John Rossman is the former Amazon Director of Enterprise Services who launched the Amazon Marketplace, the author of Think Like Amazon, an advisor to multiple companies including T-Mobile, and a member of various Boards of Advisors. With an impressive background of launching and scaling the Amazon Marketplace business and running the Enterprise Services business for Amazon, we're quite excited to welcome John as our very first live podcast guest. In our conversation, John will share some of his ...
Oct 15, 2020•54 min
For this very special 75th episode on the Strategy & Leadership Podcast, we have no guests. Instead, our Managing Partner and lead facilitator Anthony Taylor will share some of his most important lessons from his past ten years of experience, as well as a glimpse into the future for both himself and SME Strategy. Anthony has been facilitating strategic planning sessions and helping organizations of different sizes from various industries and countries reach their One Destination for just abo...
Oct 08, 2020•41 min
"Most mediocre insight you see in business comes not from bad researchers or faulty techniques.. the question itself was destined to lead to mediocrity". Gunny Scarfo is the co-founder of Nonfiction Research, a market research firm that is dedicated to uncovering and understanding the uncensored lives of customers, and the information they wouldn't even mention to their friends. Gunny has also held multiple Head of Strategy positions, including one at Carrot Creative, a social media agency acqui...
Oct 02, 2020•32 min
Keith Kitani is a two-time entrepreneur who built and sold his first business to Adobe. Now, he's the founder and CEO of GuideSpark, a leader in change communication that drives change and results by re-focusing the hearts of minds of employees. Most business leaders are comfortable creating strategies, along with programs to carry out those strategies. However, it is the employees of an organization that make those strategies happen. Keith believes that communication is the way to drive change,...
Sep 21, 2020•29 min
"The worst thing to do is to go dark" Bill Bice is the Executive Chairman of Boomtime Word of Mouth Marketing and the Co-CEO of nQ Zebraworks. Having started or invested in over 25 different businesses over the course of his career, Bill brings some valuable marketing and business-building experience to the Strategy & Leadership Podcast. On this episode, Bill breaks down his approach to building businesses, understanding & re-connecting with customers, the impact of marketing and much mo...
Sep 10, 2020•30 min
Matt Sweetwood is a lifetime CEO with over 30 years of experience, and is currently the CEO of LUXnow and author of Leader of the Pack. Having spent the majority of his career in the electronics distribution and retail superstore space, Matt had to re-invent his business multiple times to keep up with digital transformation, which ultimately led to a successful exit for him. On this episode of the Strategy and Leadership Podcast, Matt joins us to share his experiences as a CEO, some helpful lead...
Sep 01, 2020•26 min
Nick Davis is the Managing Partner of Reaching the Future Faster, the author of Future Ready, and the Faculty Chair of Innovation at Singularity University. Although Nick wears an impressive amount of hats, there are a couple common themes in his work, which involve using advanced technology and strategy to navigate uncertainty, determine the future of work, and solve the double-pronged problem of food waste and food shortage. Nick acknowledges the extreme unpredictability of the world we live i...
Aug 26, 2020•30 min
Brad Chase spent over 14 years as an executive at Microsoft, finishing as a Senior Vice President leading a team of over 4,000. Brad was a part of several major project at Microsoft, including the complete turnaround of MSN.com, leading the marketing effort for Windows 2000, Windows 98 and Internet Explorer, as well as developing and executing the award winning marketing strategy for Windows 95. Brad is now a speaker, marketing and leadership advisor, and the author of Strategy First. On today's...
Aug 17, 2020•30 min
Ryan Berman an author and the founder of Courageous, a consultancy that uses a 'special forces' approach to problem solving, storytelling and leadership. Today, Courageous works with well known brands like the National Football League, Caesars Entertainment and Johnson & Johnson. Ryan joins us to share his experiences writing the book, working in the agency world, and starting his own successful consultancy. Some of the topics covered include: The Courageous approach to solving business prob...
Aug 03, 2020•29 min
Melissa Dreuth is the SVP of People and Culture at Planful, a leading financial planning and analysis cloud platform. Customers like Bose, the Boston Red Sox, and Del Monte rely on Planful for budgeting, reporting and visual analytics. Having spent time in similar roles at other companies in Australia and the Bay Area, she's nearly one year into her role at Planful, where she's responsible for the entire employee lifecycle including learning & development, HR, recruiting and people & cul...
Jul 26, 2020•24 min
Dr. Tracey Jones is the President of Tremendous Leadership, as well as an author and leadership expert. Before taking the reins of Tremendous Leadership, she build an impressive leadership resume for herself in various organizations including the National Security Agency, all after spending 12 years as a maintenance officer in the Air Force. With an MBA and a PhD, Tracey brings her extensive experience leading people to the Strategy & Leadership Podcast. Whether it be deployed overseas or in...
Jul 14, 2020•34 min
Geoffrey Cain is a business advisor, consultant, and author of Samsung Rising. With experience as an Economist correspondent and contributor to both the Wall Street Journal & Time, Geoffrey brings some exciting overseas expertise in geopolitics and media. On this episode of the Strategy & Leadership Podcast, Geoffrey joins us to talk about some of the things he's seen as an international correspondent and writer, the impending impact of artificial intelligence, and his book about the Sou...
Jun 29, 2020•29 min
Craig Lemasters is the CEO of management consulting firm GXG, speaker, and a former Fortune 500 subsidiary CEO. Working 27 years, 11 of which as the CEO leading global expansion projects for Assurant Solutions, Craig brings extensive corporate experience to the podcast. After spending a long time growing a large company, Craig decided to take some time to focus on his other passions, eventually leading GXG in Atlanta. Craig now dedicates himself to sharing what he's learned with other leaders, a...
Jun 15, 2020•33 min
On this episode of the Strategy & Leadership Podcast, Matt Barnett from Bonjoro joins us to discuss growing a remote team, communication challenges and how personalized video communication can improve both company culture and client relationships. Matt's company, Bonjoro, uses personalized video to help organizations develop better relationships with their customers and leads, as well as within their own teams internally. Originally from Australia, Bonjoro has grown to a second office in the...
Jun 04, 2020•27 min
Keith Ferrazzi joins the Strategy and Leadership podcast to share the power of co-creation: How to be able to create an aligned vision with anyone. He also shares his principles for coaching, leadership and communicating to create transformative change. He also shares his perspectives on how organizations can adapt and thrive in this new economy. Get our FREE Strategic Planning Workbook template here: https://www.smestrategy.net/strategic-planning-process-template-workbook Enroll in our strategi...
May 26, 2020•37 min
On this episode of the Strategy & Leadership Podcast, Perry Maughmer joins us to talk about being the best CEO you can be, intellectual humility, peer groups and how to establish a leadership framework. Perry is a facilitator for Vistage International and the Principal of Maughmer & Co, where he specializes in working with people. Perry started his journey as an entrepreneur in retail, bringing a company from one to seven locations as a young VP of Operations. He then went on to work for...
May 21, 2020•30 min
On this episode of the Strategy & Leadership Podcast we're joined by Michele Wucker, CEO of Gray Rhino & Company and best selling author of The Gray Rhino. Michele has defined a gray rhino as a problem large and obvious staring you down, pointed right at you, and probably about to trample you. With a range of different experiences in financial journalism, media management, think tank management and policy writing, Michele certainly brings a unique and valuable perspective to the podcast....
May 12, 2020•33 min
In this episode of the Strategy & Leadership Podcast, we're joined by Grategy founder and Chief Appreciation Strategist, Lisa Ryan, CSP. Lisa brings an impressive range of experience to the podcast, spending time as an executive recruiter, working in industrial sales, the welding industry (yes, she welds!), the healthcare industry, and as a speaker. During our conversation, Lisa shares some of that experience with us, including: Her THANKS process In one of her most successful programs, Lisa...
Apr 30, 2020•28 min
In this episode, Timothy shares his experience working with executive teams and tips on various topics including: Leadership A leader cannot be neutral. They either lead the way or get in the way, as Timothy mentions. In order to lead the way, the leaders has two primary functions within an organization- to coach skills and model behaviour, therefore becoming the architect of culture. Culture The leading indicator of healthy workplace culture is the level of psychological safety employees feel w...
Apr 16, 2020•30 min
On this episode of our Strategy & Leadership Podcast, we were joined by Denise Liebetrau, the Founder & CEO of Prosper Consulting, in Colorado. With a background in HR compensation for fortune 500 companies, Denise felt passionate about sharing her knowledge and expertise with small to mid-sized organizations. Now Denise spends much of her time helping these organizations figure out compensation structures that will help them attract and retain the right people, as well as advising these...
Mar 30, 2020•26 min
On this episode of the Strategy & Leadership Podcast, we're joined Dr. Gleb Tsipursky, CEO of Disaster Avoidance Experts LLC and author of Never Go With Your Gut: How Pioneering Leaders Make the Best Decisions and Avoid Business Disasters. Gleb immigrated to the US as a child from Moldova in eastern Europe. Since then, he's gone on to study cognitive biases, decision making and avoiding disasters, earning his PhD. With a background in cognitive neuroscience and behavioral economics, he has o...
Mar 12, 2020•28 min
In this episode of the Strategy & Leadership Podcast, we're joined by Aviv Shahar: author of 'Create New Futures' and founder of Aviv Consulting. Aviv was born and raised in Israel, and was originally trained to fly supersonic jets in the Israeli Airforce. Since then, he has spent three decades gaining valuable experience working on the executive leadership teams of Fortune 500 companies. Throughout his work, he's learned that a room full of extremely smart individuals can still produce dysf...
Feb 24, 2020•36 min
In this episode of the Strategy & Leadership Podcast, we're joined by Alex Rooney, Vice President and co-founder of Vision33 Inc. Alex and his company specialize in IT and professional services with several business lines including SAP, business application software, change management and developing intellectual property. Impressively, Vision33 has averaged 25% year over year growth for the past 15 years. Having lived half his life in Canada and half in the U.S. with a background in civil en...
Feb 10, 2020•26 min
In this episode of the Strategy & Leadership Podcast, we're joined by Ryan Walter. For over 20 years, Ryan has consulted for organizations, including Fortune 500 companies. His advisory firm, Parrels, helps organizations overcome challenges and undergo transformation. Ryan's rich experience guiding organizations through big changes and helping the grow internally makes him a great voice for those about to undergo their own strategic planning process. Like us, he is passionate about helping c...
Jan 27, 2020•34 min
During our conversation, Shawn shared his experiences and some valuable insights on the following: Change management, Successful communication ingredients, What to do in a crisis, and Social media best practices Get our FREE Strategic Planning Workbook template here: https://www.smestrategy.net/strategic-planning-process-template-workbook Enroll in our strategic planning course to learn our process for creating a strategic plan successfully (without hiring anyone): https://www.smestrategy.net/st...
Jan 10, 2020•32 min
In this episode of our Strategy & Leadership Podcast, we're joined by Catherine Sherlock, the founder of Higher Mindfulness. Catherine developed Higher Mindfulness to help people take their awareness deeper in order to expand their self-expression, leadership skills and potential. This is important for business leaders because emotional awareness is a positive skill that helps leaders with clarity and decision making, which can help with conflict management, team engagement and other situati...
Dec 19, 2019•27 min
In this episode of the Strategy & Leadership Podcast, we're joined by author and founder of the Extreme Leadership Institute, Steve Farber.Steve has been involved in leadership development for 30 years, which has allowed him to work with almost every kind of industry and business from top to bottom. His experience has granted him a valuable perspective and the ability to identify what successful businesses have in common. Get our FREE Strategic Planning Workbook template here: https://www.sm...
Dec 05, 2019•34 min
Justin Miller, Co-Founder & CEO of CARE for AIDS joined us on our Strategy & Leadership Podcast to share his best practices on aligning culture & strategy in a non-profit organization. During our conversation, Justin shared his expertise on co-building and leading an international non-profit organization. Get our FREE Strategic Planning Workbook template here: https://www.smestrategy.net/strategic-planning-process-template-workbook Enroll in our strategic planning course to learn our...
Nov 19, 2019•30 min
In this episode of our Strategy and Leadership Podcast, we were joined by Josh Schneider, Director at the Millennial and Employment Engagement Institute. Josh spends his days traveling, writing, and speaking at conferences, and has developed this institute to fund research that matches the stories and examples that were being seen in the workplace, along with topics such as meaningful and fulfilling work. Get our FREE Strategic Planning Workbook template here: https://www.smestrategy.net/strateg...
Oct 31, 2019•31 min
In this episode of our Strategy and Leadership Podcast, we welcomed Zvi Band, the Co-founder and CEO of Contactually and author of Success Is in Your Sphere. Zvi has a diverse background, starting as a software engineer out of college and eventually evolving into the leader he is today. In addition to his career, Zvi is involved in his community and supports building relationships in both his personal and professional life. Get our FREE Strategic Planning Workbook template here: https://www.smes...
Oct 17, 2019•24 min
