Posts by David Shriner-Cahn

Even by entrepreneurial standards, Chuck Ealey has had a diverse career—or three careers: football star, businessman, and community leader. After a record-setting college football career in Toledo—which, he says, he viewed as a vehicle to getting his degree in business economics—Chuck was passed over in the NFL draft in an era when black quarterbacks were almost unheard-of. Leaving the NFL, he went on to an outstanding career as a quarterback with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and the Toronto Argonauts (he describes how “I went to Canada to live the American dream and play quarterback.”)

After leaving football, Chuck went on to establish himself as a leader in the financial industry. Today, he is a Certified Financial Planner, radio host, and has been the Mississauga Regional Director for the Investors Group Financial Services Inc. since 1987. Here, he talks about his career and the things that have made him successful:

• Handling transitions and difficult periods by moving “one play at a time, one day at a time”—and focusing on what you can control in the moment
• The importance of fully focusing on an endpoint or outcome, and having a plan to reach it
• The potential communication gaps in inter-generational communication in the workplace, and why “we can’t just overlook it and say ‘do it like me’”
• Mentoring younger workers in the workplace, and emphasizing long-term goals over short-term gratification.

Chuck is a recipient of the Herb Carnegie Community Leadership Award and the African Canadian Achievement Sports Award. He is the founder of the Chuck Ealey Foundation and the Chair of the Board of Directors for the Living Arts Centre in Mississauga.

Learn more about Chuck at www.chuckealeyspeaks.com or at www.undefeatedspirit.com.

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After a career in the British finance industry, Nigel Savage successfully made the leap from the private sector to non-profit management. He founded Hazon in 2000, with the goal of building a more sustainable Jewish community and a healthier world. Here, Nigel discusses the similarities between for- and non-profit enterprises, including: finding the right people for the job, maintaining competitive advantage, organizational systems and structure, and common road blocks.

He also discusses:

• Assessing personal strengths and weaknesses and knowing when to ask for help
• Recognizing what business components will require continuous or additional work after implementation—such as social media communications, human resources, and internal structure
• Overcoming discomfort with fundraising
• Reducing bureaucracy while maintaining systems
• Keeping the faith: applying religious and community-based assets to solving real-world problems

Nigel founded Hazon with a bike ride across America to raise awareness of environmental issues; today, the New York-based nonprofit has staff in 7 locations around the US, and was designated by the Sierra Club as one of the top 50 faith-based environmental organizations.

Nigel has studied at Georgetown, Pardes, Yakar, and Hebrew University, and has experience as the executive director for a number of independent films. He was a founder of both the New Israel Fund in the UK and Limmud New York. Currently, her serves on the board of Romemu. He has twice been listed in the Forward’s annual list of America’s 50 most influential Jews.

Learn more about Hazon on the web at www.hazon.org, on Twitter (@Hazon), or on Facebook.

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Tamela Rich’s solo travels across North America have put her face-to -face with fears of humiliation, loss of autonomy, and even death. In this interview, the author, storyteller, and adventurer discusses how fear can hinder us from overcoming challenges in our personal and business lives. As she observes, fear does not need to hold us back from achieving business goals: with the right mix of confidence, humility, and self-reflection, we can channel fearful energy in a productive way towards growth and reward.

She also discusses:

• The benefits of positive thinking and self-reflection to leadership
• How focusing on personal strengths—both our own and those of others—is more productive than lingering on weaknesses
• Turning setbacks into opportunities for growth
• The positive implications of getting to know your “true self,” such as being more adaptive and more able to navigate unpredictable circumstances

Learn more about Tamela, her writing (including her book, Living Full Throttle), and her motorcycle adventures at TamelaRich.com, or follow her on LinkedIn (Tamela Rich) or Twitter (@TamelaRich).

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Marilyn King knows something about the power of thinking: after a car accident in 1979 rendered her unable to train physically for her third Olympic Team, she placed second at the Olympic trials for the 1980 Moscow Games after using only mental training techniques. A two-time Olympian in the five-event pentathlon, Marilyn has spent 30 years as an expert in the field of exceptional human performance. The president of Way Beyond Sports, she helps others apply skills learned through sports to three specific areas: business, education and peace.

In this interview, she discusses:

• The importance of daily practices – not only physical, but mental: how you approach the day, what the plan is, how to be more effective.
• The power of Olympic thinking: Passion, Vision, Action.
• Why leaders need to understand the conditions under which people are willing or able to change
• How leaders can tell a company’s “Story of Now” to give employees a sense of excitement and purpose
• How leaders can mine the collective wisdom of the company’s employees
• How Olympian Thinking can help us achieve the world we want to live in

Marilyn’s work includes programs conducted for senior executives at Fortune 500 companies, such as AT&T, Apple Computer, Hewlett Packard, IBM, Ikea, Microsoft, Nokia, Oracle, Swiss Reinsurance, Starbucks and Wells Fargo. She has been featured on Forbes.com, The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, and NBC Nightly News. Currently, Marilyn is involved in a joint Russian-American venture called “The Peace Team,” and has twice spoken at the United Nations.

Learn more about Marilyn at her website, www.WayBeyondSports.com.

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Jeff Salz–anthropologist, explorer, keynote speaker, and expedition leader—advocates adventure as a mode of leadership. In this interview, he describes how “Adventure isn’t just defined by the activity—it’s really a state of mind and a state of perspective,” and suggests that leaders can learn a lot from approaching things from the perspective of an adventurer. This can be helpful to understanding leadership itself; Salz says that in today’s swiftly-changing business scene, “You have to have the skills of a leader that once belonged to the expeditionary.”

Here, he discusses what leaders can learn from adventure, and where anyone can find it, as well as:

• The leadership skills that any expedition-leading adventurer—or any leader—should have, including the ability to stay cool under pressure and have an intuitive grasp of a situation
• How to deal with uncertainty while leading a team
• Maintaining a sense of “purposeful certainty” about outcomes
• How to help a whole team share a sense of urgency and responsibility for outcomes
• How approaching business as an adventure can generate a sense of creativity, excitement, and openness to change

Jeff holds a Bachelor’s in Outdoor Education, a Master’s in Experiential Education, and a Ph.D. in Cultural Education. He is involved in adventure-base education, speaking, coaching and training, and has worked with executives at companies including Microsoft, Google, eBay, Motorola and the Walt Disney Company. He is also a founding contributor to Escape magazine.

Learn more about Jeff at www.drjeffsalz.com, or look for his book, The Way of Adventure. Jeff can also be seen on the History and Discovery networks, and can be reached at jeff@jeffsalz.com.

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Steve Farber has focused on leadership development for more than 25 years, and over that period observed that quality of leadership was “the deciding factor as to an organization or company’s competitive advantage.” To develop and help others with his experience, he developed the concept of “Extreme Leadership,” and explains that “Leadership is not about your position or your title; it’s not about what you call yourself. Leadership is about your ability to influence people around you to change the world for the better. In other words, leadership is an extreme act: by its nature, it’s extreme.” Steve is the President of Extreme Leadership, Inc. and founder of The Extreme Leadership Institute. Both help develop “Extreme Leaders.”

Here Steve discusses:

• The LEAP system, and the four qualities that all leaders should have
• Why simply asking your employees to “love” their customers is not enough, but how the workplace has to be made an enjoyable place to work in.
• Why leaders should always be examining their own practices by setting their sights beyond their own business, and to the industry as a whole
• Why being honest with your team about anxieties and risks can help create a culture of innovation and openness

Steve is the former VP of The Tom Peters Company. He has worked with an array of public and private organizations in a range of arenas, from the tech sector to financial services, manufacturing, health care, hospitality, entertainment, retail, public education, non-profits, and government. He is listed on Inc magazine’s ranking of the Top 50 Leadership and Management Experts in the world, and his third book, Greater Than Yourself: The Ultimate Lesson of True Leadership, debuted as a Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestseller.

Learn more about Steve or download a free audio program at SteveFarber.com.

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After eight years of analyzing risk in the reinsurance industry, Mark Hunter hired a career coach to help him assess what leadership meant to him. Soon, he left the industry to take an apprenticeship with his coach; today, Mark is the founder and President of Pinnacle Coaching, Inc., an international business and executive coaching company.

In today’s episode, he discusses modern leadership, including:

• Leadership as “a way of expressing ownership” and responsibility—over teams, fiscal results, or whatever falls under one’s purview
• Overcoming fear of that ownership through choosing a challenge, and viewing that challenge as an opportunity
• Why it is important to establish the kind of leader you are within your organization
• Why seeking outside points of view can be helpful in moving a business to the next level, particular in assessing communication and collaboration breakdowns

Mark is the author of The Brink: How Great Leadership Is Invented (2014). He is a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) through the International Coach Federation, and specializes in keynote speaking, workshop facilitation, business/corporate coaching, and team culture/context shifts.

Learn more about Mark at Pinnacle-Coaching.net, and learn more about his book at TheBrinkBook.com. Write to Hunter directly at Mark@pinnacle-coachingnet.

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Soon after the 2008 downturn, Josh was faced with a decision: find another job, or create something new? He chose to reinvent himself as a freelance CFO for businesses in St. Louis, using LinkedIn to build his business. Soon, he became a LinkedIn campaign designer for several clients, and in 2011 founded Linked Selling, which has grown to serve clients all over the world in a range of industries.

In this interview, Josh discusses:

• Choosing to start a new business in a rough economy
• Recognizing when your clients are asking for new services, and having the flexibility to offer them more services
• Networking online through LinkedIn—and why it’s not all about pitching
• Recognizing when you need to hand over parts of the management of your business to others
• Placing hiring and training systems in place to make sure that your employees can be successful

Linked Selling specializes in fully outsourced LinkedIn lead generation campaigns. They represent clients in the US, Canada, UK, Asia, and Australia, in a wide variety of industries; clients include Neil Patel and Microsoft. Josh’s company also operates LinkedUniversity.com, an online training program for LinkedIn marketing.

Josh’s book Connect is being released on June 15; learn more at TheConnectBook.com/smashing, or through Josh’s LinkedIn page.

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In this interview, JP Hervis discusses his career shift from award-winning journalism to public relations, a shift that “made sense”: as a journalist, he was “too often” receiving press releases that he could see needed improvement. Having never taken a public relations or business course, Hervis began working freelance for a small PR firm; he is now the president and founder of Insider Media Management.

Here, he discusses:

• How “every business has a story—and the story is usually the people. And the people are the distinctive elements of any business.”
• How to hire the right PR firm for your needs, and why identifying your needs is so important to firm selection
• Why leaders need to consider what story they are telling about their business—both for their customers and for their employees
• The importance of maintaining years-long business relationships by “not getting too comfortable” with long-term clients
• Recognizing every member of your staff, and being sure they are not growing bored, but are being positively challenged with interesting work

Insider Media Management is a public relations, digital marketing and advertising firm that has represented clients around the country in a wide variety of industries, including medical, technology, sports, entertainment, law, consumer goods, hospitality, and more. Hervis has worked with celebrity sports figures, chefs, CEOs, law firms, doctors and small business owners.

Hervis has received awards and recognition for his work from the West Virginia Associated Press, Mississippi Associated Press, Society of Professional Journalists, and National Academy of Arts & Sciences. In 2014, he was selected by Boca Life Magazine as one of the top 40 Under 40; Insider Media Management has been named one of the top public relations agencies in South Florida by the South Florida Business Journal.

Learn more about Hervis at InsiderMediaManagement.com, or call them at their headquarters in Boca Raton, Florida at (561) 995-6560.

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Ted says that “my resume looks like someone threw a grenade into a normal career.” Currently the Chief Marketing Officer of Meddle.it, Ted is a three-time CEO who has founded several businesses. Here, he describes how businesses and leadership styles need to adapt to what he calls a post-industrial economy, where social media and shared social intelligence have changed the balance of power for companies, employees, and consumers.

He also discusses:

• What companies should do when people trust individual employees far more than corporate messages
• How companies can work with employees on social media to create trust and interest
• What’s “unnatural” about a command-and-control leadership style
• Why working with volunteers is invaluable leadership experience, and why you should treat all of your employees like they are volunteers

Meddle.it is an enterprise SaaS firm specializing in content marketing through employee advocacy. Ted is the author of A World Gone Social: How Companies Must Adapt to Survive. He is also a Forbes Top 20 Social Media Power Influencer, an Inc. Top 100 Leadership Expert, and an Inc. Top 100 Speaker. He is currently working on a project about “The modern CEO,” and what it takes to lead a business in the post-industrial age.

Learn more about Ted Coiné via his Twitter @TedCoine.

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Orlando Bowen is a former professional athlete and television personality who motivates youth and corporate audiences with keynotes. Here, he shares his story of a traumatic 2004 episode in which he was seriously assaulted by two corrupt plain-clothes police officers; he describes how they planted drugs on him and charged him with assault. After being acquitted and settling a lawsuit against the Peel, Ontario police out of court, Bowen has dedicated his life to working with youth, helping them become future leaders. He is the founder and Executive Director of the One Voice One Team youth leadership organization.

Here, he discusses:

• The necessity of finding fulfilling work
• How “understanding who you are and what you stand for” will help you overcome challenges and move forward.
• Surrounding yourself with people who share the same values
• How your value system will help you make trajectory-including decisions at “moments of truth”—decisions that may affects your business, life, and relationships
• Handling “game breakers”—when you have to set your goals aside to handle unplanned-for situations

Orlando’s mission is to inspire people to be “Game Changers” in the lives of others. He created the SWOLE Leadership Development Program (Self-respect, Work hard, Overcome adversity, Lead by example, and Excellence). He was awarded the 2012 African Canadian Achievement Award, the 2013 Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal, and a national 2014 Harry Jerome Award for community service. He is also the 2015 president of the Toronto Chapter of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers.

Learn more about Bowen at www.OrlandoBowen.com.

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Julie Ducharme is a speaker, consultant and author on leadership, business, and marketing. She is the CEO of JD Consulting LLC, CEO of Julie’s Party People, and president of Synergy Learning Institute. She is also a Professor and mentor for the Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) Program at Walden University. Here, Ducharme speaks about when and how to choose to strategically expand a business—whether by investing in new equipment, human capital, or by forming strategic partnerships.

She also discusses:

• When caution can become a liability, and when a calculated risk is the right move for a business
• The importance of understanding your market, and of understanding how social media can help you reach out to consumers
• Knowing when to spend money to make money, whether by investing in equipment, marketing or technological education.
• Understanding the power of networking and partnerships, and getting to know people in the industry who “might need you”—or who , in turn, you can send clients to for services you don’t offer
• Finding good mentors by immersing yourself in the industry

Ducharme started her career in college and professional sports; for the past 15 years, she has been working with corporations, colleges and universities around and outside of San Diego. She regularly consults for businesses and schools in various areas of business, public outreach, curriculum, program design and other topics in the business and academic arenas, and is published chapters in the bestselling The Refractive Thinker series.

Learn more about JD Consulting at www.jdconsultingsolutions.com or about Ducharme’s education programs at  www.synergylearninginstitute.org. Ducharme also has presences on LinkedIn (Julie Ducharme) and Twitter (@julieducharme).

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Salim Ismail is a speaker, strategist and entrepreneur based in Silicon Valley. He specializes in breakthrough technologies, and has spent the last six years building Singularity University as its founding Executive Director and current Global Ambassador. Here, he discusses how rapidly-changing technologies are changing both the face and the needs of a variety of industries and society in general, and how this rapid change can translate to opportunities for those who are able to adapt and move at a fast pace.

He also discusses:

• Why we’re experiencing another “Gutenberg” technology moment—or ten of such moments!—at the same time
• How our political, technical, legal, healthcare and education systems all need to be updated for today’s fast-moving technological world—and what Singularity is doing to address these changes
• Why we are experiencing “one of the most extraordinary opportunities in the history of business”, particularly for small and medium-sized businesses that can change and innovate quickly
• The challenge of communicating huge visions as a leader to people who may not be in the same headspace
• The value of “detoxing” periodically to get away from the psychological stress of starting and running a business

Prior to his work at Singularity, Ismail was a Vice President at Yahoo, where he built and ran Brickhouse, Yahoo’s internal incubator. His last company, Angstro, was sold to Google in 2010. He has founded or operated seven early-stage companies including PubSub Concepts, which laid some of the foundation for the real-time web.

Ismail has been featured in the New York Times, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Fortune, Forbes, Wired, Vogue and the BBC. He advises Fortune 500 executives and many world governments on the future of technology and has recently released his first book, Exponential Organizations.

Learn more about Singularity University at SingularityU.org; Ismail’s book at ExponentialOrgs.com, or follow Ismail on Twitter (@SalimIsmail).

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