Jeff Polovick started Canadian-based Driving Force with just $80,000 and just a few years of experience. That modest investment has been parlayed into $400 million in revenues with 675 employees. Jeff's book is Why Can't We , and like many startup stories, there's drama, adversity, success, more adversity, and even an exit. In this conversation, we talk about continuous and lifelong learning, family, adversity, and Jeff's value system. Health Supplement Business Mastery Grow ...
Feb 25, 2023•38 min•Season 1Ep. 150
He gained the world. He then lost the world and those who were the closest to him. But he never lost his soul while hitting the lowest of lows in a federal penitentiary that once housed John Gotti. Shaun Hayes was once at the top of the banking world in St. Louis until he was in the wrong place at the wrong time during one of the worst recessions ever, which led to approving bank loans that violated state and federal laws. Shaun tells his story in his book, The Gray Choice, where we learn about ...
Feb 17, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 149
We recently watched a video by the CEO of the UK-based retail chain, Timpson. We loved the material so much that we found a book by the company's chairman, Sir John Timpson. The title is based on how the business is run, Upside Down Management . According to Business Sale Report , Timpson is now a 2,000-branch-strong business with turnover totaling £300m and profits of up to £20m. In this conversation, we break down John's book into three big ideas, which include the hiring of ex-offen...
Feb 11, 2023•36 min•Season 1Ep. 148
Of the nearly two thousand books that the producer of CFO Bookshelf has read, there is one title he has gifted the most to CEOs than any other title. That book is Executive Toughness by Dr. Jason Selk. In this episode, we learn three of Mark's favorite big ideas in Jason's short and fast-based book: 1) product and process goals, 2) written daily debriefs, and 3) relentless solutions focus. Two other titles are also mentioned that are excellent companions to Jason's book. Health Su...
Feb 04, 2023•37 min•Season 1Ep. 147
Last year, one of our top episodes was our favorite books of 2021. We're at it again this year with our Top 10 books for 2022. We also share our favorites in fiction along with a handful of honorable mentions. Rounding out the lists of favorites include unexpected surprises, books we didn't like, books that were worth rereading in 2022, and our heavy favorite for 2023. Health Supplement Business Mastery Grow your dietary supplement D2C eCommerce business. Listen on: Apple Podcasts &nbs...
Jan 28, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 146
The subscription economy is alive and well for products-based businesses and the software industry. But how about professional services firms? Does the subscription model apply to accountants, lawyers, consultants, marketers, and other professionals? Ron Baker founded VeraSage Institute, the leading think tank dedicated to teaching value pricing to professionals worldwide. He's the co-host of The Soul of Enterprise podcast, and he's the author of numerous books, including his newest ti...
Jan 27, 2023•1 hr 9 min•Season 1Ep. 145
What can any business or financial leader learn from a twenty-year vet in the fire service? I'm now calling John Cuomo the John Maxwell for firefighters and other public safety officials based on his book, Leadership Refined by Fire . John has always been interested in leadership and lifelong learning, and his book is full of stories, inspiration, and big ideas that can be applied to any playing field. He ends his book on mental health, specifically PTSD, the last topic we address in this c...
Jan 21, 2023•42 min•Season 1Ep. 144
As a financial expert, could you estimate the cost savings in the U.S. alone through the country's use of daylight savings time? Benjamin Franklin's estimates in 1784 yielded about $200 million in savings in today's dollars if people lived their days by making the best use of daylight. David Prerau is the leading expert on daylight savings time, and his book, Seize the Daylight , explores not just the history of DST, but also the other two forms of artificial time--Greenwich Mean ...
Jan 14, 2023•53 min•Season 1Ep. 143
I love investment books. It's a topic I could talk about for hours if allowed. I also started listening to the podcast Investing by the Books produced by the Nordic investment banker Redeye. The hosts are Eddie Palmgren and Niklas Sävås, and they are great. Both are lifelong learners and they love books on investing. In this show, we're going to talk about the best investment books that Eddie and Niklas have ever read. We'll find out their favorite book about Buffett. We'll a...
Jan 07, 2023•1 hr 12 min•Season 1Ep. 142
Gordon was an IT professional who took lifelong learning seriously. He joined a public utility district (PUD) because it stood for collaboration, communication, and support. Those core values at the PUD started deteriorating as a new leader focused on personal gain and power pushed for a new $8 million ERP solution without his most important team members to manage the implementation. Gordon Graham is the author of The Intrepid Brotherhood, which provides the story leading up to the day he was pu...
Dec 30, 2022•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 141
John Seddon is the founder of The Vanguard Method and is the author of Beyond Command and Control . In this conversation we find out which action is worse in business, commanding or controlling. John also explains demand failure, break-fix systems, and the destructive nature of budget management and arbitrary targets. Health Supplement Business Mastery Grow your dietary supplement D2C eCommerce business. Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify...
Dec 17, 2022•52 min•Season 1Ep. 140
Devin Durrant is the author of The Values Delta - A Small and Simple Way to Make a Positive Difference in Your Personal and Professional Life . Durrant's book is not about corporate values but personal core values, and it's a fast, easy-to-read guide that's instructive and inspiring with practical business applications too. In this conversation, this former NBA player reveals three simple questions that can lead to transformation in our personal and professional lives. Health Supp...
Dec 10, 2022•36 min•Season 1Ep. 139
Gaining media attention may not be an ongoing goal for many growing businesses. However, a former TV host and Emmy-award winner in consumer reporting explains that if we can pitch the media effectively, we can sell anything to anyone. Katrina Cravy is the author of On Air: Insider Secrets to Attract the Media and Get Free Publicity . This easy-to-read book also has far-reaching applications, for presentations, pitches of any type, and YouTube videos. This fast-paced conversation includes Katrina...
Dec 03, 2022•48 min•Season 1Ep. 138
When we do our weekly shopping at the grocery store, finding products is relatively easy because of the way food items are grouped throughout the aisles. That's the starting point for understanding category design in any business setting. The authors of Play Bigger did not invent category design, but these gifted marketers gave this term and its underlying disciplines a name by studying more than five thousand businesses. In this conversation, co-author Al Ramadan explains what category des...
Nov 25, 2022•52 min•Season 1Ep. 137
Output, Outcomes, Impact. Those are three strong words that seemingly go well together in any context. But is there a clear difference in each term? Josh Seiden is the author of Outcomes Over Output , and he provides one of the best definitions of outcomes I have ever heard--a change in customer behavior that leads to better business results. In this conversation, we learn how to apply outcomes-based thinking in any business environment along with hearing about a case study that ended in positiv...
Nov 19, 2022•41 min•Season 1Ep. 136
I've always assumed that great financial modelers have deep backgrounds in either corporate finance or accounting. That's not the case for Lyndsey Weber who is the Senior Solutions Consultant at Quantrix. Lyndsey's degree is in engineering management from one of the top engineering programs in the country. She started her career at ExxonMobil where she was a supply chain data analyst and an S&OP supervisor. After some three years, she had an itch for pivoting her career into P...
Nov 12, 2022•51 min•Season 1Ep. 135
Several years ago, I'll never forget when a tax partner with a Top 10 accounting firm started talking about one of his favorite books. He described the book's three pillars - marketing, production, and accounting. I smiled because I knew the title he was talking about - In The Black by Allen Bostrom. A few weeks prior to this episode the marketing team for this book's co-author reached out to ask if they could be on the show. The answer was a resounding yes. Roger Knecht is the Pr...
Nov 06, 2022•49 min•Season 1Ep. 134
On Will Guidara's 12th birthday, he had the experience of a lifetime while dining with his family at Four Seasons. Less than thirty years later, Will and his co-partner of Eleven Madison Park were being lauded for the top spot of The World's 50 Best Restaurants in 2017. Will's new book is Unreasonable Hospitality and I now call it one of the best books written on this topic. The book is part memoir and many parts of inspiration, encouragement, and instruction. In this conversation...
Oct 29, 2022•54 min•Season 1Ep. 133
You probably know a little or a lot about a business practice called open book management. This podcast prefers the term, financial transparency. During this episode, a CEO and co-founder of a physical therapy organization explains how he got started with financial transparency, why he did it, and how. Dr. Arlan Alburo of Orthopedic and Balance Therapy based in rural Indiana near Chicago also explains that he shares non-financial metrics and how his team members can impact each of those critical...
Oct 22, 2022•48 min•Season 1Ep. 132
The Crazy Eddie stores of the 1980s are probably most remembered by the Jerry Carrell commercials that have been parodied in the movies, TV shows, and even by other CEOs in the past such as Steve Ballmer. Gary Weiss is the author of Retail Gangster, The Insane, Real-Life Story of Crazy Eddie . Through Gary's research and captivating narrative, we learn the origin story of Eddie Antar and how he first started various skimming schemes to both undercut competitors and stash untaxed sales and p...
Oct 14, 2022•51 min•Season 1Ep. 131
As of the release date of this episode, the prime interest rate in the U.S. had surpassed six percent, nearly double the rate a few months earlier. Are higher rates good or bad for the economy? What about lower rates? The answers may seem self-evident, but should we be over-confident with our opinions? What about the law of unintended consequences when rates are universally low for an extended period of time? Additionally, how are rates determined? Why do they go up or down? What is the history ...
Oct 08, 2022•49 min•Season 1Ep. 130
Sophie Theen is the author of The Soul of Startups . Sophie states that there is a misconception that a company's people make its culture. Instead, that culture starts at the top and works its way down into other teams which is consistently changing. And that can lead to unplanned and unforeseen consequences for the staff working in these startups. In this conversation, we learn about the three audiences this book is intended for. We learn that people do indeed leave bad companies, not nece...
Oct 01, 2022•34 min•Season 1Ep. 129
Dr. Sam Savage is the gifted teacher all of us would have loved having as our professor in stats classes. Sam is the author of The Flaw of Averages and Chancification . During this conversation, we talk about the arithmetic of uncertainty, probability management, and the limitations of risk matrixes. And we do it on a fifth-grade level. Health Supplement Business Mastery Grow your dietary supplement D2C eCommerce business. Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify...
Sep 23, 2022•47 min•Season 1Ep. 128
Thomas Erikson is the author of Surrounded by Idiots , a book that simplifies four basic personality types using a coloring system and a two-by-two matrix. In this conversation, we address: the difference between the four letters in DISC and the colors the purpose and role of personality assessments in the workplace the validity and reliability of such assessments the three parts of the human mind Some people believe personality assessments are bogus. Others live and swear by them. Regardless of...
Sep 17, 2022•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 127
Can you think of a top business book exclusively for professional services firms? If so, your list is probably short and presumably headed by any title from David Maister. In this episode, a new book for this industry is introduced, The Boutique: How to Start, Scale, and Sell a Professional Services Firm by Greg Alexander. In this conversation, we talk about elephant and rabbit hunters, the one-thirds of billings, the only three types of firms in existence, and two critical metrics that buyers o...
Sep 10, 2022•37 min•Season 1Ep. 126
If we think the reasons for the fall of BlackBerry are an open and shut case, we need to think again. Sean Silcoff is the co-author of Losing the Signal . The book covers the rise of BlackBerry, how its foundation started cracking before Apple's iPhone came on the scene and the breakup of two iconic founders of a company that once topped $20 billion in revenues. This interview explores some of the highs and lows in this story, a very readable narrative that also serves as a great business c...
Sep 03, 2022•57 min•Season 1Ep. 125
When I read a biography, I want the words to jump out by telling me something I never knew about the person that's both memorable and interesting. I want to read about the subject's impact they had on others. And, I want to be inspired. Before reading Dirk Smillie's very readable and accessible biography on Harry Guggenheim entitled, The Business of Tomorrow , I knew nothing about this iconic family name. While one business publication heralded Harry as the godfather of flight dur...
Aug 26, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 124
Should professionals like you and I be reading fiction and if so, why? Dr. Christine Seifert is the author of a 2020 HBR article, The Case for Reading Fiction. While professionals typically read for knowledge, Christy provides numerous reasons and studies on how reading fiction can expand our analytical abilities along with understanding others better. We explore terms such as cognitive agility and acuity, design fiction, openness to experience, and other big ideas revealing the power of reading...
Aug 24, 2022•49 min•Season 1Ep. 123
Who is Bill Gross? Who is the guy who learned to take risks in college while scalping basketball tickets at Duke? Or who was the risk-taker who counted cards in Las Vegas? Who exactly is the man once named the Morningstar Investment Manager of the Decade? And how was this lifelong investment professional able to see around corners during one of the country's greatest financial meltdowns during a time of bailouts and bank failures? You may already know Mary Childs as a co-host at NPR's ...
Aug 19, 2022•41 min•Season 1Ep. 122
One of my favorite CFOs is Bob Lung. For the past 33 years, he's been chauffeuring players and dignitaries at the NFL's annual Hall of Fame weekend activities in Canton, Ohio. In this fast-paced interview, we talk about Bob's favorite moments at the Hall of Fame ceremony, what it means to be a driver during this event, and a couple of special stories. Should every business consider having its own hall of fame? We address that question along with the role of mentoring relationships...
Aug 12, 2022•22 min•Season 1Ep. 121
