Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast Mads Singers Management Podcast
| Titre | Date | Durée | |
|---|---|---|---|
| #185: How To Improve Your Business Efficiency Without Wasting A Lot Of Money | 30 Mar 2023 | 00:28:23 | |
Episode Summary As you know by now, a business that efficiently runs is much more likely to find continued success over the long term. If you’ve ever asked yourself as an entrepreneur, “How to increase business efficiency?” Well, let me tell you - efficiency boosts productivity and can give you an edge in today’s competitive market. Adam and I talked about how to increase business efficiency and its high points. A lot of entrepreneurs out there are struggling to scale up simply because: They haven’t identified the deeper layer of the business industry they are in. Have you identified the business industry you’re in? You’re in for luck! Tap in now and tune in until the very end to know how that matters! Listen to this week's show and learn:
Enjoyed Mads Singers’ podcast? Check out these: #133: Kison Patel on Being Decisive and Solving Problems Effectively #52: Marquis Matson on SEO Marketing for Start-Up Businesses Have comments about the show? Hey, do you have ideas for topics you’d like Mads Singers on future episodes? He’d love to hear from you at mads@madssingers.com! | |||
| #184: How To Successfully Communicate With Your Remote Workers In A Virtual Team | 22 Mar 2023 | 00:30:12 | |
Episode Summary It’s no secret how hiring remote workers or setting up your virtual team made you save tons of cost. Since the pandemic, remote working has become the new norm. Do you agree? In fact, a lot of businesses right now offer hybrid work set-ups. If not, they are hiring remote workers and setting up their very own virtual team. Omar and I talked about our experience in having our virtual teams. He shared how his communication dynamic has been working for him, which made his business scale up to its capacity now. He shared proven tips on how to keep remote employees engaged and the productivity it yields. By now, there’s no proven science yet, in terms of communication dynamics for managing a remote team. But one thing’s for sure: If you are not effectively managing people face-to-face, there’s no chance you’d be with a remote team! Tap in now and tune in until the very end! Listen to this week's show and learn:
Episode Resources:
#107: Richard Matthews on Building Systems and Working Remotely #41: Erick Rodriguez on Remote Management in times of COVID-19 Have comments about the show? Hey, do you have ideas for topics you’d like Mads Singers on future episodes? He’d love to hear from you at mads@madssingers.com! | |||
| #175: Easy To Follow Business Alignment Tips For Your Small Business Success | 18 Jan 2023 | 00:20:57 | |
Episode Summary Are you caught in the grip of unproductive meetings or not understanding your business and people’s functions as you thought they should be? Tristan Wright, joins us in today’s podcast episode to share how huge of an impact it can be when you acknowledge that the missing point to your small business success is an effective business alignment process! In many circumstances, finding a fix is easy when looking at an isolated problem. But how do you overcome "misalignment" to bring about and see the real change and impact on your small business? You can say with certainty that there are two things that every small business can easily do to turn things around: acknowledge the need for change, and execute! If you are having a hard time choosing the right direction for your business and not getting enough traction, listen in to today’s episode and make things turn around! Follow our practical alignment tips, and you'll be on your way to a well-aligned and successful business! Listen to this week's show and learn:
Episode Resources: Enjoyed Mads Singers’ podcast? Check out these: #122: Renata Porter on Understanding and Communicating with Your Employees Have comments about the show? | |||
| MSMP 85: Genesis Amaris Kemp on Diversity and Equality | 17 Feb 2021 | 00:38:59 | |
We hear a lot in the news these days about “diversity” and “inclusion” and it’s often best to speak to someone who is working on these issues each day to get a sense of the state of affairs. Today I welcome one of those people, Genesis Amaris Kemp, to the Mads Singers Management Podcast. Genesis is a self-proclaimed “enthusiast” for inclusivity and diversity and has a book that outlines her thoughts on the subject: Chocolate Drop in Corporate America. Genesis and I started the episode talking about passion and I shared how fortunate I was to have stumbled across my passion via a great boss. She was such a great manager that I ditched my planned career path to study management so I could become as good as her. One of the problems I run into when I chat with people is they aren’t getting out there often enough to find their passions. Pro tip: you’re not going to find your passion sitting on your couch. Part of being a great manager is being able to give feedback, but it’s also the hallmark of a great employee to be able to take feedback. I’d love to say that I was a natural, but it actually took me years to be able to just say “thank you” and thoughtfully consider what had been shared with me instead of just getting defensive and resentful, which of course led to total lack of productivity on my part. Part of the “feedback” that the corporate world has been receiving is the need to be more inclusive and diverse in the workplace and in leadership roles. This has even led to a quota system in Norway that mandates that 40% of the seats of boards of publicly traded companies must be held by women. That’s actually been discouraging to friends of mine who earned their spots before these quotas. I also recently fielded complaints from those who looked at our speaker list for the SEO Mastery Summit: “Why aren’t there more women?” We simply didn’t have a lot of women apply. Genesis and I talked about the relevance of quotas, the importance of making sure there’s a wide range of individuals of different ethnicities and cultures in given businesses, and the need to ensure that those individuals can see a path for them to rise and spread their wings, to not just be seen, but be heard. The trap of “checking the box” or “tokenizing” diversity is always lurking, even in our subconscious, so it’s worthwhile to challenge our assumptions and look to improve our workplaces for ourselves and our team members. Enjoy this episode with Genesis!
1. Genesis gives us her definition of passion - 1:45 2. Mads relates how a great boss changed his career path and allowed him to stumble across a passion - 3:20 3. Mads reminds us that hearing feedback isn’t always easy - 7:30 4. Mads goes on to warn against the defensiveness that is almost a reflex when hearing negative feedback - 10:30 5. Genesis defines diversity, inclusivity, equity, and equality - 12:40 6. Mads underlines the high stakes of hiring in a small business - 17:35 7. Mads shares his own challenges in finding female speakers for a conference he runs - 22:55 8. Genesis warns of “check the box” syndrome - 28:45 9. Genesis also warns of divided employee resource groups (ERGs) - 29:30 10. Mads reminds us that mentors love to help those who are passionate - 37:30
Chocolate Drop in Corporate America
Connect with Genesis Amaris Kemp 1. Facebook 2. Email | |||
| MSMP 84: Mark Webster on Hiring Practices | 10 Feb 2021 | 00:50:15 | |
Hiring is one of my favorite topics to discuss, and my guest for today’s episode of the Mads Singers Management Podcast, Mark Webster, had so much good information to share about that topic. Mark is Scottish but has spent enough time in the US that his accent is somewhere in the mid-Atlantic. He currently runs Authority Hacker, which he co-founded in 2014. Authority Hacker educates website owners about the ins and outs of SEO. In a previous life, he ran a digital marketing agency with 30 team members. He also holds a small portfolio of affiliate websites. One of the first things Mark talked about was the importance of hiring superstars. “We want A+ people or nobody,” he said. I couldn’t agree more: the cost of a bad, or even a “not so good” hire is significant. Mark agreed, noting that one of his big mistakes in the past was not firing a bad hire quickly enough. He noted that in big companies they get a “performance improvement plan” and three warnings, etc. but those small businesses don’t have that kind of “luxury.” A business can be significantly damaged while you drag your feet on what should be a simple decision: letting a bad fit leave the organization. Mark also shared some great tips to mentally frame the recruitment process. Firstly, he thinks about recruitment as a funnel. You want to get “leads” (applicants) and you can only do so by really compelling “copy” (job descriptions). He then shared that 10 out of every 50 applicants are people he really wants to pursue. He also gave his thoughts on various online assessments (I mentioned my love for DISC) and he also shared some questions he likes to ask:
Mark and I talked for quite a while and could have gone on for even longer, but I wanted to be respectful of his time (and yours), so I had to wrap it up at some point. If you’re interested in thinking through your hiring process more thoroughly, this episode is for you.
Key Learning Points: 1. Mads points out the costliness of a “not so good” hire - 4:54 2. Mark argues that you can outsource many things in a startup, but not HR - 6:41 3. Mark talks about a mistake regarding bad hires - 10:15 4. Mark shares his conception of recruiting as a “funnel” - 14:50 5. Mads talks about the concept of “recruitment as sales” - 24:11 6. Mark agrees and talks about “pre-selling” the company during a final interview - 24:40 7. Mads notes that the best hires love challenges - 25:25 8. Mark offers a framing question that helps him weed out candidates - 27:32 9. Mads adds on to that point, by noting the way that a particular question is answered gives a lot of information - 28:22 10. Mark adds some additional unusual questions that help him gain information about candidates - 33:45 11. Mads underlines the importance of having forums/opportunities to connect with staff - 45:41
Connect with Mark Webster | |||
| MSMP 83: Matt Diggity on Better Management | 03 Feb 2021 | 00:41:03 | |
It’s often said that a business is a way for the founders and employees to bring their theories to life. Sometimes those founders have enough energy and vision to drive multiple businesses. Today’s guest for the Mads Singers Management Podcast is Matt Diggity and he is very much one of those types of founders. His businesses include (drum roll): Diggity Marketing (a blog about digital marketing), Leadspring (a firm that builds authority, monetizes, and eventually sells affiliate websites), Authority Builders (a backlink service), Search Initiative (a client-facing SEO agency), Affiliate Lab (a course that teaches the background of the services that Leadspring offers, for the DIY type), and Chiang Mai SEO (during times when gathering in numbers is permitted). If you were paying any kind of attention to that impressive resume, you’ll see that Matt has a lot of SEO superpowers and is simply deploying them in multiple ways. In order for him to do that effectively, he’s got to have great management skills. That’s actually how our paths crossed originally. I came out to one of his team’s in-person events to give them some management training. I covered a lot of what I talk about in my management course, with a special emphasis on 1 to 1 meeting and recruitment. Those two activities, apart from the day-to-day management tasks, like strategic thinking and networking, comprise the very heart of great management. Matt shared how much he loves assigning responsibilities, rather than tasks, when he delegates. I agreed, saying that if team members are clear on the expected outcome, they can feel free to tweak the process in order to get to that outcome. Delegation also assumes knowing where someone is coming from, and I think DISC can go a long way to helping people solve that problem. Matt noted that he liked DISC because unlike Meyers-Briggs, which gives you 16 possible variants, it only has four measurements to examine. Part of how you can get to understanding the urgency of delegation is auditing your activity: seeing how you are spending your time and noting what kind of income those activities generate. When you see that laid out it becomes so much easier to let tasks go that you simply don’t have to do, not least of which because you are nowhere near the best person in your company to do those things. Despite all that he’s got going on, Matt is mindful of parenting and he had a lovely thought for current and aspiring parents: “There is no amount of time that is ‘enough’ to spend with your child.” Enjoy this conversation! Key Learning Points: 1. Matt notes the revelation of there only being two main functions of management once things get put in place - 3:08 2. Mads reminds listeners that if you can’t take a month off, you don’t have a business, just a glorified job - 4:50 3. Mads emphasizes the ineffectiveness of doing tasks that should be outsourced - 8:15 4. Mads talks about the “boxes” that DISC helps create - 15:30 5. Mark shares the helpfulness of assigning responsibilities rather than tasks - 20:15 6. Mark underlines that delegation assumes A-players - 31:25 7. Mads discusses an alternative way of framing a job search - 34:35 8. Matt tells listeners a key lesson about parenthood - 39:15
Resources Mentioned:
Connect with Matt Diggity | |||
| MSMP 82: Martin Ebongue on Building a Team | 27 Jan 2021 | 00:34:00 | |
Seven years ago Martin Ebongue was living in France, working at a job that he enjoyed. But he wanted more freedom, and since he had already built some online businesses with good revenue streams, he was able to quit that job and go on a world tour for 18 months. He ended up settling down in Bali, which is where he was when he joined me as a guest for an episode of the Mads Singers Management Podcast. One of the big themes of discussion for us on this episode was delegation. Martin stressed the need to let go of your ego: “I’m not always the best person to take care of a certain task,” he noted. But it’s not enough to just come to this realization. There also has to be a process for delegation. Martin’s process involves him going through the task once himself before handing it over to someone. That person then confirms that they understand exactly how to accomplish the task (and if they don’t they can ask). This seems to work well for Martin as he has only had one team member leave in the last seven years. I shared that one of the biggest pain points that should lead people to delegate in the first place is the burden of being a subject matter expert (sometimes in multiple fields). That means that people are always coming to you for decisions, creating bottlenecks. Martin agreed, saying that while it may feel like a burden to create a process in the first place, that’s only a short time commitment which pays outsized dividends in giving you more of a personal life. Martin also believes in having a team culture that looks for collaboration rather than competition. Given that his team is spread out across three continents (Europe, Africa, Asia) that’s a powerful mindset to keep the team collaborating. This collaboration extends to the hiring process. Martin’s first two employees were simply excellent freelancers that he ended up bringing on full-time. He began to realize that people who have achieved mastery in a certain field tend to know others who have also achieved mastery in different fields. This led him to start looking for potential candidates from his team’s recommendations. There are so many different components to a great team, and different candidates bring different skills and personalities to the table. Along these same lines, I was recently chatting with a coaching client about a new hire he was very excited about. “If only I could get one more like him,” he said. “Well,” I said, “why not ask him?” Winners know winners. Martin is one of those winners and I know you’ll enjoy this conversation as much as I did.
Key Learning Points: 1. Martin shares the locations of his remote team - 2:43 2. Martin discusses the importance of letting go of your ego in delegating better - 3:45 3. Martin talks about how he empowers his employees once he has delegated tasks to them - 6:35 4. Martin outlines his process of delegation - 8:02 5. Martin states that he has only had one team member leave in seven years - 11:15 6. Martin notes the progression of some freelancers to becoming his first hires - 16:05 7. Martin emphasizes the importance of asking your people to help find new hires - 17:30 8. Martin stresses the short-term pain that needs to be overcome in creating new processes - 20:20 9. Mads talks about the hazards of being a subject matter expert - 25:18 10. Martin opines about the time of team culture he wishes to foster - 29:08
Connect with Martin Ebongue | |||
| MSMP 81: Jeroen Corthout on Building a SaaS | 20 Jan 2021 | 00:30:51 | |
SaaS is such a key part of the business world in general so it’s always great to go behind the scenes with someone who is actually in the trenches, building and managing a SaaS. Jeroen Corthout, our guest for today’s episode of the Mads Singers Management Podcast, is building Salesflare, a B2B CRM servicing a few thousand companies. While you might think of a SaaS as the company that would be most likely to be built by a distributed remote team, prior to March 2020 Salesflare was 100% in-person in Antwerp, Belgium. Jeroen had believed that everyone “being in the same room” was always going to be the best-case scenario. But what he noticed as the team was forced to go remote via governmental regulations and lockdowns, was that the “same room” philosophy was lazy. “It meant we were relying on accidentally overhearing something. There was no system in place.” That system was put firmly in place as 2020 continued, down to how the team would keep track of decisions in meetings (Google Docs visible to all) and how they could see people’s reactions when they weren’t all in the same room (having everyone tiled during a team call so that everyone could be seen). This intentionality in communication had long been a hallmark of how Salesflare dealt with customers. Every developer periodically spends a week on the customer-facing side, to get a sense of what is going on there in terms of customer feedback and technical issues. Jeroen noted that AI will play a role in software development in the future, but for now it’s up to him and his team to try to anticipate what the customer is thinking using processes like developers listening in on calls or watching chats. SaaS businesses face several dueling pressures. One is the question of profitability vs growth. I was glad to see that Jeroen wasn’t chasing profitability at any cost: he was clearly aware of his niche and stated that at the beginning of the episode. He also shared his desire to improve the hiring process as the company grows in the future. The other dueling pressure he has to deal with every day is building vs communicating. The development team has to build a great product and tries to extract from customers what they like, but more importantly, why they like it. This communication with the customer is key, and Jeroen encourages this early on by not only adding every potential customer on LinkedIn, letting them know there’s an open door should they wish to talk but also by adding more “free trial” time as those new users complete more tasks within the CRM. If you, like me, find the SaaS trend fascinating, this episode will be a great chance for you to understand it more, from someone who is living it day-to-day. Enjoy!
Key Learning Points: 1. Jeroen talks about the essence of what SaaS has to deliver to be competitive - 3:00 2. Jeroen shares the two main jobs of any successful software company - 4:10 3. Jeroen discusses systems he has in place to make sure his team understand how customers are thinking - 7:37 4. Jeroen notes the need to stay in touch with his team and with clients (and how he does both) - 8:14 5. Jeroen explains the process his team uses to improve the product - 9:40 6. Jeroen opines on the game-changing nature of his team going remote due to Covid - 14:54 7. Jeroen stresses the importance of morning standup meetings - 19:35 8. Jeroen ruminates on the push/pull tensions of growth and profitability - 25:50
Connect with Jeroen Corthout: 1. Salesflare
| |||
| MSMP 80: Effie Parnell-Hopkinson on Team Management | 13 Jan 2021 | 00:29:55 | |
Sometimes entrepreneurs can be so focused on working for themselves that it’s considered shameful to ever go and work for someone else. But when you have such a limiting belief, you miss out on the opportunity to learn. Our guest for today’s episode of the Mads Singers Management Podcast, Effie Parnell-Hopkinson, is someone who didn’t limit herself and came away from a job experience with some lessons that helped her level up. Effie has spent some of her careers as a bodybuilder and while studying for her undergraduate degree people started to ask her (unsurprisingly) about proper eating and exercise. After enough people were asking, she started a health coaching business while getting her Masters in nutrition. At some point along the journey she met Dr. Emil Goliath, who also had a health coaching business. They became business partners (and started dating) and that’s where she is today, handling operations for Health Evolved. Knowing she had come from a business owner background, I was keen to find out what she had learned during her stint working as an employee in another business. “Nobody really knows what they are doing,” she said wryly. “Everyone is learning and making mistakes, and even though a business may look like it’s succeeding from the outside, there are real challenges on the inside.” I couldn’t have agreed more. So often in my business coaching experience, I’ve seen people who own jobs, not businesses, precisely because they haven’t taken the time to create systems or properly delegate. They don’t teach those sorts of skills in school, and Effie and I agreed on the importance of apprenticing for someone successful. Don’t focus on the money but instead treasure the incredible knowledge and lessons you are going to get from someone who is further along in a journey than you are. One of those key lessons you might glean is making sure that remote teams have proper expectations, especially given time zone differences. People need to know how and why they are doing something and should be given all the resources they need at the very beginning. Effie added on that part of proper delegation is getting to know the team member better during onboarding. If you know where they want to go personally and professionally, you’re more empowered as a manager to help them get there. That also means hiring for cultural fit, which you can only do if you have taken the time to write a job description that properly spells out not just what the job entails but what kind of company you are. I noted that when dealing with hiring that no hire is always better than a bad hire. This chat with Effie really flew by and I think you’ll appreciate and enjoy her perspectives.
1. Mads discusses the “shame” that is sometimes spread in the entrepreneurial community about working for someone else - 4:25 2. Effie shares her struggles in working for someone else after having her own business for so long - 5:25 3. Effie notes some insights she gained from having a job - 7:14 4. Mads talks about the “free lessons” on offer when you apprentice for high-level entrepreneurs - 10:12 5. Effie shares a “paint it done” strategy she uses for delegation - 13:20 6. Effie opines on the importance of clear expectations when working across multiple time zones - 18:00 7. Effie talks about the importance of hiring for cultural fit - 24:52 8. Mads shares that “no hire is better than a bad hire” - 26:25 9. Mads notes that the brand of team software you use is less important than the team being properly trained to use it - 28:15 Resources Mentioned:
1. Facebook | |||
| MSMP 79: Alex Zuev on Intercultural Management | 06 Jan 2021 | 00:33:51 | |
It’s not often that we’re able to speak to someone who has managed in three different cultures, and that’s why I was so excited to welcome Alex Zuev of Ardor SEO onto the Mads Singers Management Podcast. Alex is a self-proclaimed IT geek and started his career developing payment systems in Russia similar to Paypal. After success in that field, he started his own business and as part of the bootstrapping process learned how to do his own SEO. Soon enough he was helping others with that, too. He has spent time working and living in China in a digital marketing position for Alibaba. He’s also lived and worked in the United States, specifically NY. Today, Alex and his wife make their home in Asia, Vietnam specifically. With such a CV, I was keen to get into all the cultural differences in management he’s witnessed. One of the first points he discussed was the gap between a boss and an employee:
What does that mean on the practical level? Well, during his time at Alibaba, he had to fight for three months so that his team could get direct access to developers so that problems could be addressed pre-emptively and directly instead of in the slow and plodding manner of large corporations. Once that connection (and correction) was made, Alex saw a 2X/3X improvement in the quality of work, but if he hadn’t known to be persistent, that improvement wouldn’t have ever happened. That’s one of the reasons he prefers working at smaller companies: it’s easier to get your ideas implemented (or at least heard). It also means you can be thinking in the same ways by running things like a book club in your team. As new ideas from these books get bounced around from discussions, they can also be directly applied to processes and procedures. Speaking of processes and delegation, Alex’s ultimate delegation trick is automation. He’s a big believer in using technologies to “set it and forget it” with processes whenever possible. Alex has a wealth of information and experience and we could have spoken for much longer than we did. Enjoy!
Key Learning Points: 1. Alex discusses the value of empathy in communication - 9:20 2. Alex shares his experiences working with Filipinos - 11:41 3. Alex notes the importance of personality testing in hiring - 14:06 4. Alex talks about the differences between working in a small firm and a big one - 15:27 5. Alex addresses the Chinese dislike for foreign managers in their ranks - 19:55 6. Mads talks about the upside of challenges - 23:15 7. Alex preaches automation as delegation - 27:45 8. Alex opines on the value of a company book club - 31:13
Resources Mentioned:
Connect with Alex Zuev | |||
| MSMP 78: Chris Wilson on The Arts Online | 30 Dec 2020 | 00:38:46 | |
It’s not often that you’ll hear a guitar strumming in the background of the Mads Singers Management Podcast, but that’s precisely what my guest Chris Wilson was doing at one point when we discussed the changing ways his team gave music lessons post-Covid. Chris graduated from the Berklee College of Music in the 1990s as a guitarist and started teaching in his apartment. Before long his practice grew and pre-Covid he and his team of 25 were servicing 650 clients at the Academy of Music and Art just outside Chicago, Illinois. One of the challenges that Chris faces is that there are no long-term music instructors in his team. A lot of these people graduate from arts programs, as Chris did, and want to do something in that field. So they will go to auditions or try various options while teaching, whether that’s in music, dance, or theater (all of which Chris’ academy normally offers). Sometimes they teach for a few months, sometimes for a few years, but if they end up working in the arts, they will stop teaching, and if they don’t make it in the arts, they leave the field entirely. While Chris can’t control the circumstances of his crew of creatives, he has found a way to keep them teaching with him as long as possible: offering flexibility...within reason. Understandably people in the arts will sometimes need to leave for an audition suddenly and will need to deal with their group of students. Chris and his team have found ways to accommodate that, but it all starts with that attitude that everyone is there to help everyone else. Options include:
Anything is possible...except just leaving without telling anyone. While employee retention is key, so is employee training. It’s not that obvious, but being qualified as an artist doesn’t make you a great teacher. Chris realized this right away and put together a mentoring program making sure that the newest teachers had time and conversations with the most senior teachers. We also talked a LOT about books that impacted each other (linked below) and Chris shared his passion for proper delegation, which for him means giving as much support as possible to someone when you delegate, not assume they know everything and abandon them. We also talked about the adjustments he and his team have had to make during Covid (music and dance lessons are fairly easily done online, theater productions cannot be done at all). It was fun to have a musician on the show and I think you’ll enjoy our discussion.
Key Learning Points: 1. Chris tells of the (accurate) warning he received that there were “no jobs waiting for students of the arts.” - 1:30 2. Chris talks about being part of the gig economy - 2:53 3. Chris shares his initial mistake in management, then how he rectified it - 5:20 4. Chris notes that being qualified as an artist or musician doesn’t qualify you to teach - 10:04 5. Mads chimes in, noting that often the best way to learn is to teach - 12:41 6. Chris observes that many creatives are, indeed, shy - 13:43 7. Chris points out that delegation should not be abandoned - 15:07 8. Chris talks about the transitional nature of his workforce - 20:00 9. Chris and Mads talk about the benefits of remote work post-Covid - 26:40 10. Mads questions the point of being angry...ever. - 35:00
Resources Mentioned: 1. The E-Myth by Michael Gerber 2. The One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard 3. Work the System by Sam Carpenter 4. Success Principles by Jack Canfield
Connect with Chris Wilson | |||
| MSMP 77: Tonya Sowles on Employee Engagement | 23 Dec 2020 | 00:44:29 | |
Employee engagement is a secret weapon of fast-growing businesses, and today’s guest for the Mads Singers Management Podcast, Tonya Sowles, is someone deeply passionate about making sure team members are engaged, not just counting hours until they clock out. She’s a general business consultant specializing in HR. While she is a Senior Certified Professional for the Society of Human Resource Management, she’s also got an MBA and over 20 years of business experience. She loves helping owners maximize their people in order to maximize productivity and profitability. That’s precisely where we started our conversation. Tonya shared the shocking statistic that worldwide only 15% of employees are engaged with their work. “Engaged” means:
Tonya said that even the best companies sometimes only have a 20% engagement rate, which means in a company of 10, there are 8 employees who might not care. In my experience part of how you get employees to care is to invest in them. A famous quote that guides me in this area is an exchange between two executives: “What if we invest in them and they leave?” “What if we don’t, and they stay?” Tonya champions the idea of weekly time blocks to talk with the team in general, and agreed with my oft-repeated advice to meet 1-to-1 with your direct reports each week. She also had some harsh words for “employee evaluations” as they often are currently used. She prefers instead more frequent “check-ins” which are borne from the open communication she seeks in having weekly time with her team members. It’s in these check-ins that we can discover personal and professional goals and see how their work life is aligning with those goals. In those check-ins you can get to know your team better (something that DISC can help accelerate in the beginning). The better you know your team and show them that you care about their advancement, the likelier they are to be engaged and not be part of that large percentage that are just clock-watchers. Tonya’s passion for engagement comes through in this episode. You’ll enjoy it!
Key Learning Points: 1. Tonya talks about the importance of employee engagement - 3:30 2. Tonya, like Mads, encourages weekly time blocks to chat with staff - 7:05 3. Tonya shares why she doesn’t care for “employee evaluations” - 8:57 4. Mads discusses his single biggest management ROI - 11:18 5. Tonya warns against the dangers of training your team to “wait for permission” - 16:07 6. Mads emphasizes having a diverse set of skills (and personalities) among your team - 20:23 7. Mads shares the joy of telling his team he’ll be gone for a while and will be unreachable - 24:05 8. Tonya notes the problems with “shoebox accounting” - 27:33 9. Tonya discusses employees who are left to fend for themselves - 28:10 10. Tonya explains why having employees is much more than having enough money to pay employees - 38:35
Connect with Tonya Sowles 1. Sowles Consulting (Facebook) | |||
| MSMP 76: Esbe Van Heerden on Operations | 16 Dec 2020 | 00:41:18 | |
While we frequently talk to entrepreneurs on the Mads Singers Management Podcast, we also enjoy speaking with top leaders at companies. Today’s guest, Esbe Van Heerden of OnFolio, is one of those leaders. She’s spent five years building and running online businesses, with a heavy focus on operations. Esbe started our discussion by explaining the challenges of rapid growth. In her case they went from five team members to 25, and from 25 assets under management to 52. That meant that as systems were developed, they sometimes had to be abandoned because they didn’t work at the new scale. But she was also constantly reminded that any system is better than no system. I readily agreed, noting that the number one challenge I see in my personal coaching clients is a lack of willingness to trust the process. So many business owners are just looking to replicate themselves instead of putting in the hard work necessary to build a business, which means creating processes, delegating tasks, and trusting people. Part of delegation is setting expectations, and Esbe shared that one of the areas that she’s recently improved in is setting expectations and KPIs for her team. Not only does this make them easier to manage, but it also makes it easier to let them go when they aren’t meeting those expectations. If your staff are properly managed by clear expectations, that means it costs you less to deliver services, which is one part of raising profits. The second is making sure that you laser-focus on your niche, the one thing that you do really well. When you are laser-focused you can charge your clients more because you are going to be delivering a better quality of service. This is a major mindset shift for entrepreneurs who must come to focus on the “one thing” mentality as opposed to the “cash grab” mentality. In the latter case, distractions disguised as revenue drag you away from building a sustainable business. Sustainable businesses are kept that way by making sure you have the right clients. Esbe recently did an audit which led them to drop ⅓ of the clients in their portfolio, which, in classic fashion, were roughly the 20% sucking up 80% of the time of the company. While some of those clients were legacy clients, people who first helped the company get up and running, being in business often means making the tough, not the easy, decisions. Esbe will often pause to think about what she wants to say, and I wish more people had this thoughtfulness instead of just rushing to answer questions. I think you’ll appreciate her answers and her way of answering.
Key Learning Points: 1. Esbe talks about the challenges of a rapidly growing company - 2:30 2. Esbe recounts the creation and evolution of the company wiki - 5:33 3. Esbe shares her perspectives on the difference between management and operations - 11:40 4. Mads warns about the frequent problem of owners bottlenecking their own businesses - 14:20 5. Mads parses the difference between owning a business and owning a job - 19:46 6. Mads shares the importance of shifting your mindset as a business owner away from a “cash grab” mentality - 21:37 7. Mads argues for narrowing the scope of what you do - 23:07 8. Esbe talks about dropping the bottom ⅓ of their clients to focus on the top ⅓ - 24:15 9. Mads talks about the benefits of laser-focusing on your niche - 27:14 10. Esbe notes that it’s easier to let people go when there are KPIs and expectations in place - 31:45 11. Mads reminds us that we don’t know the quality of a plan until we execute it - 40:20
Connect with Esbe Van Heerden Esbe@onfolio.co | |||
| #174: Use This Recruitment Tip to Improve Your Hiring Process! | 11 Jan 2023 | 00:47:40 | |
Episode Summary If you are a business owner looking to accelerate in scaling your business, this recruitment tip and podcast episode is for you! Funny to say, Mike and I have been friends for a while, but it’s only now that I have him on my podcast! Mike and I wonderfully exchanged our ideas around recruitment and how he’s using this recruitment tip to improve his hiring process! Mike knows that people are the business's greatest asset and the most challenging part of the business too. So, for him, having great talent goes a long way! Mike knows that getting rid of the wrong people is a huge factor in performance and profitability. It is the difference between good and great companies, the best leaders, and dysfunctional ones. Recruitment can be challenging, but using this recruitment tip will make you a better manager. Listen until the very end, and take note of this recruitment hack for you to improve your hiring process! Listen to this week's show and learn:
Enjoyed Mads Singers’ podcast? Check out these: #84: Mark Webster on Hiring Practices #91: Lindsay Tjepkema on Growing in a Pandemic
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| MSMP 75: Tim Brown on The Right People | 09 Dec 2020 | 00:44:26 | |
A common theme discussed on the Mads Singers Management Podcast is the question of hiring. Who to hire, when to hire them, and perhaps most importantly, where to find them. Our guest for today’s episode of the pod, Tim Brown, has had plenty of time to think about these questions in recent years as he’s grown his business, Hook Agency. One of the first things I talked about with Tim was how challenging it can be to grow a business financially. As you go from 10+ employees up to 50, you’re not going to be seeing a lot of profit, as you’re likely to be reinvesting a lot of it into the company to help grow it. Tim agreed, noting that it could get “lonely” during that time and you have to persevere in order to keep the growth going. Part of that growth is the people you bring on, of course, and we talked about the pros and cons of hiring younger and less experienced people. I pointed out that while it’s tempting to bring in an external hire who is a superstar in a particular area, it’s almost always significantly cheaper to develop an internal hire, who can also then be shaped and molded to your company culture. You also want to do internal audits to find common traits that you can add to your hiring brief. When we looked at our top performers in one of my businesses 9 out of the top 10 had lived abroad at least six months. Not the first criteria one might think of, but on reflection, it speaks to a willingness to get outside of your comfort zone and a basic responsibility to legally exist elsewhere for an extended period of time. Tim noted that as much as he and his colleagues might share memes in slack about how isolation is affecting people at work (“we know you’re wearing sweatpants with your shirt and tie”) he also knows that people are actually getting depressed and has recently added a small monthly benefit to offset therapy costs. This way he can show that he isn’t blind to this issue and that he believes that therapy does help. Finally, as we continued the hiring thread that ran through this entire episode, I stressed that networking is one of the best things you can do not just for recruiting purposes, but to learn mistakes from others in your industry. You can make all the mistakes yourself, but why would you want to? Tim’s honesty about the challenges he’s faced is refreshing and you’ll enjoy his perspectives and passion for building a business the right way. Key Learning Points: 1. Tim shares that he has sometimes had to let things “break” in order for everyone to learn (and implement systems) - 3:10 2. Mads notes that the better you can show the client the ROI, the longer they will stick around - 6:05 3. Tim laments the lack of professionalism he sometimes sees in small businesses - 8:50 4. Tim parses the difference between lifestyle and growth businesses - 10:10 5. Tim talks about a recent trend in his company of hiring younger and less experienced employees - 15:35 6. Mads shares that it’s always significantly less expensive to internally develop someone in an area of expertise than to hire a high-priced external superstar - 20:05 7. Mads gives a metric he sues when hiring people that relates to how long they’ve lived abroad - 21:45 8. Tim notes the importance of empathy in regards to Covid-19 and isolation - 33:00 10. Mads warns that the “I’m going to fix this” attitude isn’t just about poor delegation, but about an active ego - 37:17 11. Mads stresses the importance of networking as a way to learn mistakes more quickly rather than having to figure them out yourself - 38:55 Resources Mentioned:
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| MSMP 74: Ryan Stewart on People Scaling | 02 Dec 2020 | 00:35:52 | |
While technology is an important part of scaling any business, without the right people, that scaling will never be successful. This is a deeply held belief of my guest for today’s episode of the Mads Singers Management Podcast, Ryan Stewart. Ryan, like many entrepreneurs I know (myself included), doesn’t limit himself to one business. But he has smartly ensured that all three play in the same space: Webris, a digital marketing agency focused on SEO for B2B SaaS, The Blueprint Training, to train people to be better SEOs, as well as a software company that helps companies automate their marketing. While Ryan has been in the marketing space for a decade now, he originally started as a consultant for Deloitte before discovering this thing called “internet marketing.” Soon enough he was building his own websites, wordpress plugins, and even a digital marketing agency, all of which he has sold at one time or another. Right away I asked him how he managed to keep all these businesses running smoothly, and he quickly answered: people and processes. He firmly believes that the only thing that stops businesses from growing quickly is having the right people in place. I couldn’t really disagree with him. People are everything to a scaling business. As for where to find those people, Ryan really likes using LinkedIn not only because he can learn a lot about a potential hire there, but also see what their activity level is like and learn more about them through what they are commenting and sharing. He has an interesting recruiting process in which he puts final candidates through a paid trial in order to assess them in a “real world” environment. Not everyone goes for it, but that’s one more part of the screening process that gets him to the right candidate. As for what could differentiate an SEO agency from the competition, Ryan focused on customer service and EQ. “Customers have differing levels of what it is SEO ‘does’ exactly, so you need to know what level of knowledge you are working with and communicate appropriately.” I agreed and pointed out that that’s also related to how much you charge. The better you communicate with your client about what you’re able to do for them for what you’re charging them, the likelier they are to accept your (higher) prices. Ryan’s an expert in his field and very comfortable chatting about the things that matter to him. I think you’ll enjoy our conversation as much as I did. Key Learning Points: 1. Ryan talks about his secret to maintaining multiple businesses successfully - 2:45 2. Mads shares why you DON’T want to just hire a copy of yourself - 4:15 3. Mads discusses the importance of case studies - 10:13 4. Ryan agrees and notes that those case studies should be niche-specific for maximum impact - 10:13 5. Mads notes the direct relationship between pricing and what you’re able to do for a client - 14:30 6. Ryan talks about how Covid-19 has affected his business - 17:10 7. Ryan sees the value in SEO is something that cannot yet be automated - 20:28 8. Mads talks about the fading importance of physical office space as part of business “legitimacy” - 27:15 10. Ryan talks up the value of LinkedIn as a place to hire - 30:45 11. Ryan tells us why he pays people for a paid trial as part of the hiring process - 32:07
Connect with Ryan Stewart
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| MSMP 73: Liam Martin on Time Management | 25 Nov 2020 | 00:42:13 | |
When COVID-19 made remote work more mentally possible for many businesses, the tools necessary to maintain and sustain that remote work, like Zoom, thrived. Today’s guest for the Mads Singers Management Podcast, Liam Martin, co-founded Time Doctor, a SaaS that has also continued to do well during this strange global period. If running Time Doctor wasn’t enough, Liam also runs a conference called Running Remote, a business he started in part just to find out the answers he needed as he continued to grow and scale a remote company. If you don’t know about Time Doctor, it’s a way for any business to not just track time for work, but also analytics for how long it takes to do a task and what was done. Among the fascinating facts that Liam and his team have discovered over the years?
We found out that Liam himself works pretty close to that 32-hour week, spending roughly 66% of his time on podcasts or speaking at conferences. I loved hearing that, as it’s such a far distance from the mentality that pervades some of my coaching clients who are newer in entrepreneurship, who tend to think of their productivity in relation to hours, ergo, more hours, means more productivity. Wrong. What really matters is doing a few things very, very well. That attitude also matters for your subordinates. Liam shared a fascinating story about how he incentivized his team not just to chase any backlinks, but links with great authority. By no longer using sheer numbers of backlinks as a KPI, but rather the Domain Authority (DA) score of each particular backlink, the team was able to up the quality of what they were getting at a fraction of what they would get if they hired someone: on average the Time Doctor team was paying $32 per backlink for DA of 50 and higher, whereas agencies routinely charge $350 for DA of 60+. A 10X value, and keeping that value in house? That’s the sort of stuff that builds great businesses. This discussion of time management also led us into a discussion of the unhealthy #hustle culture, and why working 100 hours a week (or more) doesn’t make you some productivity hero, but only more likely to burn out and take your team down with you. Later in the pod Liam also shared a story about how he was able to narrow down his search for a COO type to exactly 87 people in the entire world that publicly had what he was looking for. It’s inspiring to see effective time management at every level of Liam’s thinking, especially in recruiting. Speaking of time, that’s likely to fly by as you listen to this pod, one of my favorite discussions of this year. Enjoy!
Key Learning Points: 1. Liam notes the importance of tracking how much time you’re spending with your clients - 2:50 2. Mads shares the importance of KPIs, particularly as you scale - 9:30 3. Liam talks about Dunbar’s Number and how technology can help us stay connected as a tribe - 10:15 4. Liam shares how many hours a week he works, and a number of hours a week he knows will end in failure for everyone involved - 12:26 5. Liam pushed back against #hustle culture - 14:10 6. Mads notes that it’s not about hours you work, but about doing a few things really, really well - 16:45 7. Liam gives a case study of how he and his team improved the quality of the backlinks they were getting - 20:30 8. Liam shares his predictions for the near future of remote work - 25:30 9. Liam shares a quote from Napoleon that guides how he gives out orders and assignments - 30:18 10. Mads talks about process documentation and the fact that the faster this is created, the faster a company can grow - 31:45 11. Liam shares another fascinating case study as to how he brought in an A player from Wordpress to level up his team - 36:22
Connect with Liam Martin Running Remote’s YouTube Channel (pro tip - Liam personally manages this page, so it’s a great way to get a hold of him) | |||
| MSMP 72: Slawek Czajkowski on Building an SEO firm | 18 Nov 2020 | 00:32:39 | |
Sometimes the side project you are working on ends up dwarfing your day job and becomes the path you never expected. That’s what happened to my guest for this episode of Mads Singers Management Podcast, Slawek Czajkowski. In 2008 he was building a company out of a small village in Poland when his side project, Surfer SEO, offered such possibilities for scale and growth that he knew he had to give it his full attention. So he did. Right away Slawek realized that he and his fellow managers had to go from being subject matter experts to managers of experts. They are entirely different skill sets and the latter requires people who are open-minded to personal development. When I asked him how management was similar to SEO, he responded that he considered them opposites: people who are skilled in SEO could be bad with people and introverted, whereas those skills would be disastrous in a manager. While I agreed with that framing, I also noted that if someone in SEO was always looking to just get a little better every day, so could a manager, and that’s an ideal to strive for.
You won’t get anywhere with goals as a company if you don’t have the right team members, and Slawek and I both love hiring from within, though Slawek also does a lot of hiring by referral. While I think this is a good practice, there are also a couple dangers to be avoided:
I still maintain that one of the best ways to find great candidates is to know a lot of people, which you can do by effective and smart networking. The time with Slawek passed really quickly and I think you’ll find his straightforward work ethic and humility as encouraging as I do. Key Learning Points: 1. Slawek notes that wherever you have processes, you have opportunities to automate - 2:40 2. Slawek talks about how Surfer SEO grew out of a side project - 3:26 3. Mads warns that being a subject matter expert can sometimes lead to your getting “stuck” instead of growing - 6:20 4. Slawek and Mads discuss how SEO and management are similar...and not similar - 6:55 5. Slawek shares his goal-setting strategy - 10:50 6. Mads talks about the “secret” of becoming good at something - 16:55 7. Slawek explains why he prefers to hire almost exclusively via referrals - 20:00 8. Mads shares a pro-tip when it comes to recruiting - 21:35 9. Mads notes why “hire my friend” isn’t always a good idea - 25:10 10. Slawek shares his “secret” to success - 28:05 Connect with Slawek Czajkowski: | |||
| MSMP 71: Jan Cavelle on Scaling and Development | 11 Nov 2020 | 00:38:24 | |
One of the biggest mistakes people make when scaling their business beyond their first ten employees or beyond their first million in annual revenue is thinking that what got them here will get them to the next level. My guest for this episode of Mads Singers Management Podcast, Jan Cavelle, knows better. She’s experienced all levels of business and has learned many hard lessons about scaling, all of which will be going into her forthcoming book from Bloomsbury: Scale for Success. One of the key points Jan made during our discussion was the need for entrepreneurs to personally develop in order to scale up: they should be putting just as much time and effort into personal development as they are into sales, marketing, and technology for their business. I agreed. One of the things I’ve observed in coaching entrepreneurs is a failure to be effective. I often say that if you’re consistently working 12-hour days, there’s something wrong, and then this becomes a snowballing problem: because you’re not rested, you’re not making good decisions, and then you have to stay at work longer to correct mistakes instead of being productive within a normal work day. A key part of being more effective and productive is delegation. If you’ve had your business for under three years, everything that the business owner is doing now should be off his/her plate in twelve months. If you don’t take these sorts of serious actions, and quickly, you won’t be able to grow and scale your company. One of those items to delegate should be key processes. The business owner isn’t equipped to be updating key processes of the company, simply because he/she isn’t in the trenches, working on those each and every day. Those processes need to be created and updated by empowered employees. Part of empowering employees is giving them the impression that they can progress within the company. I’ve frequently stated my preference for hiring from within, and the reason is clear: if you bring in talent from outside while not developing the talent inside, you can demoralize your team, and the best people will leave. Jan agreed, and noted that when she’s looking at the right skills or the right person, she’ll always pick the right person, because, “skills can be taught, but the wrong person is the wrong person forever.” I enjoyed hearing about Jan’s lessons and I think you will too! Key Learning Points: 1. Jan talks about the biggest mistake people make when scaling - 2:50 2. Jan mentions her obvious choice when picking between the right skills and the right person - 8:17 3. Mads shares why developing from within is so important - 9:38 4. Mads talks about the one thing all business owners who have had their business under three years need to do in the next 12 months - 14:20 5. Mads hammers home that the business owner has absolutely no place updating processes of the company - 16:50 6. Jan shares a blind spot many entrepreneurs have in scaling up businesses: personal development - 19:01 7. Mads notes the problem of consistent 12-hour days - 20:50 8. Mads opines about the problem of “normal” people’s opinions - 25:11 9. Mads and Jan talk about the power of peer groups - 26:10
Connect with Jan Cavelle | |||
| MSMP 70: Greg Gibas on Remote Work | 04 Nov 2020 | 00:39:27 | |
My guest for this episode of Mads Singers Management Podcast is Greg Gibas who, like me, also owns an outsourcing company based in the Philippines. Even though Greg was born in Poland, his family moved to the United States when he was young. He ended up doing a Masters in Marketing in Australia and built a business in the Philippines. He’s been living the digital nomad life long before it was cool. One of the first things we talked about was how Covid may end up being the moment when remote work exploded into the mainstream. We chatted about the changing dynamics we are watching unfold right now. Even though Greg stands to benefit from this change, he has thought a lot about work philosophically and made some points that really rung true to me:
I’ve always wanted to create the biggest businesses possible and help the most people I can. I think there are many problems in the world, but I think a lot of them can be traced to a lack of employment. Give more jobs to more people in the world, and there will be fewer problems, I truly believe. Yes, I approve that message and No, I’m not running for political office! Greg and I have worked with hundreds of people over the past few years and he said something about hiring that I also really agreed with. He said that the most important quality in any employee is attitude. That’s also something he hammers home with people who brag about being ignorant about technology. “If you don’t even know little aspects of technology, you can really get taken advantage of and/or be blind to possibilities,” he noted. I think you’ll truly enjoy Greg’s perspective, experience, and optimistic outlook on the future of work in general, and remote work in particular.
Key Learning Points: 1. Greg opines about remote work pre-Covid - 2:14 2. Greg talks about geoarbitrage and its benefits for employees and employers - 6:58 3. Greg observes that companies in expensive locations may try to cut their wage bill by going remote - 10:20 4. Greg shares the most important quality he looks for after working with hundreds of employees - 11:30 5. Greg anticipates the worldwide wage gap closing if remote work becomes more “normal” post Covid - 16:03 6. Greg thinks just having a little bit of tech knowledge will save you a lot of time and money - 25:40
Connect with Greg Gibas | |||
| MSMP 69: Nick Jordan on Scaling Up | 28 Oct 2020 | 00:56:39 | |
I live in the SEO world and so it’s always a pleasure to chat with someone about SEO, but even better when I can combine that discussion with another topic close to my heart: building and scaling companies. That’s why my guest for this episode of Mads Singers Management Podcast, Nick Jordan, had so many interesting things to share about his journey. Originally a sales and product guy at early-stage startups he wanted to make a move into marketing instead. After a stint as a freelancer he saw some things he could leverage into making his own agency, and now, a few years later, he’s got a team of 25 at Content Distribution, helping clients rank on page 1 for tens of thousands of keywords. Nick admitted that he already feels the pressure of managing a team of 25 and has a core of managers he has developed so that he does not have any direct management of his team of writers. I told him that at various inflection points on the way up to 100 he’s going to feel those same pressures, but that as long as he made sure his managers gained more people skills as they were promoted (instead of focusing on technical skills) those pressures will be manageable. I often say that when I think about promotion, especially to management positions, I tend to hire internally. Then not only do I generally know what I am getting with an individual person, but there’s less risk that the person will fail, as I will have been grooming them via opportunities to take on more responsibility that I proactively give out over a period of working with them. I learned this lesson fairly early on in my outsourcing business. I got blinded by an amazing resume when I was looking for my second hire. It cost me a lot of time to admit my mistake and a lot of money to replace that bad hire. Speaking of a lot of money, we also talked about how many SEO agencies undercharge and underdeliver. Instead of niching down into something specific and charging a premium for their expertise in that topic, these firms tend to take on all kinds of clients and use most of their retainer to deliver and hence aren’t really building a sustainable business. Nick agreed with me that it’s much better to charge more, which allows you to spend more on delivering world-class service to your clients. It’s always fun to be able to say you chatted with someone early in his/her growth trajectory. Nick and his team seem to be doing a lot of things right, and he’s not afraid to admit when he’s gotten some things wrong and wants to improve. That’s always great to see and just one more reason I think you’ll enjoy this episode.
Key Learning Points: 1. Nick shares some of the pressures of managing 25 people - 4:50 2. Mads notes the importance of niching down in order to be able to charge more - 9:22 3. Nick adds that higher prices also allow for case studies, which show dramatic changes and take a lot of time to track - 12:18 4. Nick talks about the early days of his business and why he waited before taking on more clients - 22:10 5. Nick and Mads give various reasons why they prefer to make internal hires - 23:30 6. Mads pitches the importance of encouraging entrepreneurial thinking among employees - 27:50 7. Mads shares an early big management mistake he made with his outsourcing business - 32:40 8. Mads credits DISC with helping him learn about people much sooner than others can usually - 44:27 9. Mads talks about the most important thing to help a manager with after you promote them - 49:23 10. Mads talks about the crucial stage of the company: when it’s not about the owner anymore - 52:55
Connect with Nick Jordan 4. Twitter | |||
| MSMP 68: Jocelyn Kopac on Company Culture | 21 Oct 2020 | 00:54:11 | |
One of the ironies of discussing company culture is the fact that so often some of my coaching clients who are trying to grow as entrepreneurs describe their company’s culture as what they would like it to be, not as it actually is at the moment. Culture is the beating heart of any organization and when that’s muddled or off-track, everything suffers. My guest for this episode Mads Singers Management Podcast is someone who knows that in her core. Jocelyn Kopac, like me, started her first business in her childhood. I sold strawberries; she sold farm fresh eggs to city-dwellers from Chicago who were enjoying the countryside. Jocelyn is a serial entrepreneur and business strategist who works specifically in the DEI field: Diversity, Equity, Inclusion. In this vein she helps entrepreneurs build and develop an inclusive company culture as well as have crucial conversations with those members of the team who may not understand the importance of DEI. Jocelyn is passionate about DEI and helped me understand some things:
You can guess that this naturally led to a discussion of company culture, and I lamented the fact that so often people talk about the culture they want to have instead of analyzing the challenges with the culture they actually have. Jocelyn shared the story of a recent hire who lasted precisely one day (Jocelyn did note that she hired against her gut feeling, so she takes some of the blame) because the company culture “spit her (the new employee) out.” It simply wasn’t a good fit. Part of their culture is making sure there’s no micromanagement going on and that everyone is bringing their “A” game every day. She also enjoys sharing the goals and perspectives of different departments of the company with everyone so that they can see the bigger picture, make better suggestions, and ultimately, better decisions. I couldn’t agree with that perspective more, and is definitely part and parcel of why I prefer to hire from within my organization.
Key Learning Points: 1. Jocelyn talks about the first business she ever started...at the age of 7! - 2:47 2. Jocelyn shares the 32-hour workweek she has in place for her team of creatives - 11:36 3. Mads chimes in to share his agreement about outcome-based work instead of time-based work - 15:02 4. Jocelyn talks about how and why she tracks the time of her team - 17:00 5. Jocelyn explains her three strikes rule - 21:45 6. Mads talks about how important it is for culture to be “what actually exists” as opposed to “what people want to have” - 24:25 7. Mads shares the importance of communicating with people in the way that they will understand best - 29:20 8. Mads warns about the bottlenecks that entrepreneurs can create - 34:22 9. Mads shares a management lesson he learned the hard way - 39:45 10. Jocelyn talks about cultivating her team across the different departments of the company - 43:58 11. Mads notes why he prefers to hire internally - 48:45
Resources Mentioned: Track to Success Facebook Group Connect with Jocelyn Kopac | |||
| MSMP 67: Zachary Pritchard on Communication | 14 Oct 2020 | 00:40:24 | |
Sometimes what sets us on a particular journey in life is not a particular aptitude or knowledge of a subject, but a traumatic failure. When you hit rock bottom you get a certain clarity of thought that can help you not only to avoid such mistakes in the future, but to share those lessons with others. Zachary Pritchard, today’s guest for Mads Singers Management Podcast, is someone who dealt with two such failures and has made them strengths: communication and finance. While his undergraduate degree is in wildlife, in which he was in charge of water management, he ended up building a business and growing it from 3-12 employees. He now works as a financial coach, helping people with their budgets. We started talking about communication right away and I shared how important DISC was for me to understand my employees and clients and how I can communicate with them. I firmly believe that it’s not what you say, but how people hear what you say. Zach agreed, adding that part of effective communication necessarily resides in honesty and vulnerability. “If you can’t be honest with yourself, you can’t be honest with your team,” he noted. Zach also talked about the importance of developing enough of a relationship with his team (something that can grow out of consistent 1-to-1s) that they could feel comfortable disagreeing with him in a professional setting. I agreed, noting that it’s not enough to say you have an “open door” policy (which I hear so often), but to actually make your employees feel that that is really true. If people don’t trust you, they won’t open up. I also shared a technique to use to ensure that your employees will be comfortable sharing their ideas that might contradict your own. Zach is a proponent of the Dave Ramsey method of financial freedom and I lamented that we spend all this time learning complicated math that we are unlikely to ever use, but aren’t taught even one bit of financial education in school. Zach’s financial coaching practice is one way to correct that! I enjoyed chatting with Zach and I think you’ll find his perspective helpful. Key Learning Points: 1. Zach relates how poor communication cost him his job - 3:30 2. Zach notes that the most important part of effective communication is total honesty - 6:07 3. Zach wants that honesty to go both ways, so that his employees can overcome any hesitance to contradict him on a business strategy - 7:27 4. Mads agrees, noting that a good relationship is at the core of good communication - 8:53 5. Mads also shares an effective strategy to make sure your employees feel comfortable “disagreeing” with you - 10:21 6. Zach discusses the importance of being vulnerable in work conversations - 20:05 7. Mads points out the importance of learning your team’s communication styles - 21:35 8. Zach shares that what happens at home necessarily spills over into work - 29:45 9. Mads laments the lack of financial education in school - 34:15
Resources Mentioned:
Connect with Zachary Pritchard | |||
| MSMP 66: Zsofia Banyai on Automation and Outsourcing | 08 Oct 2020 | 00:52:00 | |
Reading The Four Hour Work Week is easy. Implementing the lifestyle it puts forth requires effort, discipline, and often a bit of help from others. Zsofia Banyai happens to be one of those others. She helps busy entrepreneurs automate and systematize their lives and is today’s guest for Mads Singers Management Podcast. Zsofia didn’t initially opt for the 4HWW life herself. Her undergraduate studies started in history but her practical side kicked in and pushed her towards finance, where she spent some years in the corporate world before starting her own business. Zsofia shared that clients tend to come to her for two reasons. They either:
That led to an important conversation about setting expectations and Zsofia has a one-hour video to onboard new members of her team and I mentioned that kickoff calls are a key part of our onboarding process for virtual assistants as well. We also discussed the importance of giving team members ownership and impressing on them early on that they can own processes that they develop for clients. Rather than heavy-handedly insist on doing it a particular way, one should really give the person responsible for actually executing the task the opportunity to document the process, but only after they’ve done it a few times and are comfortable with it. They should also set up time periods when the process should be reviewed, and if necessary, updated. Zsofia also shared that sometimes total automation isn’t the answer for every problem, as in addition to the time spent necessary to get the automation up and running, these tools can frequently cost a fair amount of money as well. It was a pleasure speaking with someone who is helping solopreneurs build their best lives and businesses and it’s clear that Zsofia has a passion for elimination, automation, and outsourcing.
Key Learning Points: 1. Zsofia shares one of the biggest challenges she faced in starting her business - 2:10 2. Zsofia talks about the first thing she focuses on when onboarding a new client - 4:25 3. Zsofia emphasizes the importance of clients clearly stating their expectations - 6:08 4. Mads notes the importance of onboarding calls as another way to set expectations at the beginning of any working relationship, whether with clients or team members - 16:45 5. Zsofia underlines the importance of proactively asking questions of her clients and never assuming anything - 18:15 6. Mads gives listeners a tip about outsourcing and documentation - 22:32
Resources Mentioned: Automation freebies from Zsofia
Connect with Zsofia Banyai
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| #173: How Do You Instantly Fix Workplace Conflict? | 21 Dec 2022 | 00:26:25 | |
Episode Summary In my experience, fixing a workplace conflict, whether it is remote or not, always involve quite - a unique dynamic. Lorraine Segal, our guest for today’s podcast episode, not only knows how to navigate her way through it but mastered the way to it! Lorraine thinks of conflict differently. People think when there is conflict, they automatically think that something is wrong. Truth is conflict is part of being human. Most of the time, we approach fixing workplace conflict by simply telling the people involved that “you have to be the better person” or “think of it that it’s just another conflict” - essentially, downgrading the conflict to something that is inexistent. Listen ‘til the very end of this podcast and learn the factors to include in conflict remedy, reframing conflict, your unique approach to conflict remedy, and how you can identify a healthy conflict from an unhealthy one! This episode will be your cheat sheet in people management! Listen to this week's show and learn:
#111: Stacy Owen Johnston on The Pursuit of Happiness and Finding Your Authentic Self #44: Quentin de Pret on Collective Intelligence and Participatory Management #32: Brent Zahradnik on Learned Interests to Entrepreneurial Success
Hey, do you have ideas for topics you’d like Mads Singers on future episodes? He’d love to hear from you at mads@madssingers.com! | |||
| MSMP 65: Zuzana Dobro on Problem Solving | 30 Sep 2020 | 00:52:00 | |
Management is ultimately about problem-solving. Oftentimes those answers aren’t readily apparent because humans are involved, and they are definitely more complex aspects of any problem! Today’s guest for Mads Singers Management Podcast, Zuzana Dobro, is someone who, like me, likes solving these human problems. Zuzana helps entrepreneurs think transformationally. She’s spent over a decade consulting both in house and with agencies on customer and user experience. She’s worked with startups, Fortune 500 companies, and everything in between. Early in the episode Zuzana and I talked about relationships. I noted that there are some people who are particularly talented in SEO but for some reason have absolutely no talent at building relationships. One of the most important things in management is to build relationships with the people who work for you. Not only does that make for a more cohesive work environment, it’ll also increase team productivity. Relationship-building is what Zuzana does when she is working with teams that cannot come to a consensus. She relishes the chance to brainstorm, facilitate, and use the fact that she’s not a direct stakeholder to bring objectivity and a solution-oriented approach. I agreed with her and stress with my clients that it’s not about “winning” or “losing” when getting to a consensus for a decision, but finding a solution that presents the best outcome for everyone. Zuzana asked me about how I screen for clients and I told her one of the very first things I look at is personality, particularly DISC. If I don’t think I’ll be able to coach someone based on their personality, I won’t take them. I also put all potential clients through my management course. The goal here is to try to pre-emptively address some issues so that when we do finally get to coaching, we share a common vocabulary and methodology. Zuzana noted that when she doesn’t feel comfortable with a potential client she’s very happy to refer that business out and keeps up relationships with colleagues in order to do just that. Part of keeping up those relationships is keeping your word, and Zuzana talked about how small the business world can be, and how you can’t afford to develop a bad relationship as a management coach: don’t burn bridges as entrepreneurs are always sharing information...as well as the names of good, as well as bad, service providers with each other.
1. Mads shares a weakness of those who excel in SEO - 6:58 2. Zuzana notes a key trait of good managers - 9:35 3. Mads underlines the importance of setting expectations of communication with clients - 12:35 4. Zuzana reminds us that reputation really does matter - 16:35 5. Mads explains how he screens for clients - 20:35 6. Mads discusses a strategy for shaping decisions prior to a meeting - 25:40 7. Zuzana offers an alternative strategy when there isn’t consensus prior to a meeting - 30:13 8. Mads talks about the difference between outcomes and solutions - 41:10 9. Mads notes how communication has to change when chasing bigger clients - 43:00
Connect with Zuzana Dobro: 1. Zuzana Dobro | |||
| MSMP 64: John Di Giacomo on Internet Law | 23 Sep 2020 | 00:35:16 | |
While the Internet has created so many new opportunities for building business and creating revenues, the realities of the traditional business world have not disappeared. In fact, with legislation like FATCA and GDPR now in place, it’s more important than ever to have access to a legal mind who understands the digital world. John Di Giacomo, today’s guest for Mads Singers Management Podcast, is precisely one of those legal minds. John has an internet law firm called Revision Legal which specifically serves those people who make money on the internet. He’s been in the “internet law” business for a decade now and has plenty of war stories to share. One of those stories was about legal trolls: people who find laws that you might be “violating” and then try to make you pay for those “violations.” One such scam involves the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and website compliance with that act. These trolls will test a site to see if the website is accessible to those with disabilities and if not, send a demand for compensation or even file a lawsuit. John shared some tips on how to amend your website terms and conditions to avoid these trolls, but if you want to learn more, there’s plenty more ADA knowledge on his website. He also noted that the COVID crisis has actually brought a fair amount of buying and selling in digital businesses and that he’s had a fair amount of work during this time. But that’s also reminded him of things people fail to do when operating their businesses with a future sale in mind. One of those things is locking down trademarks. He shared a case in which a company with dozens of restaurants in its portfolio had to go through an expensive and time-consuming renaming process simply because someone else had duly filed a copyright on the name and ordered a cease-and-desist. He also warns against inexperienced buyers thinking they can just waltz in and operate a business. John notes, “it’s not enough to have ‘read all the books’ or ‘listened to all the podcasts.’” There is no substitute for experience. John has also had a fair number of FBA clients, and as such, has had to deal a lot with Amazon on legal matters. While some of my friends and clients were involved in FBA businesses, some of what John had to share Amazon’s policies and legal stances were really interesting. John was our first lawyer ever on the podcast and he’s set a great standard for future lawyers to appear. Enjoy!
1. John shares what kind of activity he’s seen a rise in during the COVID crisis - 2:25 2. John discusses what the true worth of a business is - 6:00 3. John warns about earnouts - 7:45 4. John notes the challenges of working with Amazon - 11:47 5. John talks about dealing with remote employees - 16:53 6. John clarifies that digital assets can be difficult to protect (and value) - 20:12 7. John relates a trolling technique and how we can counteract it - 22:03 8. John gives us a strategy for developing business in the US - 26:53 9. John discusses the costs of getting a trademark - 31:00
2. Facebook 3. Twitter 4. LinkedIn | |||
| MSMP 63: Adam Anderson on Growing Your People | 16 Sep 2020 | 00:40:38 | |
Believe it or not, even when you’ve grown a business to a level that allows you to step away, business owners struggle to do just that. It’s a good problem to have, but even better, it’s a problem you can deal with if you are willing to make some important changes. Today’s guest for Mads Singers Management Podcast, Adam Anderson, is someone who has had to make those important changes multiple times. Adam has spent 22 years as a tech entrepreneur, specifically in the area of cybersecurity. He’s had almost two dozen companies and they represent wonderful successes, disappointing failures, and one great sale. That sale made him think he was special, but over time he’s learned that he was lucky, and that process of learning to grow beyond luck has given him what he calls a “Street MBA” in which you learn by doing. Adam is particularly proud of the people who have come to work for him who were either young or inexperienced (or both!) and were transformed by working with him. One particular group of developers started with him from scratch in one particular business and within the space of a few years were making 6-figure incomes. This reminded me of a couple excellent employees that I’ve had the chance to develop over the years, both of whom were 18 years old with no education when they started with me and now manage 60 people each. This influence and authority over your employees is very powerful and Adam shares at least one occasion in which he felt he did not use that power for good. In trying to encourage a playful and irreverent “anti-corporate” atmosphere, he created such a party environment that an employee got addicted to alcohol and ruined his life. That influence needs to be particularly present when promoting staff into management. Adam made the mistake of thinking that everyone was entrepreneurially-minded (like himself) and hence used the “throw them in the deep end” strategy when he promoted people into management. He learned the hard way (and pretty quickly) that this was no strategy at all. I concurred, underlining an important theme in my coaching: people can learn and grow into management skills, but they have to be taught how to do so: they can’t just be expected to “learn it as they go.” Once you do get those people properly trained you are free to step away from the business, and Andy confessed that he had a hard time doing that. He had to learn to trust the process and not interfere with his management team, otherwise, they were never going to grow. He’s learned how to add value to his company as a whole and gives us some great networking tips (I add one of my own!).
Key Learning Points: 1. Adam reflects on the things that make him smile the most - 2:50 2. Mads adds satisfying similarities in his own journey as an employer - 4:35 3. Adam warns about the dangers of promoting great performers into management - 11:00 4. Adam also notes that “abandonment” is not a great strategy for new promotions - 13:00 5. Adam shares his surprise at how challenging it was to manage managers - 15:00 6. Mads assures Adam that he sees this problem all the time - 18:45 7. Adam tells us his new “most important job” once he was removed from day to day operations - 23:50 8. Mads adds a tip for “getting lucky” - 24:30 9. Mads gives some alternative strategies for networking when there don’t seem to be obvious opportunities - 27:50 10. Adam gives us the reason why networking is not prospecting - 28:53 11. Mads shares an organization that is great for networking but isn’t normally thought of as a networking organization - 29:40 12. Adam tells us his four stages of business building - 31:36 13. Mads reminds us that management can indeed be fun - 37:50
Connect with Adam Anderson: | |||
| MSMP 62: Andy Allaway on Managing Teams | 09 Sep 2020 | 00:41:10 | |
It’s one thing to manage a team of 2-3 that grows to a team of 5-6. It’s entirely different to go from managing a team of 10 to a team of 30. My guest for this episode of Mads Singers Management Podcast, Andy Allaway, is someone who has done precisely that for the juggernaut known as Empire Flippers. Andy comes originally from a sales background in the IT industry before he made a switch almost four years ago to take on running operations for Empire Flippers. He runs his worldwide remote team of 30 from the center of Europe, in Prague. Andy shared that one of the great strengths of Empire Flippers is documenting processes. This makes onboarding and cross-training (to help the team better understand their counterparts in different departments) much easier. When I asked what qualities Andy looked for in building out his team, he really stressed cultural fit, which is something I very much advocate for as well. When you hire someone who is “really great” but who isn’t a cultural fit, it ends up badly for everyone, not just the wrong hire. Andy also shared the challenges of managing the human capital around seasonality in the business brokering business. It turns out that there’s a lot of activity in Q1 after people finish a great Q4 and year. That means he’s had to be smarter and more intentional about where and how he deploys his team so they aren’t just sitting around during quieter times. His operations staff are divided into:
One of the advantages of growing his team, Andy noted, was that as the team got larger, he was able to build specialists instead of having “everybody do everything.” And that makes sense, the skill set for vetting -- detail orientation and digging through spreadsheets -- is entirely different from the friendly and calming orientation of those in customer service. Andy also noted that as his team grew, he wanted to improve as a manager, and he would ask potential employees how they would like to be managed. I told him that a more helpful reframe might be to ask what their best and worst bosses were like. They would then not only tell me about their past experiences but also indicate what kind of management style they really preferred. If you have the opposite type of style, it won’t be a good fit. Key Learning Points: 1. Andy talks about starting with a team of 10 (that’s currently at 30) - 3:34 2. Mads warns about the dangers of hiring Mini-Mes - 4:45 3. Andy talks about the importance of hiring for cultural fit - 7:07 4. Mads discusses the dangers of just hiring a “body” instead of hiring for cultural fit - 9:40 5. Andy shares a favorite interview question - 12:25 6. Mads offers two variations on that question - 12:51 7. Andy discusses his biggest management challenge in operations - 19:10 8. Andy discusses seasonality within Empire Flippers - 26:20 9. Mads share some tips for how remote teams can be more social with each other - 29:22 10. Mads cautions on “skip level” (below your direct reports) 1-to-1s - 34:00
Resources Mentioned:
Connect with Andy Allaway: | |||
| MSMP 61: Jade Green on Intentional Scheduling | 02 Sep 2020 | 00:33:51 | |
Behind every successful entrepreneur is some kind of routine. It doesn’t mean that it has to be a very elaborate one or one that checks off every single box recommended by the gurus. It just means that you have an anchor that helps guide your day. My guest for this episode of Mads Singers Management Podcast, Jade Green, is someone who practices what she preaches when it comes to routine. Jade describes herself as the type of entrepreneur who is usually flying in from Bali, where she may have been running a business accelerator, in high heels, carrying a giant surfboard bag that might have a whiteboard or two inside as well. She’s a presenter, coach, facilitator, and so much more. We got right into it, talking about her notion of an “ideal week.” She pointed out two positives of a job that we often don’t think about:
If business owners don’t have some basic structure and don’t have a system for “turning off” and being done for the day, it can be difficult to get deep work done and get into flow state. If you don’t know where to start, Jade suggests simply looking at everything that needs to be done this week and next and organizing your days and to-do lists, taking care to batch things with similar energies (i.e. the energy necessary for networking and client calls is quite different from planning and composing emails). I like to organize my ideal week on Sunday nights. She was also transparent enough to walk us through not just her morning routine, but here evening routine as well. I’ve observed this trait in successful entrepreneurs and it’s just another way of drawing appropriate boundaries. If you can indicate to your mind and body that the day is over, you are giving yourself the gift of switching off, which is a key part of regenerating and coming back to do it all over again the next day. Some people see being “always on” as a superpower, but Jade advocates for a rhythm that isn’t subordinated to hustle culture. We also discussed a higher level strategy than the ideal week, which is her “90 Day Plan,” which breaks big projects and goals into 12 weeks. “You overestimate what you can in a year and underestimate what you can do in three months,” she noted. By being intentional with your goal setting you can get so much more done in quarterly chunks than you can in annual planning. I loved Jade’s energy during the episode and I know you will too. Enjoy! Key Learning Points: 1. Jade describes the value of an “ideal week” - 2:06 2. Jade shares just how to get started planning an ideal week - 5:25 3. Jade talks about the importance of matching tasks on your list to the type of energy required - 6:40 4. Mads discusses focusing on strengths - 8:30 5. Jade walks us through her morning routine - 11:51 6. Jade also offers an end-of-day routine - 14:25 7. Mads reveals why he doesn’t watch much TV - 17:58 8. Mads shares his “20% strategy” when it comes to coaching - 21:25 9. Jade explains the “90 Day Plan” - 25:10 10. Jade talks about the importance of “filling your cup” - 31:05
Resources Mentioned: Twelve Week Year by Brian P. Moran
Connect with Jade Green: 1. Jade Green 2. LinkedIn 3. Instagram 4. Facebook | |||
| MSMP 60: Sofie Couwenbergh on Content Creation | 26 Aug 2020 | 00:25:30 | |
Some years ago you may have had to convince people that content marketing was useful, or even more importantly, that they might need it for their own businesses. That’s not the case anymore. Content truly is king in this era of the internet, and even the search engines have learned how to (mostly) parse the good content from the bad. In this episode of Mads Singers Management Podcast, I welcome Sofie Couwenbergh of Let Me Write That Down For You, which, as you can guess from the name, is a content creation firm. Sofie has had that business for eight years now. Before that Sofie was the in-house copywriter for an international publisher. Not content to write for a living, Sofie also does it in a side business, her travel site Wonderful Wanderings. In my different businesses, content creation is key and I wanted to hear Sofie’s take on whether this should be an in-house priority or something that is hired out. She immediately asked:
The answer to these questions will indicate whether you are looking at a one-shot project (outsource) or something that you’re going to need consistently (consider a dedicated contractor or a hire). “Google is always changing, your competitors are always updating their content: if you’re not giving content serious attention, you’re going to be left behind,” Sofie shared. So what about hiring people and how to find great writers? Sofie gave some great tips on what to do if you do end up using a large marketplace like Upwork. But she also shared a little known place where you can find great writers without having to pay Upwork’s fees. We also agreed that the more you pay, the likelier you are to get “publish-ready” content that doesn’t require a lot of editing. You can save money by hiring someone cheaper, but you’ll spend that in the time you need to spend getting their work up to par. Sofie also shared that when you do bring someone in the house, you don’t want to throw everything at them at once. Document all the steps (hopefully because you have modeled them yourself) via documents or videos, and make sure your hires have everything they need to succeed. Sofie’s passion for getting her client’s messages right (she calls herself a “straightforward perfectionist”) is palpable and after listening to this episode you’ll have a better sense of some of what goes on behind the scenes in creating high-quality content and corresponding high rankings in search results.
Key Learning Points: 1. Sofie talks about the choice between doing content in house vs outsourcing it - 2:45 2. Sofie discusses the importance of content - 5:20 3. Sofie shares the challenges of hiring in a large marketplace like Upwork - 7:45 4. Sofie gives us a lesser-known place to find great writers - 8:44 5. Mads discusses the advantage of using someone who consistently writes for a living - 12:49 6. Sofie offers pointers about training someone for in house content - 19:13
Connect with Sofie Couwenbergh: | |||
| MSMP 59: Harry Morton on Hiring Creatives | 19 Aug 2020 | 00:26:16 | |
It’s a golden age for podcasts. They deliver news, drive lead generation and marketing, and feature long-form conversations on every subject under the sun. Our guest for this episode of Mads Singers Management Podcast is someone who lives and breathes in that podcast world, Harry Morton. Harry is the founder of Lower Street, a podcast production agency that helps people grow their brands and create great podcasts. They also help create internal podcasts for large organizations to share policies, information, and culture. Podcasting is trendy right now and that means people are flocking to work in the industry. That can lead to “too many applicants,” which is a problem some business owners would like to have, but which was also a great lesson to Harry early on. He thought that experience in the industry was going to be the key piece of the puzzle for each applicant, but what he found (and what made sense in Lower Street company culture) was that creativity was the secret sauce. Harry noted that a creative can always learn the industry, but you can’t take someone with industry experience and make him/her creative and flexible. That’s another part of the culture he’s created with his team at Lower Street: a small team. A small team working with a particular number of clients, as opposed to an enormous agency working with innumerable clients, has an appeal to just the sort of people that have thrived with him. These employees tend to be:
Small has been a strength for him when hiring. One of the paths of discussion we took when Harry discussed managing creatives (and a topic that often comes up with my management coaching clients) was communication and motivation with members of your team depending on how they think. Developers, for example, tend to communicate in written form, at length, in great detail. That means that not only do you have to adapt to getting communication like that from them, you should also mirror that communication back (instead of your preferred method, which may be spoken instead of written). Developers may also be less money-motivated, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be motivated by things. If you give them a bigger screen or a more comfortable chair, things that make them more effective, you will see the appreciation and even better performance from them. I enjoyed learning about how Harry runs his company and I think you will too!
Key Learning Points: 1. Harry discusses the pros and cons of managing creatives - 2:30 2. Mads notes how developers tend to communicate - 3:57 3. Harry talks about the relationship creatives have with deadlines - 7:40 4. Harry shares what he’s discovered about hiring - 9:10 5. Mads compares attitude and mentality to skill set when hiring - 10:35 6. Mads explores the myth of “money motivation” - 12:02 7. Harry explains the “problem” of “too many applicants” - 18:15 8. Harry shares the appeal of a small team to certain applicants - 24:40
Resources Mentioned:
Connect with Harry Morton: 1. Twitter | |||
| MSMP 58: Amar Ghose on Failing Forward | 12 Aug 2020 | 00:38:35 | |
A lot of people have read Tim Ferriss’ The Four Hour Work Week. Many of those have gone on to try to live, in some part, the lifestyle of the digital nomad that Tim champions in that book. Of those, few have persevered beyond their first failures to one or more successes. That lesson, the lesson of “failing forward,” isn’t really discussed in the book but is a key part of the life of successful digital nomads. On this episode of Mads Singers Management Podcast I chat with Amar Ghose, who grew up in Silicon Valley and read The Four Hour Work Week when it first came out. That planted a seed that led Amar to try establishing several different businesses with varying degrees of success until in 2013 he co-founded Zenmaid, which is a scheduling software for maid services. He’s got a remote team of 20, distributed around the world, and has himself been living the nomad life since 2015. One of the things that Amar learned during the lockdowns earlier this year was the value of 1-to-1s. He had a chance to ask his team what they were interested in learning about and doing during the rest of the year and found out some hidden desires and talents, for example that one of his team wanted to do some copywriting, even though they were in an entirely unrelated department. This opened up an avenue for me to stress (as I do in my management course) that 1-to-1s are always to be done with regular reports on a weekly basis, not just during a lockdown but even during “normal” times. A trait Amar looks for when hiring that I really appreciated was the desire to develop personally and seek feedback (and receive it graciously). He talked about how far some of his team had come in the years they had been together because of this trait. We also got to learn a bit about his motivations behind acquiring a SaaS business, Burnchurn.io, that is unrelated to ZenMaid but still benefits from the way Amar has been learning to grow and manage businesses. One of those ways is the strategy of “managing up,” which Amar looked into more closely when an employee sent him a Harvard Business Review article on the topic. In brief, this strategy allows Amar to work for his team in different departments, insofar as he often looks over solutions that the team has already come up with. By more trust and delegation, Amar has been able to apply himself where he is most needed and valuable, and that’s a game-changer for a small business. Key Learning Points: 1. Amar shares his biggest management challenge - 2:54 2. Amar discusses the importance of 1 on 1 meeting during the lockdown - 8:30 3. Mads stresses the importance of regular 1 on 1s with direct reports - 11:45 4. Amar shares a key trait he looks for when hiring - 13:01 5. Amar shares (for the first time anywhere) his acquisition of burnchurn.io - 14:35 6. Amar notes the challenges of being a non-technical founder - 18:55 7. Amar talks about “managing up” is a game-changer - 22:35 8. Amar discusses his annual MRR goals for ZenMaid - 28:30 9. Amar tries to sell Mads on the value of using Twitter - 35:05
Connect with Amar Ghose: 1. Twitter | |||
| MSMP 57: Stewart Townsend on Staying Focused | 05 Aug 2020 | 00:27:06 | |
One of the most important lessons I consistently preach in my courses and with my private coaching clients is having the right people in the right place for the right reason. Most of us lack the management skills to make a correction when necessary and end up costing themselves, their teams, and their companies a lot of time. On this episode of Mads Singers Management Podcast I chat with Stewart about his 20+ years experience in IT and over 30 years experience in sales. Stewart was at Sun Microsystems and worked on Solaris and Java in those heady days before Sun was acquired by Oracle. He also joined Zendesk pre-IPO. With more than a decade in “corporate life” he has an understanding of how big organizations work, as well as a lot of background in persuading others to use the software that he is currently representing, which helps him in his current role, securing indirect partnerships for SaaS businesses. One of our points of agreement during this discussion was the importance of trusting your gut as you build your team. Stewart noted that he doubted his gut feeling about letting someone go, and as a result that mistake compounded for months. This is something I see all the time, and I try to remind people that being a “good person” is not sufficient to stay employed, both practically and personally. When people are underperforming, they are unhappy, and the fear of firing such people is a lose/lose for everyone. Stewart noted that the corporate treatment exemplifies this cowardice in labeling someone as a “special project” and putting them somewhere they can’t mess anything up. Stewart, like I do, also believes in really niching down. He notes, “Who is the person I am trying to sell to and what is the value I am willing to bring to them?” He lives this advice in offering himself as an expert on SaaS, in the B2B format, in Europe. Specific enough for you? That said, you also have to be careful about pivoting too much, as you can sometimes lose your existing customers by doing so. Key Learning Points: 1. Stewart prefers to focus on the extra value/margin to be gained on existing customers rather than worrying about churn - 6:30 2. Mads discusses the importance of niching down in regards to lead gen - 12:30 3. Stewart discusses the velocity of firing (and trusting your gut) - 14:05 4. Stewart warns about those who interview well but aren’t a good fit for the role/team/organization - 18:15
Connect with Stewart Townsend:
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| MSMP 56: Neel Parekh on Change Management | 29 Jul 2020 | 00:39:55 | |
Change is hard in life in general, but particularly so when you’re moving to a new way of managing your company and executive team. Some will not buy into the changes and find their way to the exit, others may resist and not actively support the new system. That’s why it’s so important that the owner believes in the change and reinforces that change in his management team and all the way down to front line staff. Neel Parekh of MaidThis went through this about a year ago and on this episode of Mads Singers Management Podcast he tells us about how he successfully implemented the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS). Neel shares some tactics that really helped his team to accept the new program and work through some of the awkwardness at the beginning of the implementation process. Neel and his team have been scaling and growing, and just recently franchised his successful MaidThis brand, which is a cleaning service dedicated to vacation rentals and Airbnbs. You might also enjoy, as I did, the fact that Neel is constantly turning the tables to ask me questions! I respect and enjoy his curiosity and I think you’ll find some great content, particularly on how to run better meetings.
While it was awkward for him and his team in the beginning (it felt unnatural), Neel persevered and used scorecards to track KPIs for his direct reports. I emphasized the importance of personal conversations during 1-to-1 meetings (including the fact that they should happen every week for direct reports). If you don’t get to know your team, you will have no greater context for what they do and why they do it.
We also talked about team meetings and how different they are from 1-to-1s. Neel asked how often a manager should be talking in the meeting and I said, “As little as possible.” I reminded him of my principle: a manager should talk last and least. If you have difficulty with this, consider designating someone as the meeting manager to keep things on track. If you insist on talking in team meetings, you will often take away agency from your team. When you offer a “solution” you take away the oxygen from their journey to find a solution. When you’ve told them your preference how are they going to come up with their own? A team has to solve these challenges together, without you, otherwise, they can’t ever grow.
1. Neel describes how his company implemented EOS - 2:47 2. Mads insists on the importance of 1-to-1 meetings - 6:45 3. Mads explains his philosophy regarding team meetings - 9:43 4. Mads notes the importance of a meeting manager - 11:10 5. Mads cautions us on what happens when departments don’t communicate - 16:20 6. Mads chats about DISC - 24:57 7. Neel shares how blue-collar workers respond to recognition and compensation - 29:50 8. Neel discusses ideal candidates for a MaidThis franchise - 33:10 Connect with Neel Parekh: 1. Neel Parekh | |||
| #172: How Can An Employee-First Culture Upscale Your Business Faster Today | 14 Dec 2022 | 00:29:00 | |
Episode Summary Andy doesn’t talk about giving it all away. Instead, we looked at the idea of employee supremacy as making executive decisions that’ll allow employees to feel valued, have autonomy, and be excited about their roles and work. The bottom line is this...when you tap into the power of your people, they will surprise you with what they are capable of creating - their performance goes up, and the value created by your whole team goes way up! All this and more in today’s episode! Listen to this week's show and learn:
Episode Resources: Enjoyed Mads Singers’ podcast? Check out these: #63: Adam Anderson on Growing Your People #95: Ravi Sharma on Growth-Focused Entrepreneurship #130: Eric Spencer on Leadership Development and Relationship Management
Hey, do you have ideas for topics you’d like Mads Singers on future episodes? He’d love to hear from you at mads@madssingers.com! | |||
| MSMP 55: Henry Daas on The Codfish Life | 22 Jul 2020 | 00:46:04 | |
There are many business books that share theories about how to manage companies. Unfortunately, many of them are heavy in theory and light on real-life experience, which is why I’m always keen to talk with those who don’t just have a set of experiences with one company, but many sets of experiences across multiple companies and industries. Someone who fits that profile is Henry Daas, who joined us for this episode of Mads Singers Management Podcast. Henry is a serial entrepreneur, business coach, author of a book about money and finance and currently writing a book about the “seven silos” of a business, which he has arranged into an acronym spelled as “codfish.” Henry used a website to find an English word that would match the first letters of each of the concepts that he found were vital for any successful and serious business:
Henry has a great skill stack, one of which is in finance, so I really enjoyed our conversation about business finances. We agreed that a shocking number of business owners do “bank account financing,” meaning that they run their business and build their financial outlooks based on what is going on in the company bank account. This is just one of the many issues I talk about in my finance course for entrepreneurs. Henry insists that business owners doing less than $1M in annual revenue should know the numbers from their balance sheet and profit and loss statements backward and forwards. He also noted how casual most business owners can be about securing credit during good times. “Otherwise,” he says, “You won’t be able to get it when you do need it.”
I really appreciate Henry’s humble and understated style and there’s a lot more to this interview that you’ll enjoy. Dive in! Key Learning Points: 1. Henry shares how he developed his Seven Silos concept - 1:57 2. Henry gives his opinion about “writer communities” - 5:35 3. Henry talks about the #1 finance issue most small business owners face - 7:30 4. Henry talks about the importance of a credit line, even when you don’t need one - 10:27 5. Henry cautions against “bank account” financial planning - 13:45 6. Mads discusses two aspects businesses should consider when making investments - 20:31 7. Henry discusses the one milestone that makes you a “real business” - 26:32 8. Henry discusses “micro clients” and their relation to the 80/20 rule - 31:00 9. Henry shares his biggest management mistake - 39:02 10. Henry warns about the “equity trap” - 40:35 11. Mads explains why he takes business partnerships more seriously than marriages - 42:00 Connect with Henry Daas: 1. Henry Daas | |||
| MSMP 54: Beth Miller on Making Better Hires | 15 Jul 2020 | 00:46:49 | |
While hiring is one of the most important parts of running any business, the truth is that many companies are not intentional about hiring. They don’t have calibrated questions that relate to company culture. They don’t use an assessment. They don’t have interviewing skills. I’ve written about these topics before, but it’s always great to learn more from others who spend a lot of time thinking about these subjects. That’s why it’s my great pleasure to welcome Beth Miller to this episode of Mads Singers Management Podcast. Beth runs Executive Velocity, which is a talent management and leadership advisory management firm. Beth works with business owners and their leadership teams and helps identify future leaders in the organization. Both Beth and I know how much money can be lost by bringing on the wrong team members. That’s why it’s so important to be intentional in the hiring process. Beth identifies the beginning of this process in having a “company story.” If you don’t know where you came from, it’s really hard to figure out where you are going, and the profiles of the people you need to help you along the way. If companies have taken the time to write their story, they can then use that to put together a hiring process, another item that many companies don’t often possess. Key elements of that process that Beth and I discussed:
1. Beth discusses the importance of a hiring mindset - 1:57 2. Mads shares the two most important skills of a manager - 3:41 3. Beth warns about the dangers of a manager hiring a “Mini Me” - 4:40 4. Beth notes that many businesses don’t know how to attract the best candidates - 8:10 5. Beth shares the importance of having a “company story” - 9:45 6. Mads notes how game-changing adding a video requirement to a job application can be - 12:55 7. Beth encourages the types of questions that are tied to your company’s culture - 16:10 8. Beth shares what “I” vs “we” language means when a candidate is recounting a failure - 19:17 9. Beth stresses the power of assessments - 25:15 10. Mads shares the usefulness of DISC - 28:49 11. Beth talks about planting palm trees and how that’s related to training employees - 40:14
Resources Mentioned: 1. How to be a Great Boss Author: Gino Wickman
2. DISC profile 3. Business DNA
Connect with Beth Miller: 1. LinkedIn | |||
| MSMP 53: Ronnie Teja on the Entrepreneurial Operating System | 08 Jul 2020 | 00:35:43 | |
Many business owners get stuck in the hamster wheel of simply running their businesses day-to-day (working in the business) and hence never get to grow the company via strategic planning and deep work (working on the business). The best business owners, however, put systems into place to escape this hamster wheel and to help their team members become more effective too. It’s the one year anniversary of the podcast and for this episode of Mads Singers Management Podcast I welcome Ronnie Teja of Branzio Watches to discuss how he leveled up his and his team’s performance by implementing the Entrepreneurial Operating System and hence moved from working in his business to working on his business. Ronnie Teja is a Canadian e-commerce entrepreneur who manages a portfolio of websites with the help of a remote team of 24 based in almost a dozen countries. He recently implemented the Enterpreneurial Operating System (EOS) for his entire company, which essentially entailed getting the entire company on the same page regarding key principles and paperwork:
This was a challenging six month process, but results came in the first 30 days, as team members who were not on board with the new ways were let go and those who embraced them not only stayed but thrived and leveled up with new accountability and better delegation from Ronnie, creating a culture of improvement. As the system was implemented Ronnie went from working 60-70 hours a week to 20-25 hours a week. He realized how much he had made himself a single point of failure within the organization and these changes have made the business that much more valuable for any future acquirer. Now when he uses his time to do things like write handwritten notes to customers or employees it makes a strong impact because he’s using his time to do the things only he can do.
Key Learning Points: 1. Ronnie and Mads discuss the timeline for implementing EOS - 4:11 2. Ronnie shares how the system led people to come forward about times they had failed to be accountable - 7:55 3. Ronnie realized that the Canadian team were not pulling their weight - 9:25 4. Mads warns about the dangers of implementing a system from the top without buy-in from everyone - 15:35 5. Ronnie describes his Bruce Lee approach to management - 17:16 6. Ronnie shares the things he’s been freed up to work on now - 23:20 7. Ronnie discusses the challenges ecommerce businesses face - 28:07
Resources Mentioned: 1. Entrepreneurial Operating System Author: Gino Wickman
2. Traction Author: Gino Wickman
3. Get a Grip Author: Gino Wickman and Mike Paton
Connect with Ronnie Teja: 1. LinkedIn
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| MSMP 52: Marquis Matson on SEO Marketing for Start-Up Businesses | 01 Jul 2020 | 00:23:00 | |
Joining me in today’s episode of Mads Singers Management Podcast is Marquis Matson, from BookRetreats. Marquis is a digital nomad and SEO Expert. She also specializes in comprehensive keyword analysis, making sense of organic traffic data, and topic clustering. Marquis creates content plans with a focus on Search Engine Optimization, high-converting content creation, funnel strategies, and email marketing. Marquis’s passion is to works with start-up companies, and her experience is mostly in the wellness and yoga industry. Currently, she manages the Marketing Team of a company called BookRetreats, which focuses on overall wellness. Marquis has always subscribed to the view that becoming part of the growth is essential in management. From this perspective, she profoundly understands the relevance of being flexible, knowing that individual differences significantly affect her management style. This is, in effect, also reflects in the manner she relays her feedback. For Marquis, having the right method to communicate is crucial for improvement; hence, it must be specific, whether it be positive or negative feedback. As she has grown within BookRetreats, being organized is the best advice she could impart. In this way, asking the right questions contributes to becoming relevant such as how she was able to grow with BookRetreats with her SEO and Digital Marketing expertise. Key Learning Points: Connect with Marquis Matson on the following online handles: 2. E-mail: marquis@bookretreats.com | |||
| MSMP 51: Ghilaine Chan on Ownership and Smooth Communication | 24 Jun 2020 | 00:44:36 | |
Many leaders in this time, especially new ones, fall into the trap of thinking that they have to be the ones doing everything, "running the show," dispensing good advice right and left. Because after all, why else are you in charge, right? Wrong. The best leaders are not those who try to do it themselves, but those who can guide, inspire, and motivate others to do their best, and even bring out things in others that they didn't think they were capable of. A good leader shines. A great leader makes other people shine. In this episode of Mads Singers Management Podcast, Ghilaine Chan from, Brilliant and Human joins me today to discuss how enabling strengths becomes an essential function to effective delegation. Ghilaine Chan is the Co-Founder of Brilliant and Human. She works with small businesses and looks at how the customers, people, and technology work together. These elements are what Ghiliane considers when looking at the whole business interface regardless of the business size. Ghilaine is mainly responsible for the inside of the businesses and how people work best with those teams. Ghilaine subscribes to the view that managing people entails being able to build connections for effective delegation alongside the tools or technology in place. Key Learning Points:
Author: Todd Rose Connect with Ghilaine Chan on the following online handles: | |||
| MSMP 50: Todd Palmer on Growing Businesses | 17 Jun 2020 | 00:40:11 | |
Coaches are like guides who help you unpeel and navigate what you know to help you come out with the best outcome.
2. Linkedin | |||
| MSMP 49: Byron Morrison on Mindset and High Performance Consulting | 10 Jun 2020 | 00:37:36 | |
What our mind believes in, it focuses on, and this, in turn, influences our reality. Essentially, the world we experience is a reflection of our thoughts, which we clung on to believing in our minds. These are our unique filters of reality. In this episode of Mads Singers Management Podcast, I am joined by no less than Byron Morrison. Byron is a Mindset and High-Performance Coach, Speaker, and Author. Byron is a CEO and a High-Performance Coach. His ultimate goal is to help CEOs upgrade their brainpower so they can make better decisions, execute things properly, and handle different levels of stress effectively. Byron profoundly understands the relevance of developing self-awareness in carrying out the right mindset for every starting entrepreneur and to every entrepreneur who is to embark on a new business journey, whether it be business growth, new team members, or carrying out customer satisfaction. For Byron, “Bracing the right mindset and High-Performance Consulting can uplevel your brainpower to help you (entrepreneurs) deal with new levels of pressure—without crumbling, without losing your composure, and without needing any “willpower” or “productivity. In the end, overwhelming levers will be turned off breezing through old stress triggers, and executing without overthinking. All without any extra effort.” Key Learning Points: 1. Byron Morrison’s Common Encountered Challenges - 3:33, 8:27
Book: Become a Better You: Stop Dieting, Start Living Author: Byron Morrison Connect with Byron Morrison on the following online handles: 1. Byron Morrison | |||
| MSMP 48: Austin Bollinger on Goal Setting and in Making Every Day A Massive Success | 03 Jun 2020 | 00:45:35 | |
A lot of us wait for an extended period to be able to say to ourselves, “Aha! Goal achieved!”. For Austin, it works differently. Austin Bollinger joins me in today’s episode of Mads Singers Management Podcast to talk about working to achieve massive success every day. Austin is the Vice President of Strategic Development of a Digital Video Marketing Company and, at the same time, runs his podcast circulating around helping people achieve massive success in their lives every day. Austin found love in helping team members discover personal growth journey. He also describes himself as a person whose passion revolves around servant leadership and mentoring. Austin is a driven leader; he leads with a vision and goals. He knows that for the vision to come to life, clarity, and focus dramatically helps a leader lead others effectively, specializing in adding more value. ****Get Your Copy TODAY!**** Key Learning Points:
Authors: Gary Keller, Jay Papasan Authors: Darren Hardy Connect with Austin Bollinger on the following online handles: | |||
| MSMP 47: Rocky Romanella on Developing People as Leadership Legacy | 27 May 2020 | 00:32:30 | |
It is every leader’s responsibility to own and communicate a vision for those who desire to follow. It is every leader’s responsibility to map out a course on a larger scale and find good talent to become a significant partner in developing people to their fullest potential. These are just a few of the many responsibilities that are expected from a leader, but a leadership legacy focused on developing people is something more. I discussed these insights today with Rocky Romanella in today’s episode of Mads Singers Management Podcast. Rocky is known to be a respected business leader willing to take risks and new challenges. With more than 40 years of executive-level experience, Rocky navigates and guides business ventures to define, prioritize, and deliver strategic initiatives for maximum value and profitable results. He is also the Founder of 3sixtymanagementservices wherein, they work with clients to generate sustainable business results through its proven Balanced Leadership Model. Rocky learned and realized that great leaders believed in their people until they were ready to believe in themselves. This insight was one of the leading anchors in all his business undertakings. Rocky also believes that profound self-awareness is significant in learning, developing, and eventually growing whatever that maybe. Tighten The Lug Nuts: The Principles of Balanced Leadership Key Learning Points:
Connect with Rocky Romanella on the following online handles: | |||
| MSMP 46: Michael Tanner on Leadership Development | 20 May 2020 | 00:44:45 | |
While many leaders have leadership challenges, there are particulars of leadership unique to each leader level—the transition from being an individual contributor to leading others, then leading other leaders require enhanced capabilities. Michael Tanner joins me in today's episode of Mads singers Management Podcast to talk about his passion for Leadership Development. Michael started his management and leadership career 23 years ago; his experience at the US Marine Core made him realize the true essence of leadership - that it is not about the rank or your direct reports, leadership, after all, is about the relationship. Currently, Michael is not just a software developer but also a leader of other software developers. It is alongside his career that he is also engaged in what he calls his retirement business, which is focused on Leadership development in his earnest desire to see people win. Michael subscribes to the view that leadership involves influencing others towards a shared goal. Michael also believes that leadership development is essential for emerging leaders. The transformation of mindset from being an individual contributor to becoming a significant partner or leader is crucial in not just carrying out the responsibilities but transforming the organizational culture itself. Key Learning Points: Golden Nugget: Golden Rule on Leadership - 37:41
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| #171: 5 Powerful Factors Affecting Your Success in Business Community | 30 Nov 2022 | 00:20:53 | |
Episode Summary Whether leading business or projects for his clients or mentoring his clients to become empowered leaders, Lucas is a heart-centered expert in business. Business is not just about money. How you relate to the people in the business and the people around the business affect your business's bottom line greatly! Lucas believes that the way to influence that is by engaging your business as "your community" instead of thinking that they are your employees. For Lucas, a business leader, effectively helps people discover the unique language of their business and help them get into the rhythm by using the language of growth across the board. Discover this and more business success factors in today's episode! Make sure you tune in all the way to the end! Listen to this week's show and learn:
Episode Resources:
#82: Martin Ebongue on Building a Team #140: Todd Kuckkahn on Focusing on Your Purpose and Revolutionising Corporate Leadership Have comments about the show? Hey, do you have ideas for topics you’d like Mads Singers on future episodes? He’d love to hear from you at mads@madssingers.com! | |||
| MSMP 45: Matt Mower on Software Navigation Business | 13 May 2020 | 00:40:29 | |
Whether you run a small business or heading multiple businesses, there would always be several activities going on every time, and there would always be numerous changes happening simultaneously. These realities pose a challenge to handle at once and not let work become chaotic. This is why to stay on top of things, Matt Mower, a software builder, and developer advocates the use of an effective software tool designed for every business need. Joining me on this episode of Mads Singers Management Podcast is no less than Matt himself to talk about how meaningful and useful software can be used in businesses regardless of the organizational size. Matt’s background involved building software as he worked in software companies for years, including software building mostly in the world start-ups and SMEs. Over the years, Matt gained a profound understanding of HOW software usage makes a significant business impact once tools are identified to focus on clarifying how an investment could then turn to a relevant output. This approach involves enabling people to become agents of change complemented with the targeted tool or software to solve the problem instead of just presenting the software as it is. Key Learning Points: 2. Matt Mower’s Challenges & Strategies in Software Building - 3:52, 6:05, 6:57 3. Matt Mower’s Headstart Tip For Non-Tech People (Start-Up) - 17:40 4. Matt Mower’s Approach for Large Business on Software Building - 21:46, 23:04 5. Matt Mower’s Pro-Advice To Get Started in Software Building - 30:23 Resources Mentioned:
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| MSMP 44: Quentin de Pret on Collective Intelligence and Participatory Management | 06 May 2020 | 00:45:37 | |
To lead a team nowadays requires collective synergy among the people involved in the team - this is what Quentin de Pret is preaching as aa Transformation Advisor and Coach. Joining me in today’s episode of Mads Singers Management Podcast is Coach and Advisor from Mango Chutney, Quentin. Quentin had a chance to explore the field of collective intelligence and participatory management, which in essence helps to build peoples’ sense of community and belonging in a remote workspace so people will feel engaged despite the complex work dynamic. He also built a company called Mango Chutney, which takes care of small and medium businesses in organizing daily life like how to be efficient yet stimulate engagements considering the modern workspace involved. For Quentin, participatory leadership is essential for adapting to change and innovation. It uses available knowledge and involvement to achieve the common good on any issue as it allows them to deal with issues by using the collective intelligence of people concerned. Key Learning Points: 2. Quentin de Pret’s Management Model - 10:00, 17:18 3. Quentin de Pret’s Insight on Culture Transformation in Organization and Peer Communities - 22:16, 32:47 Connect with Quentin de Pret on the following online handles: 2. Linkedin 3. E-mail: quentindepret@gmail.com | |||
| MSMP 43: Jason Long on Goal Alignment and People Management | 29 Apr 2020 | 00:43:59 | |
Goal Alignment and People Management to be complimentary involves laying out the business goals and figuring out top-down what needs to be done on a team/individual level to get there. At the same time, this the same idea also involves complementing what each person’s personal goals are. This mix of insights separates good from great. Joining me in today’s episode of Mads Singers Management Podcast is the CEO and Founder of Tangent Solutions, JH Media Group, BrainLeaf, and Sensible Surveys, Jason Long. Jason Long is an entrepreneur with 20 years of experience in business building. His businesses include Tangent Solutions, which owns a portfolio of software services, product services, and outsourcing companies. Likewise, he also owns JH Media Group, which is a Saas Consulting Company. In the course of his business growth, Jason has had ups and downs, but, he paved his way through it by learning through it. One of which made a significant impact on his views about recruitment. On the same note, Jason also subscribes to the view that effective management from the top level is all about having the right people on board. Otherwise, disaster may most likely strike. Jason does not put a person’s ability in a “box” but pushes the new hire around based on the potential he saw, which could eventually fire all cylinders. Key Learning Points:
1. Linkedin | |||