The way your people engage and communicate shapes the culture. Culture is also about how they get work done. In a culture of ownership, you have people that are willing to go beyond responsibility. A culture of ownership is where people feel the pride and commitment to work like they are owners -- even if they aren't. My guest today is Breezy Griffith, Co-founder of Skinny Dipped. Her company was ranked #32 in the 2019 Inc 5000 list. Skinny Dipped started early as a "family affair." As they grew...
Dec 02, 2019•25 min•Ep. 490
Most leaders that profit and revenues are the most crucial factors for company growth. These same people often have a limited view of what it takes to grow a business. However, putting people over profits has proven to drive growth. My guest today is Josh Levin, Founder of Empowered Electric. His company was ranked #210 in the 2019 Inc 5000 list. His success in company growth is hard to deny. But Josh is most proud is that his company clearly puts people over profits. In our interview, we talk a...
Nov 28, 2019•27 min•Ep. 489
Today, I share a story of how I learned the difference in being thankful and being grateful. I go back almost ten years to recall this story that my mentor taught me while I was in coach training. You will also get some extras on the power of being grateful. In this season of Thanksgiving, being grateful is commonplace. However, I believe that being grateful is something we must do regularly. Get the show notes for Behind the Scenes: The Difference in Being Thankful and Being Grateful Click to T...
Nov 26, 2019•5 min•Ep. 488
Creating a learning organization is not just about training. In fact, training is just a tiny slice of the concept of creating a learning organization. Today, we will unpack some of the critical elements of a learning organization. My guest today is Khaled Naim, Co-Founder of Onfleet, an innovative logistics software company. Onfleet was ranked #124 in the 2019 Inc 5000 list. Khaled and his co-founders believe that learning is the foundation of innovation. Discover the strategies of creating a l...
Nov 25, 2019•24 min•Ep. 487
Do you want your people to be continually improving? Well, you want to create a learning organization that is ingrained in your culture. It starts with hiring people that are confident enough to share their skills and expertise with others. It also takes a committed leadership that appreciates learning in everything you do. My guest today is Mike Gentile, Founder, and CEO of Cisoshare. His company was ranked #88 in the 2019 Inc 5000 list. Discover how why he wanted a learning organization. We ta...
Nov 21, 2019•36 min•Ep. 486
Taking time to look back at how far you have come is essential and often overlooked. Today, I am sharing with you a ritual I have on my birthday to show you the power of reflection. I give you the five areas vital to me as I look at my personal and professional life. Looking at the power of reflection, it gives you clarity and insight into what is going on with your life. Your five areas may be different than mine. You can select the areas that mean the most to you. Join me in this behind the sc...
Nov 19, 2019•8 min•Ep. 485
Having a robust culture is not a luxury in today's economy. Record low unemployment and the race for talent increases continuously. This episode is how to create an amazing culture. My guest today is Chase Bowers, Founder of Dropified. His company was ranked #55 in the 2019 Inc 5000 list. Chase and I talk about the practical principles of how to create an amazing culture. Chase shares the benefits of it too. We document the steps of how to create an amazing culture that you can follow in today's...
Nov 18, 2019•26 min•Ep. 484
What would happen if you gave everyone a seat at the table? I know from experience what happens when you don't give your people a seat at the table. My guest today is Pete Maldonado, Founder of Chomps.com. His company was ranked #22 in the 2019 Inc 5000 list. Pete shares the benefits of everyone having a seat at the table. We talk about the fast growth of Chomps and why it is so essential for everyone to have a seat at the table. Get the show notes for Ownership Requires Everyone To Have a Seat ...
Nov 14, 2019•23 min•Ep. 483
When you set out to achieve a goal, the most common approach is to think of your next steps. It is so common in fact, that people often don't even think about the full equation to bridging the gap from where you are now to the destination. When you are bridging the gap, you want to get clear on your identity. In today's video, I am sharing a simple and powerful step in bridging the gap that you can use to shift your results. Get the show notes for Behind The Scenes: Bridging the Gap - One Overlo...
Nov 12, 2019•7 min•Ep. 482
Before you think about hiring a coach for yourself or someone on your team, you want to think about the value of coaching. I hired a coach in the first two years of launching my business, and it was a powerful experience that helped me create a five million dollar business by year three. I would say that the value of coaching is priceless when you decide to transform from the inside out. You have to be ready for new insight and be prepared to be challenged. My guest today is Tony Whalen, Founder...
Nov 11, 2019•32 min•Ep. 481
To have revenue growth, you have to get good at sales execution. When I say sales execution, it is the art and science of closing the deal. Every company has to figure out the path to predictable sales execution if you want to grow beyond where they are now. My guests today are Chris Cochran and Richard Hoehn, Co-founders of FreightWise. Their company was ranked #2 in the 2019 Inc 5000 list. They share with us how they looked at sales in the early days of the company. There are some counter-intu...
Nov 07, 2019•27 min•Ep. 480
I sat down with the CEO of a Fortune 50 company that I admired. This meeting was the first face-to-face interaction. He started with a genuine interest in me and my work. Then I shared my research on the founders and CEOs of fast-growth companies. After hearing the big revelation, he quickly said, "I was wrong." I didn't know what to say. If I was wrong, what would this mean for my business? I leaned in to hear why I was wrong to figure out what I was missing. Being told you are wrong by a perso...
Nov 05, 2019•9 min•Ep. 479
You have likely heard that failure should not be avoided. You have heard that failure is part of the process. However, too many companies have a culture that is playing not to fail. This is dangerous in many ways. When you embrace failure throughout your culture, you have people that are innovating and pushing the boundaries of new success. A leader's job is to embrace failure in such a way that the team embraces failure too. My guest today is Jeremy Delk, CEO of Tailor Made Compounding. His com...
Nov 04, 2019•25 min•Ep. 478
Fast growth requires you to be great in many aspects of the business. One area that has many benefits is retaining employees. Your employees have relationships with your clients. Your employees have the skills and experience that drives the business forward. It hurts all areas of the business when they leave, especially the bottom-line. Today's guest is Jeff Hay, founder of RDI Technologies. RDI was #33 on the 2019 Inc 500 list. Jeff gives you new ideas to improve employee retention. Discover ho...
Oct 31, 2019•25 min•Ep. 477
In today's fast-paced world, you have to be intentional to reduce stress at work and life. One way to do that is to set boundaries. These boundaries are intentional times that you can let go of the pressures of life. I recommend doing something that turns off the brain. If you want to reduce stress at work and life, you want to set boundaries. Today I share with you how I do it. I have been training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu since 2006. That is 13 years of training. I love how it makes me 100% present...
Oct 29, 2019•3 min•Ep. 476
If you want to have a company that grows fast, you must understand fast-growth leadership. Leaders that I have talked to about their companies, employees, innovation, and even business models have a unique way to think about their growth. One thing they all agree on is that fast-growth leadership is an essential foundation. My guest today is Rex Kurzius, Founder of Asset Panda. His company was ranked #104 in the 2018 Inc 5000 list. We talk about the three C's of fast-growth leadership. Rex has s...
Oct 28, 2019•24 min•Ep. 475
You can't do it alone. If you want to create a company with a significant impact, you must build a team that goes beyond only you. You don't need just any team either. The end goal is to get employees to take ownership of their work and the client experience. My guest today is Stu Sjouwerman, CEO of KnowBe4. His company was ranked #92 in the 2018 Inc 5000 list. Stu shares his insights to get employees to take ownership. We talk about the strategies and tactics that have worked for his company to...
Oct 24, 2019•25 min•Ep. 474
When you are the bottleneck to growth, you have created processes and systems that make you the final say to completion of work in the business. The founders of fast-growth companies often face this after months -- sometimes years -- of struggling with being the bottleneck to growth. It comes with frustration as you want others to support the company to grow more, but you have not empowered them. To make the shift, you to have to transform your identity from Founder to the identity of the CEO. I...
Oct 22, 2019•5 min
Can you even imagine what it takes to grow your company by 10x this year? Well, you will be blown away when I tell you the private company with the highest level of revenue in the last three years grew at 36,680 percent. The one driving force for their growth is an ownership culture. This means they have created a company where the employees feel a sense of ownership in everything they do. My guest today is David Freedman, Co-Founder of Freestar. Freestar was ranked #1 in the 2019 Inc 5000 list....
Oct 21, 2019•30 min•Ep. 472
The process to empower employees is often misunderstood. Empowerment takes trust and courage. It also requires that you be the kind of leader that wants others to make decisions. Empowering employees happens to be one of the core principles of having a culture of ownership. My guest today is Jared Hecht, Founder of Fundera. His company was ranked #69 in the 2018 Inc 5000 list and operates a marketplace for small business funding. Get the show notes for How to Empower Employees for Fast Growth wi...
Oct 17, 2019•25 min•Ep. 471
Do you want to continue growing your business as fast as you have been growing? If you could see where I am standing right now, you would see a symbol of growth, the Inc 5000 letters at the Inc Conference in Phoenix, AZ. I work with dozens of companies that have been recognized by Inc for their fast-growth and want to continue growing. Primarily, I see their founders and CEOs are driven, confident, and committed. Today, I give you this video about the double edge sword of when you want to contin...
Oct 15, 2019•7 min•Ep. 470
Creating a mission-driven company is much more than giving money away. Mission-driven has become a buzzword in today's business. The ones that do it right have seen benefits that go beyond philanthropy. Creating a mission-driven company will help you gain customers and even align employees in a way that drives the business forward. Today's guest is Zachary Quinn, Co-founder of Love Your Melon. Zachary shares with me how the company became mission-driven and the cycle of mission-driven. He shares...
Oct 14, 2019•28 min•Ep. 469
Are you a high-performing leader, and you love to learn? I am attending the Inc5000 Conference in Phoenix this week. I stumbled upon three colleges clustered together and was reminded of my college years. I didn't always love the process of learning. When you are forced to learn things that you don't have much interest in to get good grades, it is hard to stay focused on learning. After college, I discovered a love for learning. I got to learn what I wanted, and it increased my value too. Today,...
Oct 11, 2019•5 min•Ep. 468
Every leader I know is charged with finding team alignment so that the company grows in a collaborative way. The process of finding team alignment takes intentional thought and robust strategies. My guests today are Blake Harris and Charlie Matter, Co-Founders of Case Energy Partners. Their company was ranked #78 in the 2018 Inc 5000 list. We talk about how they approach finding team alignment. We discuss why it is so essential for the growth of the company. Blake and Charlie share their journey...
Oct 09, 2019•27 min•Ep. 467
Shifting from fear of failure to lead the team to higher levels of success takes time. The fear of failure is a common fear among entrepreneurial leaders. It comes from doing something big and scary. It often drives you to work hard and encourage your team to work hard too. However, there is another more evolved way to lead. When you profoundly connect to your mission and vision, you begin to see the opportunity in a way that pulls you forward. This allows you to lead your people with confidence...
Oct 07, 2019•25 min•Ep. 466
Discover why transparency matters in modern culture. One big reason is that transparency breeds trust. When you are open to transparency in your business, you signal to your people that they are part of the process. My guest today is John Laramie, CEO of ProjectX. His company was ranked #65 in the 2018 Inc 5000 list. John shares why transparency matters. He gives you ways to be transparent so that it drives growth. We talk about how to leverage transparency to make your people feel and act like ...
Oct 02, 2019•27 min•Ep. 465
Employee retention is one of the biggest and most expensive problems that companies have. If you have an employee leave before you are ready for them to leave, you know the cost of replacing that person is going to be expensive. Employee retention for some roles can be higher than 50 percent in a 12 month period. My special guest today is Amanda Hammett. Amanda is my wife, and she is amazingly smart in understanding the future of work. Amanda is the host of Next Generation Rockstars podcast, whe...
Sep 30, 2019•27 min•Ep. 464
Invest in your employees if you want to create a strong team. Investing in their skills to do their work is a big part of creating a culture that drives the business forward. You might be tempted to reduce these investments in favor of a healthy bottom line. My guest today is Noah Curran, Founder, and CEO of MonkMedia. This company is #67 on the 2018 Inc 5000 list. Noah shares why he invests so much in onboarding his employees. The time and money he spends will blow you away. Noah gives you more...
Sep 30, 2019•29 min•Ep. 463
Culture is often thought of as intangible. I do believe you can measure culture with attributes that make up how we work and communicate together. I interviewed John Mazur, CEO at Homesnap. His company was #43 on the 2018 Inc 5000 list. John shares with me how to measure culture and why it matters. Discover the key factors to measure culture for your company. Get the show notes for How do you Measure Culture with John Mazur at Homesnap Click to Tweet: Listening to an amazing episode on Growth Th...
Sep 25, 2019•26 min•Ep. 462
When you lead a company that has an amazing employee experience, you get more than just happy people. The employee experience shapes how they think about their work, their co-workers, and leaders. Creating an amazing employee experience drives company growth too. Today's guest is Dan Foley, Founder, and CEO of Curate Partners. This company was ranked #20 in the 2018 Inc 5000 List. Dan shares the reasons why creating an amazing employee experience matters. He also gives you a way to improve your ...
Sep 23, 2019•25 min•Ep. 461
