the lack of context on how other organizations reached their goals and the capital and labor involved. Jared suggests that internal benchmarks are more valuable than external benchmarks because they provide a full picture of what is driving each number.

In terms of understanding consumer preferences, he breaks down this into functional and psychographic segmentations. Psychographic segmentation involves the product's benefit and the belief about the product, while functional segmentation focuses on the features. To determine consumer preferences, he uses a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods, such as one-on-one interviews, focus groups, dyads, and triads.

Quantitative research can involve concept-driven non-concept-driven questionnaires to gather quantitative data on consumer preferences. One-on-one interviews allow for depth and richness in understanding consumer preferences, while dyads allow for more nuanced responses from multiple people. Triads involve three or four participants, while focus groups typically involve 468 participants. Conjoint analysis is another method used to set up quantitative research that gets results. This method helps to understand the trade-offs between different product features and price points. In conclusion, Jared emphasizes the importance of internal benchmarking and understanding consumer preferences to successfully convert products across the entire value chain. By utilizing various methodologies and techniques, businesses can gain valuable insights into their target audience and improve their product offerings.

Reducing Product Cost while Maintaining Value

To determine which features people care about and will pay more for, Jared states that they need to conduct research on multiple dimensions. This involves building a functional prototype that people can interact with and react and respond to. He also mentions the importance of defining a north star to ensure all departments understand the direction. He mentions a few crucial steps, including: Integrating consumer research, supply chain knowledge, cost structure, and consumer preferences. It's not just about math; it's about prioritizing decisions across the entire value chain and ensuring that there is a qualified decision-maker on the job.

Jared runs a boutique consultancy that works in the innovation space and has worked on yogurt portfolios, sports/nutritional drink portfolios, and distribution companies for gas-controlled products, and they have worked with various industries. The team is focused on driving out cost while maintaining value in the product design process. By incorporating consumer research, decision-making, and external support, the team can create a more effective and efficient product. Jared discusses the importance of design to value programs in capturing cost savings and enhancing customer value. He explains how his company works, including services and typical costs savings.

To learn more about Jared's practice, he recommends visiting his website, Outlast Consulting, and LinkedIn. He also encourages listeners to contact him directly on his LinkedIn profile.

Timestamps:

03:00 Cost reduction and value optimization in product design

04:00 Five steps in a design to value playbook 

12:24 Strategic costs in the value chain

13:07 Analyzing consumer preferences and product conversion costs

15:11 Internal benchmarking

16:51 Functional and psychographic segmentation

20:19 Using conjoint analysis for product design and cost reduction.

28:51 Cost savings in CPG industry through design to value programs

Links:

The company website: https://outlastllc.com/

CONTACT:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaredsimmons/

Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.

David A.Fields is a consulting firm expert and author. He has helped hundreds of boutique and solo consulting firms grow, increase margins, and create lucrative, lifestyle-friendly businesses. This episode is taken from a session that David A. Fields led for the Umbrex and Veritux communities on how to craft your fishing line.

Key points include:

06:06: The two-by-two grid

08:32: Solving precise problems

10:17: Mistakes in fishing lines

11:07: Generic problems, generic targets, conjunctions and comets 

Sign up for David’s newsletter or order his book on www.DavidAFields.com.

Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.

Show Notes:

Melanie Espeland, a TEDx speaker and executive coach with 17 years of experience in strategy, operations, and coaching, she’s former McKinsey, and in this episode, she discusses the importance of executive presence and how to achieve it.

Communication in Executive Presence

In this workshop, Melanie explains that executive presence is important because it provides access to insider discussions, meetings, events, and happy hours. Access is crucial for success, and influence is essential for those with a purpose or vision. Executive presence allows for a balance and integration of power, authority, respect, trust, warmth, and likability.

Melanie also discusses the concept of compassionate authority, which she sees as a combination of power, authority, respect, trust, warmth, and comfort with the people you are speaking with. This external communication and ability to share thoughts and feelings are key to achieving executive presence. By understanding the value of executive presence and its impact on success, individuals can better navigate their roles and achieve their goals. Melanie explains that executive presence is a complex concept that varies across different personalities and people. There is no one-size-fits-all formula for expressing presence, as there are different ways of expressing it. Steve Jobs and Michelle Obama are examples of individuals with different styles, each with their own unique qualities. However, there are common threads or levers in executive presence that can help individuals build their personal and professional style that aligns with their strengths and personality.

Building Executive Presence

A structured approach to building executive presence consists of two pillars: the literal (physical, tangible) and the figurative (mental, emotional). Under each pillar, there are three common threads or levers: voice, body, and appearance. Voice refers to the speaker's voice, verbal communication, body language, posture, and physical presence. Body language, posture, and physical presence are also crucial. Application is the first impression, and it is important to consider how our appearance may impact our professional image and relationships. By understanding these common threads and levers, individuals can develop a unique and authentic executive presence style that aligns with their strengths and personality. The figurative pillar of executive presence is relevant for mid to senior level professionals as they move up the ladder. Authenticity, confidence, and vision are important for connecting with others and understanding one's strengths, weaknesses, wants, intentions, and motivations. Authenticity is crucial for connecting with others and making them feel comfortable. Confidence is different, as it involves feeling confident in oneself and being clear on one's goals. Vision is crucial for building an executive presence, especially as you get more senior.

Effective Communication for a Large Audience

To communicate effectively in large audiences, it is essential to understand media skills, such as how to talk to the media and communicate ideas consistently and coherently. As you become more senior, you will be thrown into meetings and need to control what people leave with. These six common threads or levers of executive presence can be divided into two pillars. By measuring up in these areas, you can identify areas where you have more opportunity. Exercises can be done together to practice these skills at home, starting with voice and body exercises. By focusing on these areas, you can develop new skills and improve your executive presence.

How to Improve Verbal Communication 

Melanie discusses the importance of voice and body verbal and nonverbal communication in executive presence. One technique that often surprises people is tongue placement exercises. She believes that the body is an instrument that needs to be controlled, rather than controlled by it. They encourage participants to try these exercises at home and see if they stick better after practicing with them. Tongue placement exercises help improve diction, projection, and warmth in speech. For example, in American English, the tongue tends to be in the middle, which can lead to a more accurate and clear voice. This is particularly beneficial for those who may be uncomfortable with their accent or question their pronunciation. Projection is the distance sound travels from the mouth, which is different from volume. This helps give the voice gravitas and resonance, giving it authority and warmth. Melanie provides various exercises that can improve diction.

In conclusion, voice and body exercises are essential for improving verbal and nonverbal communication. By practicing tongue placement exercises, individuals can gain a deeper understanding of their voice and body, ultimately leading to improved communication and overall performance.

Breathwork for Executive Presence

Breathing is crucial for a great voice and overall executive presence. Proper breathing is essential for delivering sound effectively and enhancing one's overall appearance. To achieve this, it is essential to focus on two aspects: maintaining proper breathing and mouth position during speaking. Filler words, which can be annoying or insincere, can be a common issue. To avoid these, it is essential to have more air coming in and out of the body, allowing for more air to be absorbed and not gasping for air. Melanie explains breathing exercises that help individuals can develop a better understanding of their breathing and voice, ultimately improving their overall communication and overall presence. She emphasizes the importance of proper breathing in order to maintain powerful, engaged, and present speech. T

The speaker encourages practicing this exercise at home, aiming to breathe in through the nose on 123 counts. If the exhale is short or uncomfortable, it may indicate that the speaker needs to work on their breathing technique. This can be likened to going to the gym to train your body..

Understanding the Confidence Flywheel

To gain more confidence, it is essential to have a sense of ease within oneself. People who have presence tend to appear grounded and confident, having clarity and ease about their actions. To achieve this, one can trick their physicality into ease, which affects their mental and emotional state. Techniques like breathing techniques can help reduce cortisol, heartbeat, and adrenaline, making the body think they are at ease. This change in mental and emotional state leads to increased confidence. The confidence flywheel can be used to showcase confidence, which in turn uplifts the confidence of the audience. The more confidence the audience has in you, the more confident your audience will be in you. However, the flywheel can also go in the opposite direction, making you appear nervous or unsure, which can lead to subconscious feedback and doubt.

Tricking the Body into Confidence

Melanie discusses the concept of tricking your body into confidence and using code words to trick your brain into bringing up past feelings or emotions in the present tense. This exercise involves thinking about a specific experience where you felt grounded or at ease, and thinking about your life as if it were a movie with a screenshot of that moment. The exercise involves walking through all five senses, including sight, smell, taste, hearing, and touch. Write down this information and create a code word cheat sheet for future reference. Once the memory is created, name it or give it a name, such as "Thailand." When applying the exercise in real time, remember the code word and the feeling of being at ease. The more specific the code word, the more powerful it will be. It's important to have nuanced language in your speech to avoid overtaking the activity or presentation. Try using different code words or memories for the same feelings, and record yourself on Zoom or with a partner or friend to see how it works.

An additional tool for using code words leading into confidence is using physical objects that remind you of the code word. For example, a cool stone on the beach can be placed on your desk, in your hand, or in your pocket before a big presentation. Pictures can also be helpful in remembering a day.

Pacing for Public Speaking

Melanie discusses the importance of pacing in speaking, particularly when someone is nervous. This can be achieved by having water next to you, as it is an elegant way to pause and recalibrate yourself. Breathing exercises can help slow down speech speed, as people often use filler words or keep talking quickly. Breathing exercises can also help slow down speech by taking deep breaths while taking a sip of water. To slow down, she encourages reading slowly and even more slowly than usual. This allows the body and mind to connect and understand that they can speak more slowly. Recording yourself reading at different speeds and practicing at different times can help determine the best pacing for your speech. Lastly, Melanie suggests verbally numbering points to help your audience follow along. For example, if you have three points to make, you can use data to make it easier for your audience to understand what you're trying to say. This helps give your audience a structure to follow along.

Melanie moves on to share certain techniques to communicate  well with others, including how to politely interrupt, how to indicate engagement, dealing with verbal fillers, and how to encourage conversation. This is followed by a Q&A session. 

Timestamps:

01:23 Executive presence and communication skills

04:43 Executive presence and its components

10:24 Building executive presence through voice and body exercises

16:16 Improving English pronunciation with tongue placement

18:41 Tongue placement for clear speech

24:39 Proper breathing techniques for clear communication

30:06 Proper breathing techniques for clear communication

35:03 Voice and body exercises for executive presence and confidence

37:43 Using ease and code words to boost confidence

43:07 Using code words to enhance memory and relaxation

47:09 Using physical objects for memory recall

49:43 Speeding up speech and managing pace

Links:

Website: https://www.melaniesespeland.com/

Website: https://espelandenterprises.com/

Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.