Posts by David Shriner-Cahn

Pandwe Gibson describes the focus of her work: “How do you create opportunities for economic development in low-income communities? Because that is the vehicle to having a happy, healthy, fulfilled life.” Gibson’s career has worked to answer this question—after founding a network of schools in Louisiana to create educational opportunities for students after Hurricane Katrina, she shifted into a more community-based direction, since stable communities and employed adults were also crucial for children’s development.

Currently, she is founder of Ecotech Visions, a Miami-based tech incubator currently helping 18 green manufacturing companies find the right people, make the right connections, and grow the needed leadership skills to develop into influential innovators and stable community employers. In this lively interview, she discusses her driving philosophies about manufacturing can (and should) help Americans achieve the American dream, and why the current business climate in America is not necessarily helping entrepreneurs or innovators grow those kinds of businesses.

She also discusses:

• Why the greatest opportunities for American manufacturing are located along the tech spectrum
• How America currently lacks an ecosystem of support to help innovators move up, and help tech innovation happen
• How EcoTech is helping young engineers, architect, and business majors come together to create new businesses
• Why so many successful small businesses find it difficult to grow into medium or large businesses
• The advantages of focusing on the assets of your community—who your consumer is, and what they need—rather than thinking in terms of “niches”
• How Michael Jordan and LeBron James can help us think about where we should look for technical innovation

Gibson has started, led and scaled three successful companies; she is currently Founder and Executive Director of EcoTech Visions. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Scripps College, a Master of Arts in Teaching and Learning from Claremont Graduate University, a Master in Leadership from Harvard Graduate School, and a PhD from Claremont Graduate University.

Learn more about EcoTech at ecotechvisions.org, or through its social media pages on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

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After beginning her career as an attorney, Tania Yuki moved into digital entrepreneurship; she is currently the founder and CEO of Shareablee, which provides social content analytics for business. In this interview, she discusses the nature of that transition, and how important is it to recognize that the employee/entrepreneur dichotomy is not the only relevant division for people seeking out a career path: she suggests that people might also consider whether they prefer to seek variety (and risk) or whether they prefer stability.

In this wide-ranging discussion, she also discusses:

• The importance of clarity and transparency for leaders
• Why expanding businesses especially should go into the hiring process with a set of metrics, and know, in advance, what qualities they are searching for in potential employees
• The necessity of being “regimented” in how you take care of yourself: why sleep and fitness are required to maintain your mental clarity for decision-making
• Knowing what you can achieve in a given week, and how taking time to plan out your week can help you get there
• Using predictive analytics to “take the guesswork out of social media”, and making decisions based on available data about social media practices
• Why planning is invaluable even when—or especially when—unexpected events mean that they don’t work out: “You don’t plan because you want to create a rigid structure… but if you don’t plan, you’ll really have no chance at being able to succeed with anything that comes your way.”

As an attorney, Yuki specialized in digital rights management, IP and film financing; before founding Shareablee, she was head of acquisitions and branding and led product management for comScore’s Video Metrix, the world’s leading online video ratings service. She is also the founder of wimlink, an organization that holds regular events and seminars promoting entrepreneurship, leadership and the professional development of women.

Yuki was recently honored with a “Great Mind Award” from the Advertising Research Foundation, and featured in Fast Company and Forbes as one of the top 12 women driving digital in New York. She also received the 2014 L’Oréal Women in Digital “Next Generation Award.”

Learn more about Yuk and her business at Shareablee.com, or through Shareablee’s Facebook and Twitter pages.

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Drawing on over 25 years of experience as a consultant and coach, Brenda Williams has developed what she calls her “Self-Mastery System,” which focuses on leadership development and emotional intelligence. In this interview, she explains how relatively few people have a real self-awareness, noting that “Most of us think we are one way, but when you do a 360-self assessment”—soliciting feedback from friends, employees, or others—”you get different feedback.” She notes that people can learn to be more consciously aware of what they are conveying to other people—through their language, tone, and more, and that this awareness can help them become better employees and better leaders.

She also explains:

• How effective leaders can convey confidence, inspiration, and make employees feel appreciated and “part of a bigger journey”
• What happens when leaders are not aware of how they come across to their employees, which may lead to a lack of inspiration, or—even worse—hesitancy and fear to speak up
• The importance of inviting and encouraging new perspectives
• How to present ideas to leaders about creating change in a way that will be positive for the company as a whole
• How active listening and asking “clarifying questions” can help improve communication

Williams is a Board-Certified Coach who has provided consulting and coaching to individuals and businesses for over 25 years. She helps individuals and organizations make critical changes in their behavior, mindset and skills. Learn more about Williams at www.yourcoachingsolution.com.

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Allan Karl has explored more than 60 countries, photographing, blogging, and writing about them on the way. His book Forks: The Quest for Culture, Cuisine and Connection (2014) documents a three-year motorcycle journey through 35 countries. In this interview, Karl discusses his decision to turn his passion for travel into a way to live, and the hesitation that too often prevents people from taking a similar leap in their own entrepreneurial endeavors. He describes how “Anyone can do this—the hardest part about deciding to choose your passion, and follow your dream, is that decision point: deciding to do it.”

He also describes:

• The power of “change conditioning”: how practicing small changes can make it easier to take on larger changes
• Balancing the benefits of consistency against the risk of allowing habits to turn into stagnancy.
• Why risk taking is “the only way you can innovate and grow”
• The necessity of “being open” to new experiences and new people, and of trusting both yourself and others
• The value of curiosity: “When we’re curious, we tend to ask more questions”

Currently, Karl is preparing to film his next journey (another motorcycle odyssey, beginning in China) for television. He is principal of WorldRider Productions, where he focuses on speaking, publishing, and coaching, and a marketing strategist for clearcloud, a digital marketing and branding consultancy located in Southern California.

Learn more about Karl on AllanKarl.com; WorldRider.com; Twitter (@WorldRider), Instagram, and Facebook; and at ForksTheBook.com.

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This episode features a Face-Off on the topic of personal branding between experts Gary Vaynerchuk and David Zweig. Zweig’s recent book Invisibles criticizes what he considers the 21^st-century problem of personal branding and image overtaking people’s actual work. In contrast, Vaynerchuk argues in his book Crush It! that “Everyone needs to start thinking of themselves as a brand. You are a brand.” In their discussion here, Zweig and Vaynerchuk find themselves agreeing on most points—and the result is a rigorous discussion on the subtleties of deciding if, why, and how people should brand themselves.

They also discuss:

• The differences between “generating noise” about yourself and being effective as a self-promoter.
• When it’s “worth” the money, time, or effort to engage in personal branding—and who would find it worthwhile.
• Why “For most people, it’s a waste of time—unless they enjoy it. They’re far better off perfecting their craft.” (Zweig)
• Why brand-building requires a sustained effort, and why so many people quit too soon.

Gary Vaynerchuk is a storytelling entrepreneur, video blogger, self-trained social media expert, and a best-selling author. Vaynerhuk launched Winelibrary.com in 1997 and helped grow his family business from $3 million to $45 million by 2005. He and his brother AJ are founders of VaynerMedia, an agency that helps companies including GE, PepsiCo, Hasbro and the New York Jets build their digital-brands. He is currently the General Partner of the newly-formed venture fund VaynerRSE.

David Zweig is a writer, lecturer and musician based in Brooklyn, New York. Invisibles (Penguin, 2014), his first nonfiction book, is an expansion of his Atlantic article “What Do Fact-Checkers and Anesthesiologists Have in Common?” As a singer, guitar player, and producer, Zweig has released two albums, All Now With Wings and Keep Going; his debut novel Swimming Inside The Sun was released in 2009. As a freelance journalist he has written for The Atlantic, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. He is currently putting together a new book on how Western culture at large, especially online culture, affects individual self-perception.

Learn more about Gary Vaynerchuk on Twitter (@garyvee), and visit Dave Zweig’s website at DavidZweig.com.

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Will Henshall describes himself as “equally right-brained and left-brained”—he has background as both a successful tech entrepreneur (he holds six patents) and as a platinum record-selling musician/composer. In this interview, he describes how the processes in tech entrepreneurship and writing and making a hit pop song successful are surprisingly similar. He argues that running a band is like a tech startup: you need an idea; you need to see if people like it; you need feedback; you need to see if it is marketable… both require, he says, 2% inspiration and 98% perspiration, and that time and execution are the most importance parts of that process.

Here, he also touches on:

• Why you should remain motived while also “not believing your own publicity—your latest idea is just your latest idea”
• How every idea is equal at its inception—it’s the work that follows that will prove how good it is in the real world
• How to assess the open-mindedness of potential hires
• How his startup hacks the mind’s distraction mechanisms using carefully-calibrated music
• The ways in which getting a project to succeed is like managing a sinking boat.

Henshall founded the British pop soul band Londonbeat and had two Billboard #1 hit records. He went on to found Rocket Network (a Paul Allen/Cisco-funded San Francisco company) and created the professional audio media transfer system DigiDelivery, which he later sold to Avid. Today his focus is www.focusatwill.com, “an online cognitive performance platform that delivers scientifically developed music and sound that helps reduce distractions when working, studying and reading.”

Learn more about Henshall on Twitter (@focusatwill), Facebook, or at www.focusatwill.com.

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Marcie Allen began booking bands when she was sixteen; during college, she was offered a job at LiveNation’s Cellar Door Concerts. At age 25, she founded her first business, MAD Booking & Events; today, she is President of New York City-based music experiential agency MAC Presents. Here, she discusses the importance of identifying and adapting to industry niches: being, in the words of her grandfather Hoss Allen, “a bit of a chameleon” in order to succeed.

She also spoke about how:

• “A lot of people think that there’s a rulebook when you’re sitting down to do an artist sponsorship or endorsement deal. But there’s not.”
• “I don’t represent either side—I represent the deal, because if there’s not a successful deal that both the artist and the brand are happy about, no one wins.”
• Understanding where both sides of the partnership are coming from: “What’s a win? How are you going to measure your ROI?”
• Being passionate vs. being emotional about a deal.
• Paving the way for women in the music industry
• The new model for entrepreneurship in the music industry: artist apps, social media, branded content.
• The new importance of millennials in the music industry.

Allen uses her 21 years of connections in the music industry to “bridge the gap” between corporate brands and the music industry. She has executed partnerships on behalf of brands including Delta, Microsoft, Jeep, Samsung, CITI, Sony, Southwest Airlines, Verizon, and AT&T, and artists including Foo Fighters, Green Day, John Legend, Billy Joel, Imagine Dragons, The Who, Rolling Stones, and Keith Urban. She is a nine-time nominee and four-time winner of Billboard’s Concert Marketing and Promotion Award.

Allen was named to Billboard’s Women in Music 2010-2014, Billboard’s “40 under 40” in 2013, and Billboard’s Humanitarian of the Year Award. In 2013, The White House honored Allen as one of their Hurricane Sandy “Champions of Change.”

Learn more about Allen or get in touch through MacPresents.com, Twitter (@MarcieAllen), or LinkedIn.

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After donating blood to raise money (“which I don’t recommend as a way to get capital”), Tim Fargo founded Omega Insurance Services, a firm that, after almost seven years, he sold in 2003 for $20 million. But that’s the too-short version of the story: as Fargo discusses in his interview, this success required a series of mistakes and missteps in his previous entrepreneurial attempts—including a bankruptcy—before he had the requisite knowledge and experience to do well. Here, he discusses the value—even the necessity—of failure and self-reflection for entrepreneurs.

He also discusses:

• Celebrating victories as your business starts to be successful, but also “keep[ing] them in proportion to what’s occurred.”
• Finding and driving home your niche: “Don’t try to push what’s not working—focus on what is.”
• Why it’s not the idea that will lead to success, but the ability to execute that idea.
• How the rules and values of social media are not different from those of other social contexts: “medium is irrelevant.”

Fargo is the author of Alphabet Success – Keeping It Simple, My Rules of Success. He is currently bootstrapping tech start-up Tweet Jukebox, which manages content for Twitter users, and he is an angel investor. He also spoke about Meddle (meddle.it) during his interview, as a startup that plans to re-frame internet comments into opinion pieces that won’t get lost in comments sections.

Learn more about Fargo’s book at Alphabetsuccess.blogspot.com, and his company at TweetJukebox.com. Tim can be contacted through tim@tweetjukebox.com.

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Sheila Walker Hartwell started Hartwell Planning in 1996, a fee-only financial planning firm, initially intended to help divorced and widowed women. Today, she works with a diverse clientele and speaks about comprehensive financial planning issues. In this interview, she discusses how and why even successful small business owners may not be on top of their personal financial planning: they believe that they will work forever, and they may not have an exit plan for their business.

Other topics include:

• How succession planning can both help small business owners think about leaving their business and optimize its growth.
• Why asking “What’s next?” can help business owners leave their small business and move forward—into retirement, or onto the next project.
• Why people in the same field can and should collaborate, rather than think of themselves as competing.
• How going in with the goal of identifying and meeting each client’s individual needs precisely can lead to greater efficiency.

Sheila is the author of Lift the Burden of Debt: How to Climb Out of Debt and Stay Out in 10 Easy Steps, and has been a senior VP in advertising for Fortune 500 companies. A Canadian-American, she holds a BA from the University of Western Ontario in Canada, and an MBA in Finance from Columbia’s Graduate School of Business in New York. She also holds a Certificate of Financial Planning from New York University’s Center for Finance, Law and Taxation.

Get in touch with Sheila through www.hartwellplanning.com (soon to relaunch) or have an informal, complimentary chat with Hartwell Planning at (212) 772-8654.

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After founding Human Capital in 1997, Scott Fritz grew the company into a nationwide player with 2007 annual revenues of $170 million dollars. He also acquired Atlantic Insurance, a property and casualty agency, re-branded and re-positioned the agency, and sold it – all within two years. In this interview, however, he goes back to the beginning—when he spent two and a half years without a paycheck. He describes the factors that produce a successful business at its inception—in particular, why a certain amount of “failure is not an option” attitude can be helpful to getting a business of the ground.

He also discusses:

• Building a business vs. building an asset
• Getting “out of the way” of talented employees, and how to let people do what they were hired to do
• Building owner wealth vs. building company value, and why owners should take wealth out of a business—and how much
• Transitioning yourself out of the business you founded, in three steps
• Positioning your company to be acquired, and why it’s the same as positioning your company to acquire others
• Learning to be okay with passing your work to someone who may not be capable of 100% of what you did—but why 80% is good enough

Fritz is the author of The 40 Hour Work YEAR; he currently oversees funding and strategy for Vision Group Management, a website transaction company focused on the acquisition and monetization of over 50 websites around the world. He is also the founder of Growth Connect, specializing in transforming businesses into assets, and an active angel investor.

Learn more about Fritz at 40hourworkyear.com, which provides details on his book, coaching business, speaking, and more.

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Former Olympian Mary Andrews specializes in working with business leaders who have achieved individual success, and are working to take on responsibility for the broader success of their companies. Here, she discusses the four things that we can all learn from Olympians regarding how to achieve success, beginning with the ability to believe in possibilities of success, and learning how to name and claim what you want. Drawing on her Olympics experience, she also discusses the interplay of individual dynamics with group performance, and how group success can be achieved among teams and communities.

Other topics include:

• How competition can inspire everyone to do better
• Why “adding a team member” is a misnomer (you’re not “adding”; you’re reforming the whole team!)
• Why everyone should think about leadership—not just managers, bosses, and partners
• Succession leadership—how to move from being in charge to helping others prepare to step into leadership roles
• Why being successful doesn’t mean you have to “do it on your own”: why coaches can help you maintain focus

Andrews is President of Andrews Performance Corporation. She holds a Masters Degree from Stanford University, and has more than twenty years of experience in the field of individual, team, and organizational performance—specializing in helping leaders who are dealing with too much to do, not enough time, and frustration with the lack of exciting results.

Get in touch with Andrews via email at MOAndrews@AndrewsPerformance.com or learn more through her website, www.andrewsperformance.com.

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Shep Hyken has expanded the customer service practices he learned as a twelve-year-old magician into a career as a customer service expert, professional speaker and bestselling author. This week, he speaks about how crucial a healthy customer service culture is to any company, and how companies of any size can help foster a culture of positive feedback—not only through treating customers well, but by treating their own employees well.

Other topics include:

• Starting a business in 2015 vs. starting his first business in 1983
• How online content marketing can help you identify new customers while serving your current customers
• The importance of a flexibility of mindset, at companies of any size
• Why good leaders need clarity of vision, and how employee training can help everyone share that vision
• The importance of hiring new employees who fit a company culture
• What we can learn about leadership from Walt Disney’s picking up garbage at Disneyland

Hyken specializes in helping companies build loyal relationships with their customers and employees. He write regularly for Forbes.com, and has authored several books, including Moments of Magic (1993), The Amazement Revolution (2011), and Amaze Every Customer Every Time (2013). He has also created The Customer Focus program, which helps clients develop a customer service culture and loyalty mindset.

Learn more about Hyken at www.hyken.com.

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