Podcast Blog

Hear how to understand your customers' needs, then fulfill them 

It is always so enlightening to learn from other consultants how they do their jobs and how I could enhance my own consulting practice—as well as help you do the same. I was interviewed by Michael Zipursky on his podcast and thought it important to reciprocate and bring his ideas to you, our listeners. Michael speaks about his own journey, and it is a journey. At times he was in foreign lands and unable to speak the language, but somehow figured out how to break through the communication barriers to engage with others and help them grow their businesses. You will enjoy his personal and his professional stories, as they are closely interwoven. Listen and share!

Learn how to craft a strategy that delivers the results you want

Remember, my job is to help you get off the brink. How do I do that? By helping you see, feel and think in new ways. As a corporate anthropologist, I go looking for people who can help you do just that: see in new ways the things you may have done the same old way for a long time. Carol Poore is one of those people. We met through our publisher, Greenleaf Book Group, and I learned that she has a new book coming out on business strategy. Since I’m a Blue Ocean Strategist, I was particularly interested in understanding her perspective and how it could add new meaning to the way we at SAMC approach strategy, and how you do too. How do you approach your strategy, both your personal one and your business one? It’s important to understand that in order to get to your destination, whatever your goal might be. Do take a listen!

Hear how to get diverse employees to value their differences

It was a great pleasure to interview Laura Kriska for our podcast, On the Brink. Laura is an internationally recognizedexpert in cross-cultural relations. She and I have a lot in common. As a corporate anthropologist, I too often work with organizations where the old culture and the new are in conflict, where Boomers and Millennials speak different dialects of English and have distinctly different habits, beliefs and ways of doing things. Add in the business environment around them, and today's companies have too little knowledge about how to “see, feel and think” in new ways and most importantly, how to use those differences to build better companies. Laura's wisdom is so needed right now — I know you will learn so much from her!

Hear why brand storytelling is the key to business success

This was a totally fantastic interview with Lisa Staff and Deevo Tindall. I had been on their podcast, Mind, Body, Business, and so enjoyed myself that I wanted to share them with you, our listeners. Lisa and Deevo are two terrific individuals who focus on connecting and collaborating. They also want to help you better deliver your messaging to build your brand with the right mix of imagery and copy. I think they are amazing, and I know you will too.

Learn why employee well-being is key to a company's success 

Mari Ryan and I met by chance through Peter Winick’s Thought Leadership roundtables and became immediate colleagues and virtual friends. She brings to you her inspiring passion for helping organizations and the folks in them become healthier. This is so important, today and really always. What Mari has developed is a strategic approach to help people not just wish to build healthier lives and better organizations, but to actually achieve remarkable results. We all need more well-being in our lives and workplaces. Enjoy.

Hear how to turn your great idea into a successful business!

This was a terrific podcast conversation with Carrie Peele. Her life’s journey has been one of twists and turns, testing her smarts and her ingenuity. A serial business owner, she started a luxury transportation company on three credit cards in 1989 and built the largest woman-owned car service in the Carolinas. She sold the company in 2014 and started The File Depot, a document storage, scanning and shredding company. As a successful businesswoman, her story is amazing. But what Carrie learned was how to help other women take ideas and turn them into successful businesses. Tune in, learn and share!

Learn how to find your voice and unleash your power

In this podcast I had the pleasure of speaking with Kami Guildner. You will enjoy our conversation as much as I did. Kami believes that women have a strong voice and need to know how to use it. She is a storyteller, as we all are, but does it with passion and purpose. She is also a business coach for women. And, we delightfully have in common our love for horses. Kami tells the story of how her entrepreneurial journey came about through the “breath of a horse." This magical epiphany moment led her to discover her purpose of leading changemaker women to give voice to their most important messages and create a ripple effect of worldly impact. Enjoy!

Learn how to attract and retain the best staff for your business

In this podcast, I was so excited to speak with Kip Wright about the work he has been doing to help corporations and businesses find the right talent and retain them with great performance. Having been an executive in banking and healthcare organizations, I remember far too well the pain of attracting and retaining the right staff. If we went too far afield to find new talent, they often could not fit into the existing culture — even when we wanted to change that culture. If we found the "right" staff, we had to develop and retain them. It is not easy to run a business. Does this speak to you? Lots to learn here from Kit!

Hear how to turn a jerk boss into someone you want to follow!

Have you ever had an amazing boss or manager who was a leader in many ways yet always seemed to be a “jerk”? If so, you might want to read “Managing Brilliant Jerks: How Organizations and Coaches Can Transform Difficult Leaders into Powerful Visionaries” by Dr. Katrina Burrus, today's podcast guest. A wonderful speaker, author and executive coach, Katrina and I were kindred spirits as we discussed the challenges we have all experienced when having to work for an individual who is terrific in so many ways but fails terribly when leading others. The big question is always, “Can you take that jerk and turn him/her into a star?” Yes! Learn how.

Hear how to turn your big idea into a profitable business!

Veronica Sagastume was a wonderful woman to interview. She represents all that we love about women who can take an idea and turn it into a great innovation and a successful business. In our podcast, Veronica helps you think about yourself, what you are doing, and how you can convert your big idea into a bold new venture. What is also of great interest to us is how someone can see opportunities and turn them into realities. This is never easy. Sometimes, however, you need a good role model, and Veronica will tell you about hers. She knew quite quickly that she liked the rough and tumble world of business and could play with everyone, from bosses to investors to clients and suppliers. Listen to how she did it and how you can too. Enjoy.

Learn how to see your way forward to your best future! 

I met Alain Guillot when he interviewed me for his podcast and I was totally intrigued by his story. As an anthropologist who studied immigrants who relocated from Greece to New York, I remain endlessly fascinated by the ability of people to completely change their lives to thrive in a foreign environment. Alain and I spoke at length about what he himself did to thrive, and how he eventually became a full-time blogger and podcaster. But it was never easy or completely evident that his calling was to become a story merchant, as he calls himself. Listen in and be moved!

Hear how to use social media to create a winning personal brand!

Cass McCrory and I had one of those long, luscious conversations about what matters to each of us, and both of us, which is helping women become the best that they can be. Cass's podcast, Real Women in Business, is focused on connecting women with the inspiring stories of other women who, like them, are building great lives in business. Yet what she has found is that many of these women are unhappy. In research we did for our new program, Rethink Your Journey With Andi Simon, we found the same: 66% of the women surveyed were dissatisfied with their lives but not sure how to change them. From Cass's perspective, the process is not that complicated. Listen in to hear her thoughts about how you can positively change the direction of your life!

Hear how to cast off your baggage and live your dreams!

This was an interesting interview with Mia Hewett. Every interview is interesting. But some of them take us in places that are unexpected. Mia’s was particularly unexpected. She has a new book out called "Meant For More: Stop Secretly Struggling and Become a Force to Be Reckoned With." It’s an incredible story of a woman’s journey of discovery and awakening. Mia is very concerned about helping people, women in particular, create their own reality...really looking in the mirror and seeing who they are. Not listening to old stories or destructive myths. Reminds me of my book, "Rethink: Smashing The Myths of Women in Business." Don't wait, take a listen!

Learn how you can become a more dynamic, effective leader

Alain Hunkins is the author of a new book, "Cracking the Leadership Code: Three Secrets
to Building Strong Leaders," which offers a very impactful way to develop leaders. As you know, I direct two leadership academies for two clients. And what I’ve learned over the years is that leaders need to lead to the right places and followers need to know what work they need to do to get there. As you'll hear in our podcast, it’s not that easy. Alain and I talk about recognizing the bad habits inherited from previous generations of leaders and why “old-school” leaders flounder in the “new-school” world. Please listen, learn and share.

Hear how one woman made her mark in an industry of men.

Babette Ballinger holds a special place in our hearts, and in my new book, "Rethink: Smashing the Myths of Women in Business." As a fashion designer and owner of her own apparel sales firm, Babette had to constantly re-invent herself, learn how to run a business, and deal with the challenges of sustaining successful partnerships with men. Working with almost every major retailer in the country as well as many smaller ones, she quickly developed the ability to compromise and navigate complicated and diverse rules and regulations. When I think of trailblazing women who opened the door for so many others, I think of Babette. Listen in!

 Hear how an innovative approach paid off, big time!

By becoming President of Delaware Valley University, Dr. Maria Gallo broke a very hard, very high glass ceiling, which is why I wanted to repost my podcast with her. In 2020, only 38% of college presidents were women, despite the fact that women represent over half the students in higher educational institutions. And, Dr. Gallo is not only leading DelVal, she's leading it successfully into the future. For this and many other reasons, I share her story in my new book, "Rethink: Smashing the Myths of Women in Business," which you can buy here. Seeing that the demographics of students are changing, fast, Maria and her team engaged us to help them find their Blue Ocean Strategy, then they made it happen, brilliantly. A great story. Listen in! 

Hear how women leaders are finally coming into their own

There are times when very special people come into our lives. If you believe in serendipity, as I do, you realize that they are here for a purpose. We often are not sure what that purpose is, but there is something almost magical in meeting them, working with them, and just having them enter your orbit. Edie did a lovely review of my new book, Rethink: Smashing the Myths of Women in Business, and from there our friendship grew. Now, Women Business Collaborative is working with Rethink and Catalyzing the Future to host a global virtual summit on May 13, 2021 called Catalyzing the Future: Rethinking Women’s Leadership in Business. You can register here.

Hear how the pandemic is affecting gender roles at work

What impact has the pandemic had on women in the workplace? Andie Kramer, who is featured in my new book,"Rethink: Smashing The Myths of Women in Business," and her husband Al Harris share their perspectives during this repeat of our podcast interview in 2020. All throughout March, Women's History Month, I've been re-posting podcasts I've done with the amazing women in my book, and I really wanted you to hear this one. Andie, Al and I talk about how people change, or resist change. Especially now in this upside down time, take a listen.

Hear how where you invest your money really matters

Not only do all of the women in my new book,"Rethink: Smashing The Myths of Women in Business," inspire me, but I'm finding that Women's History Month is the perfect time to celebrate them and really call attention to what they're accomplished. That's why I'm re-posting my podcast interviews with them throughout this month of March. One of these special women, Janine Firpo, is on a personal mission to empower others, particularly women, to understand how to manage their money, invest in what they care about, and make substantial returns on their purpose-driven investment decisions. All of us really need to hear this interview. Enjoy.

Need to grow your business, fast? Hear how!

Bruce Eckfeldt roams in the same territories that I do, but his background and experience are rather different. He was an architect until he realized that learning how to be an architect is very different from being one. So he skipped over into business and never looked back. In our conversation today, we dig deep into what he learned as a CEO in an Inc. 500 company, building his own company, and then selling it and pivoting to redesign his career. Now he helps others “soar." Do you have a business you want to grow? Listen in!