To say I’m a fan of presentation expert Nancy Duarte and audio/video savant Tom Buck would be a vast understatement. Similarly, Cat Mulvihill is a rising YouTube star, and I consider her a blend of these two experts. In this conversation, we focus on better online meetings and the best technology that can be had on a price-friendly budget. Cat also reveals why filler words need to be harnessed and how to do so.
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One Day I’ll Work For Myself
If you work for yourself or would like to, have you considered whose shoulders you are standing on? Ben Waterhouse is a professor and faculty director at the University of North Carolina, and he answers that question and more in his newest book, One Day I’ll Work for Myself. In this conversation, we explore some of history’s most pivotal inflection points that led to the plateau of big business and learn why self-employment is more than financial freedom.
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Competing on Customer Personalization
How did Amazon, Netflix, and Starbucks start their customer personalization programs? What was the starting point? What were the costs? Who was involved? The co-authors answer these questions in the very readable Personalized: Customer Strategy in the Age of AI. Mark Abraham and David Edelman explain that personalization is not email or glorified loyalty rewards programs in this show. Instead, this cross-functional activity starts with a few simple questions in their 5 Promises framework.
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The Private Equity Playbook Keeps Getting Better
My favorite book on private equity is The Private Equity Playbook by Adam Coffey. It’s easy to read, the math is simple and impactful, and the stories are based on a former CEO who understands the intricacies behind private equity. Adam has released the second edition of this book, which is about 20 percent longer with new material. This conversation addresses the continued growth of private equity, committed capital, Adam’s 70-30 rule, and a funny locksmith story.
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Making an IMPACT with Project Management Offices
As a financial leader, I want to know every aspect of business. While quarterbacking my share of ERP implementations, I had only once heard the term PMO (short for Project Management Office). Accordingly, I wanted to learn more. After reading Laura Barnard’s new book on PMOs, I quickly realized she is probably the global thought leader on this subject. The book we unpack is The IMPACT Engine: Accelerating Strategy Delivery for PMO and Transformation Leaders.
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Strategy and Leadership as Service
Numerous financial blog articles and LinkedIn posts highlight the benefits of a small business owner hiring a portfolio CFO. However, I do not recall these writers commenting on why financial professionals step away from the W-2 world to serve multiple owners as clients. Sara Daw may be the first author to articulate why CFOs jump into the gig economy through her comprehensive research, which we can read about in Strategy and Leadership as Service.
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John Boyd’s Biographer on the OODA Loop, Strategy, and Careers
Maybe the name John Boyd does not ring a bell, but perhaps the OODA Loop will, the mental model created by one of the most gifted military strategists since Sun Tzu. I was so mesmerized by Robert Coram’s biography on John Boyd, I reached out to the author to talk about his book, a project that took him more than three years to write.
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Dave Kellogg on SaaS Metrics
Dave Kellogg is the former CEO of Host Analytics now called Planful. Dave is a brilliant writer on his blog called Kellblog and he’s outstanding behind a mic too. Since leaving his CEO post, Dave has been consulting SaaS-based businesses in Silicon Valley, and we hit on many of the topics that are near and dear to him.
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Strategy for Real Estate Companies
Strategic planning and real estate companies are not word pairings we are used to hearing. Charlie Hewlett is changing that mindset. He is the managing director at RCLCO, a company based in the Washington, D.C., metro area. He co-authored Strategy for Real Estate Companies. Our topics include the definition of a real estate company, a short definition of strategic planning, what strategic planning is not, SWOT, POVs, plan lengths, and who should work on the strategy process.
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A Wonderful Career in Crime
How did Charles Cowlam resort to a lifelong career in crime during the Gilded Age? During this fascinating interview, the author of A Wonderful Career Crime stumbles upon several nuggets of U.S. history that would otherwise remain undetected by well-known historians. Frank Garmon shares his favorite stories of Cowlam’s life as a fraudster, bigamist, and swindler. He takes us to the origin of how this micro-history came to be in book form.
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