Brian Hollins is founder and managing partner at Collide Capital and Founder and CEO of Takeoff Institute, as well as Founding Board Member at BLCKVC. He’s devoted his career to addressing and solving the challenges entrepreneurs face in accessing capital when they’re not plugged in to elite VC networks and funding sources. Brian shares insights from his venture, Collide Capital, which provides investment, coaching, and support to entrepreneurs lacking access to traditional networks.

The conversation highlights the importance of community, mentoring and education in empowering these entrepreneurs. Brian also discusses his involvement with the Takeoff Institute, which aims to develop future leaders. The episode underscores the critical role for entrepreneurship in value creation. Entrepreneurs develop better products and services and contribute to meaningful experiences for customers. Institutional support, such as venture capital, is essential. 

Yet, only some have access to these resources, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds who may not be plugged into the institutional environment of university incubators and venture capital pools.

Key Challenges Disucussed:

• Lack of access to networks: Many aspiring entrepreneurs from underprivileged backgrounds may feel disconnected from the networks facilitating access to funding and mentorship.
• Intimidation by networking: Networking can be intimidating, but it is not an insurmountable barrier. With the right coaching and support, disadvantaged entrepreneurs can find their way into these networks.

Brian's journey serves as an inspiring example of how one can create value not only through business success but also by uplifting others and fostering a culture of entrepreneurship.

Resources: 

Connect with Hunter Hastings on LinkedIn

Connect with Brian Hollins on LinkedIn

collidecap.com

Show Notes:

0:00 | Intro
1:05 | Differential Access
4:53 |  Disadvantaged Entrepreneurs: How do they Get Started?
7:14 | Is Networking a Baseless Fear? 
10:01 | Unique Business Models from Lived Experience 
12:10 | Less Algorithmic, More Empathetic Approach
13:49 | Fund Zero: Collide Capital's Stoy
15:28 | What is a Scout Check?
18:01| Collide Capital Investment’s Success Stories
21:45 | Better Entrepreneurial Culture: Raising the Community 
24:40 | Education's Role in Entrepreneurship
28:21 | Fellowship Language
28:58 | Future Access to Investment
32:00 | Technology's Role in Entrepreneurship: Can Finance Become Less Institutionalized through Apps?
34:55 | AI as an Entrepreneur's Operating System 
38:00 | One-Person Billion-Dollar Company: Building Bigger Businesses with Fewer Resources
39:30 | Wrap-Up: Building Leaders through the Takeoff Institute

John Willenborg's business, Owl Vans, specializes in adventure vans designed for outdoor enthusiasts who seek to connect with nature. These vans provide essential comforts and accessories while encouraging maximum high-value outdoor time. The market for adventure vans has expanded rapidly, with Owl Vans leading in aftermarket accessories. John highlights the importance of scalability and being a generalist to succeed in entrepreneurship.

John’s approach emphasizes the importance of strategic marketing, careful expansion, strong partner relationships, and diligent financial management in building and scaling a successful business.

Resources: 

Connect with Hunter Hastings on LinkedIn 

Connect with John Willenborg on LinkedIn

Show Notes:
0:00 | Intro
00:09 |  Adventure Category for Customers
03:40 | Process of Kitting Out Vans
05:20 | Popularity and Usability of Sprinter Vans
15:24 | Design Process
19:00 | Mark Packard: Be the Customer
20:21 | Knowledge and Empathy
22:21 | Knowing when to stay focused
25:43 | Brand Name is Critical
28:00 | Service Provided at Owl Vans: Maintenance and Adventure Ideas?
31:09 | Scaling Business through Strategic Partnerships
33:20 | Managing Partnership Relations
35:37 | Cash flow of a Business: Finance and Accounting
42:46 | Owl Vans: Maintaining team spirit and unity?
46:41 | Wrap - Up

Entrepreneurship can be learned via philosophy and principles: cultivating an entrepreneurial mindset, fostering adaptability, and problem-solving skills, and embracing dynamic market processes.

Mark Packard, Professor Of Business And Entrepreneurship at Florida Atlantic University and Director of the Madden Center for Value Creation, contrasts entrepreneurial business education with traditional business paradigms. An entrepreneurial curriculum focuses on dynamic market processes and the pivotal role of the entrepreneur in the capitalist market system. Mark proposes experiential learning, where students engage with real-world challenges, fostering adaptability and problem-solving abilities crucial in today's rapidly changing business landscape.

Mark emphasizes the broader impact of entrepreneurial thinking, spanning industries such as healthcare, where innovative models like direct primary care challenge established norms. By integrating philosophical insights and subjectivism, entrepreneurial education can cultivate a mindset of continuous learning and value creation. Mark underscores the importance of introspection and experimentation in breaking free from conventional thinking patterns. Ultimately, the conversation highlights the transformative potential of entrepreneurial education in fostering innovation, adaptability, and societal change across all sectors.

Resources: 

Connect with Hunter Hastings on LinkedIn: 

Connect with Mark Packard on LinkedIn: 

Check out The Value Creators Online Course by clicking here. 

FREE PDF: 26 Ways To Think Better about Business.

Mark Packard: Entrepreneurial Valuation: An Entrepreneur’s Guide To Getting Into the Mind of Customers

Show Notes:

0:00 | Intro
0:18 | The Next Management: Reinventing Management for the Digital Age
6:33 | Subjectivist Thinking: Shifting Mindset for Business Innovation
7:46 | Prioritize Customer Experiences over Finances
9:59 | Reverse Engineering 
12:01 | Systems Thinking Approach: Business Role in the Customer's Lives 
15:14 | Applying Austrian Economics in Business Education
18:47 | Austrian Theory was Always Focused on Complexity
20:21 | Marsha's Degree in Business
22:19 | Learning Experience
24:14 Can AI Simulations Foster Dynamic Entrepreneurship?
26:25 | Transforming Company Culture Through Entrepreneurial Hires
31:32 | Core Principles: Understanding Value, Empathy, Creativity
34:14 | Full Use Cycle
35:53 | Empowering Diverse Skill Sets for Business Impact
35:54 | History/Philosophy Grads Excel with a Value Creation Mindset
40:05 | Revolutionizing Healthcare Through Value-Driven Practices
41:37 | Wrap-Up

Disciplined entrepreneurship refers to an approach to starting and growing a business that emphasizes rigorous application, methodical processes, and practical tools to achieve success. This concept, discussed by Bill Aulet in his book "Disciplined Entrepreneurship", involves systematically identifying needs, customers, and markets, validating ideas and experiments, and executing plans with discipline and focus. It includes understanding customer needs deeply, developing innovative solutions, and creating value in a structured manner. By following disciplined entrepreneurship, entrepreneurs can increase their chances of building sustainable businesses and navigating the challenges of the rapidly changing market landscape.

Bill Aulet and Hunter Hastings discuss various aspects of entrepreneurship, focusing on proven methodologies (Bill has multiple successful launches from the MIT incubator as case studies) and practical approaches to building successful businesses. They emphasize the importance of understanding customer value, rigorous market research, and adopting innovative business models tailored to customer needs.

Bill emphasizes the significance of a beachhead market strategy over traditional total addressable market calculations and he emphasizes that there the primary challenge to entrepreneurs to identify customers' top priorities, fears, and motivations, aligning their value proposition accordingly.

The dynamic landscape of entrepreneurship in the digital era is characterized by the emergence of innovative pricing strategies, such as dynamic pricing and subscription-based models, which present novel opportunities for value realization.

Resources: 

Connect with Hunter Hastings on LinkedIn

Connect with Bill Aulet on LinkedIn

MIT: entrepreneurship.mit.edu

To Read, Sample, and Buy the Book on Amazon: 

1st Edition: Disciplined Entrepreneurship: 24 Steps to a Successful Startup, 1st Edition

2nd Edition: Disciplined Entrepreneurship: 24 Steps to a Successful Startup, Expanded & Updated

Show Notes:

0:00 | Intro
2:43 | The Big Picture Principles: What is a Mindset?
6:44 | Entrepreneurship as a Craft and Not a Science
9:06 | Learning Entrepreneurship: Can Entrepreneurship be Taught in Corporations?
10:54 | Can you Teach Google Enterprenerurship?
16:13 | Innovation in Business Education: Inside or Outside Academia?
18:21 | Breaking Down the Structure of Book: Disciplined Entrepreneurship
22:57 | Case Studies 
24:13 | Know the Customer
27:02 | Beachhead Market: Find your Beachead
28:37 | Concept of a "Full Cycle Use Case”
31:20 | Academia: How Customers Determine Value?
35:00 | Business Models
37:09 | Pricing
39:43 | Is America Still an Entrepreneurial Society?
43:50 | Wrap-Up

Capitalism fosters widespread prosperity. But we must acknowledge a set of emerging hazards associated with corporate management practices, and take proactive measures to mitigate such risks.

The hazards that have transformed capitalism over time are vividly described in Aberrant Capitalism: The Decline and Revival of Customer Capitalism, authored by Hunter Hastings and Steve Denning and published by Cambridge University Press. In this episode of The Value Creators podcast, Hunter shares capitalism's journey from an external orientation, where customers and their needs were the focus of business activity, to a more internalized orientation, where management processes, methods and measures became the focus. The customer-centric approach of the first great corporations of the nineteenth century reflected the vision and purposes of owner-entrepreneurs using their own capital. But over time, these entrepreneurs left, and a debt and equity finance model took over in the twentieth century. Success became synonymous not with happy and satisfied customers but with stock market performance and shareholder value. This shift represents an undermining of the original animating spirit of capitalism. However, Hunter expresses guarded optimism about the emergence of new business models in the twenty-first century, embodied by companies like Apple and Amazon, which prioritize direct customer engagement and long-term growth over short-term financial gains. 

Despite this optimism, the conversation acknowledges the challenges and risks associated with contemporary capitalism, including dehumanization of labor, data privacy concerns, social media's impact on mental health, and the rise of monopoly power. Hunter emphasizes the importance of preserving the positive aspects of capitalism while addressing these issues, calling for a reassertion of the values that underpin the system. 

Hunter concludes with a call to action for readers to engage with the ideas presented in the book and work towards a capitalism that prioritizes customer value, innovation, and societal well-being while remaining vigilant against its potential pitfalls.

Resources: 

Connect with Hunter Hastings on LinkedIn.

Check out the book Aberrant Capitalism.

Buy the Book on Amazon: Aberrant Capitalism (Elements in Reinventing Capitalism)

Aberrant Capitalism on the Cambridge University Press

Sustainability in the food supply chain has become a vital consideration for the resolution of food chain risk. It’s also become a mission for some food producers and distributors and for some food brands, it’s become a marketing mandate. 

Maisie Ganzler has been orchestrating the critical alignment required for the pursuit of sustainability in the food supply chain and articulating the crucial alignment between marketing and operations. Maisie perfected the concept of organizational support for sustainability, highlighting the creation of specialized roles like the "forager" to facilitate local sourcing initiatives and overcome procurement obstacles. She introduced metrics and tools to track sustainability goals using tools. 

Passion supplies energy but it’s ineffective without leverage, pointing to procurement decisions and organizational culture as key leverage points. Flexibility and adaptability - versus ideology - are essential traits in responding to evolving challenges and opportunities in sustainability efforts. Maisie Ganzler delves into the relationship between personal health and sustainable dietary choices, highlighting the alignment between whole foods consumption and planetary health goals.

By integrating marketing, operations, and organizational support, businesses can navigate challenges, build strong relationships, and drive meaningful change toward a more sustainable future.

Resources: 

To connect with Maisie: Maisie Ganzler

Find out more about Maisie Ganzler: maisieganzler.com

To Read/Buy the book: You Can’t Market Manure at Lunchtime

To buy the book on Amazon: You Can't Market Manure at Lunchtime

Show Notes:

0:00 | Intro
01:57 | You Can't Market Manure at Lunchtime: Maisie Ganzler Defines Sustainability
04:38 | Consumer-First: Flavor as Key Benefit
05:26 | Mission is Actionable Steps
07:02 | What Purpose is About?
08:27 | Bon Appétit Management Company: Business Side
10:31 | Who is Your Customer?
12:25 | Subjective Values
14:54 | Tradeoffs: Most Challenging
17:29 | Pick One Narrative 
19:34 | How Do We Get Our Stories Straight?
21:29 | Marketing is Communication
23:08 | The Forager: Deeper Relationship
25:33 | Scaling Corporation
27:26 | Measurement in General 
31:18 | Passion 
32:34 | You Can Make a Difference: Empowering Through Collaboration
35:47 | Adaptability: Don’t Be Rigid
38:07 | Safety: Eat Lancet Report 
39:41 | Wrap-Up: When Will the Book Be Published?

David Kong discusses his transition from Finance to Entrepreneurship and the process of building a supply chain for a product with exclusive features, such as thin, and handcrafted glasses. He explains how he searched for manufacturers, tested samples, and addressed production issues. Despite challenges with finding warehouses and improving packaging, Kong emphasizes the importance of creating value for customers. He shares insights on the emotional value of Glasvin stemware, its impact on the drinking experience, and the evolution of consumer preferences in the wine industry. Additionally, Kong discusses his direct-to-consumer (DTC) model, marketing strategies, and the significance of inbound sales for Glasvin.

Throughout the conversation, Kong underscores the value of efficient operations, strategic partnerships, and customer-centric approaches in building and scaling a successful business like Glasvin.

Resources: 

Database and Analytics company: SOMM.AI
Glasvin (Manufacturing company)
David Kong on LinkedIn

Shownotes:

0:00 | Intro: Origin Story and Entrepreneurial Mindset
02:12 | Origin Story and Entrepreneurial Mindset
05:05 | Idea of Somm.AI Came From Experience
06:19 | How Did Personal Interest Evolve into a Business?
09:18 | Value Proposition for B2B Users: Benefits and Analytics
10:47 | Big Claim: Largest Updated or Updating Database of its Kind
12:49 | Attracting High-Price Point Luxury Wines
13:43 | Global Database
14:28 | Glasvin: Origin Story
19:07 | Building a Supply Chain
23:03 | What's The Emotional Value of Glasvin?
25:36 | Evolution of Desired Experiences is Fascinating
27:26 | How Did Packaging Evolve
29:25 | Direct-To-Consumer Model
30:44 | B2B Business: Selling to Business Customers
34:45 | Conferences: Getting in Touch with Restaurants
37:53 | Wrap-Up

How do the value creation principles of subjective value, entrepreneurship and creativity apply in a highly technical rules-based environment like SOC Compliance audits. These are objective validations of data security measures based on customer-defined criteria similar to traditional financial audits but more specific and subjective.

The answer lies in the understanding of customer needs. Mike DeKock, CEO of MJD Advisors, an SOC auditing firm, has the insight: the customer seeks confidence - a feeling that they can approach their own clients with the assurance of providing the data security that they demand. Trust, reliability and commitment are the underlying values - emerging from technological rigor, at a much higher level of human need.

Mike discusses the evolution of compliance services and the changing landscape within the industry, and explains the importance of continuous compliance and how his company aims to provide ongoing support and guidance to clients throughout the year, for continuing reinforcement of the client’s feeling of confidence.

He recognizes the value of building relationships with clients, helping them navigate compliance challenges, and fostering organizational improvement. He sees value in creativity, curiosity and collaboration, and the need for continuous learning and adaptability in a rapidly changing industry. At MJD Advisors, there is a passion for helping clients find simple solutions to complex problems, emphasizing the satisfaction derived from making a meaningful difference in their businesses.

Resources: 

MJD Advisors: mjd.cpa
Mike DeKock on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-dekock-7325a654/

Shownotes:

0:00 | Intro
02:13 | SOC Compliance: Mike Shares His Business Field Growth Journey
03:21 | Regulatory Audit Requirement is Optional
05:09 | Client’s Confidence is Subjective Essence
07:51 | Value Proposition
10:08 | Confidence Area: Empathy-Driven Insight into Client Needs
12:09 | Confidence Meter: How to Measure it? 
13:49 | Trust Measurement
15:16 | Data Security
18:05 | Business Model: Client-Centric Excellence 
20:01 | Trust and Confidence: Some Companies View Audits as Mere Costs
22:08 | MJD Advisors: Exceeding Client’s Expectations 
23:07 | Hiring: Interesting People VS Hard Stats
25:27 | Helping Clients Find Simple Solutions to Complex Problems
27:32 | Future Unpredictability Adds Complexity
29:20 | Entrepreneurial Ethic
30:40 | Wrap-Up

Jeff Amerine and Hunter Hastings, discuss the detailed process of building startup ecosystems and fostering entrepreneurship. Jeff Amerine, emphasizes the role of entrepreneurs in spearheading ecosystem development, suggesting that successful ecosystems are entrepreneur-led initiatives. 

Leveraging available tools and resources, including AI and cloud computing services, has democratized entrepreneurship, making it more accessible and efficient than ever before. Jeff highlights the significance of engaging universities in the ecosystem, tapping into the talent pool of students, and fostering an entrepreneurial mindset from an early stage.

Despite the challenges of scalability and trust-building, Jeff discusses the expansion of his organization's footprint beyond Arkansas, aiming to bridge international venture ecosystems. The long-term commitment required for ecosystem development, emphasizes the transformative potential of entrepreneurship in driving economic growth and societal change.

Resources: 

Startup Junkies Consulting Website: startupjunkie.org

Startup Junkies Book: creatingstartupjunkies.com

Show Notes:
0:00 | Intro
02:31 | How Jeff Defines Enterpreneurship?
03:55 | Entrepreneurial Ecosystem: 4 Pillars
06:53 | Entrepreneurship Not Only a Mindset But Also a Talent 
08:34 | Cultural Perspective: Assessing Startup Ecosystem Readiness
13:40 | Capital is Hard to Break into for Startup Ecosystems: Capital Pillar
15:58 | Early Capitalism: Self-Funded Growth
16:32 | Community Engagement: Local Bank Support for Startups
18:58 | Startup Junkies Could Be Economic Developers
20:40 | Access to AI Tools Simplifies Startup Initiation
22:12 | Universities Play a Vital Role in Startup Ecosystems
24:33 | Operational Side of Entrepreneurial Support Organization
27:18 | Funding Process and Events
30:19 | Networking Defined 
32:45 | Time: Sow Seeds, Be Patient
36:05 | Systemize OR Stay Entrepreneurial?
38:00 | Wrap Up

In this episode of the Value Creators Podcast, dive deep into the classic battle between market-driven innovation and centrally planned industrial policy with our esteemed guest, Christian Sandstrom, a leading voice for individualism and free-market solutions and author and professor at Jönköping International Business School and the Ratio Institute in Sweden.

In this conversation, we unpack the government's grand “moonshots” and “missions” which claim to solve societal challenges but always miss the mark due to bureaucratic inefficiency and a central planning approach that negates the potential of market dynamics.

Learn why centralized missions such as the cancer moonshot or the war on homelessness can become drains on public funds while failing to deliver meaningful progress, and the importance of fostering an entrepreneurial society where markets create value and select the best solutions organically, rather than imposing 'one-size-fits-all' government-led directives.

This episode is a treasure trove for anyone interested in the interplay between innovation, the economy, policy, and technological advancement!

Christian Sandstrom's Books:
Moonshots and the New Industrial Policy
Questioning the Entrepreneurial State

Episodes Mentioned:
Christian Sandström: Why Governments Can’t Act Entrepreneurially

Hunter Hastings and Kartik Gada discuss the transformative dynamics of the digital economy and its profound implications for society, economics, and governance. Kartik Gada provides a compelling analysis of how the exponential growth of the high-tech sector is reshaping traditional notions of supply, demand, and pricing, highlighting the unique characteristics of digital goods that defy conventional economic models

Through a deep dive into the future of taxation, entrepreneurship, and individual specialization, they explore the disruptive potential of AI and automation in revolutionizing the way we work, create value, and interact with the economy. Kartik emphasizes the significance of cybersecurity and ethical considerations in the digital age, and the use of technology to ensure fairness and safety for all participants.

Resources:

Book: ATOM: It is time to upgrade the economy

ATOM on YouTube

Kartik Gada on LinkedIn

Professor Raushan Gross, who teaches Business Management And Leadership at Pfeiffer University, has focused his most recent research on the impact and influence of A.I. on entrepreneurship. He published some of this research in a series of articles at mises.org. One of them links A.I. to The Wealth Of Nations, and, of course, the wealth of nations is driven by entrepreneurship. From this vantage point, Professor Gross identifies the multifaceted impact of AI on society, economics, and business strategies, advocating for a paradigm shift in management thinking to adapt to technological advancements.

Show Notes:
0:00 | Intro
2:27 | Exploring AI's Impact on Entrepreneurship
7:18 | Can AI Surpass Human Entrepreneurship?
8:48 | Exploring AI as a Service and AI Stacking
12:08 | AI as a Team Member in Entrepreneurship
15:10 | Small and Medium Businesses Can Embrace AI for Strategic Advantage
17:13 | Transition to Autonomous Decision-Making with AI
21:13 | Concerns on AI Centralization and Oligopoly
25:15 | Adam Smith: Global Scale AI is the Wealth of Nations
26:40 | Elon Musk on Value Creation: the Value Meter
29:14 | Does AI Redefine Management by Value Metrics?
32:14 | Wrap-Up: Rethinking Management in the Digital Age

Digital enablement and AI are revolutionizing how companies operate and reshaping the economy. 

At the core of this transformation remains a fundamental principle: the customer is the boss. In this new era, empathy becomes crucial as businesses strive to meet subjective values and deliver hyper-personalized experiences. Consumers demand instant access, precise responses, seamless order fulfillment, and transparency, while resisting intrusive tracking and data monetization.

David Kramer, Founder & Chief Product Officer at Cooperative Computing, joins Hunter Hastings to highlight how AI can enhance creativity while balancing automation and human touch. In this discussion, Kramer shares insights on the digital enablement movement, emphasizing that AI should complement human creativity rather than replace it.

He underscores the need for maintaining a brand's unique voice amidst the risk of generic content. As AI advances, businesses must adapt, using it to innovate while preserving the essential human element that resonates deeply with audiences. This approach aligns with the shift towards hyper-personalization, where understanding and delivering what each individual wants becomes the new standard, as exemplified by companies like Nike, which serves diverse customer needs with tailored, transparent experiences.

Resources:

Connect with Hunter Hastings on LinkedIn

Cooperative Computing

Connect with David Kramer on LinkedIn

Digital Enablement by Cooperative Computing PDF

Show Notes:

0:00 | Intro: Vision of the Digitally Enabled Firm
01:57 | 5 Key Business Functions: Branding and Marketing
03:15 | Second Key: Sales and Commerce
03:56 | Digitally Enabled Organization: Third and Fourth Key
04:48 | Fifth Key for a Digitally Enabled Organization: Service Delivery Management
07:13 | Human Role: Coding OR Evolving Decisions?
13:13 | Are We Still Customer-Centric?
20:33 | Transition Away From Control
25:01 | Customer in this New Digital Environment
29:39 | Demand for Transparency and Responsiveness
35:34 | Managing Accelerating Digital Change Speed: The Art of Possible
40:47 | Stephen Hawking: Cosmology Depends on the Questions You Ask
45:38 | Is Competition Still Relevant, and Can Large Firms Adapt?
53:52 | Wrap-Up

Chet Richards discusses the intersection of military strategy and business leadership, offering valuable insights for navigating complex environments. Emphasizing the importance of agility and adaptability, Chet explores Colonel John Boyd's OODA Loop concept, highlighting the need for continuous observation, orientation, decision-making, and action. 

He underscores the role of leadership in shaping organizational culture, driving innovation, and maintaining an external focus for sustained success. 

The idea of being "certain to win" is derived from Sun Tzu's teachings, emphasizing the importance of constant self-evaluation and continuous self-improvement, conducted from an external perspective.

Resources: 

Chet Richards on LinkedIn

Certain To Win: The Strategy of John Boyd Applied To Business

Zen Mind: Beginner's Mind: 50th Anniversary Edition

Show Notes:
0:00 | Intro
3:00 | Chet’s Perspective of Strategy: Strategy is about people
09:22 | Vision: Attraction and Uplifting Spirit
17:08 | Centrality of Time in General
25:14 | Helping Companies with Reorientation: Many-Sided Implicit Cross-Referencing
29:15 | Old and New Experiments and Allocating Resources for Success
33:34 | Ambi Dexterousness: Chaos Theory, It's Called Explore and Exploit
41:52 | Culture as Opposed to Organization
42:24 | Wrap-Up: Culture as Developing External Focus and Acting on It

Adaptive entrepreneurship refers to a dynamic approach to business leadership and business practice that embraces continuous learning, rapid adaptation, and the creation of novel ideas. Mark McGrath and Hunter Hastings discuss the critical aspects of adaptiveness in dynamic environments. They explore the aftermath of failure to adapt to nonlinear external change. The conversation emphasizes the importance of the shift from traditional management to adaptive leadership, as defined by a fusion of entrepreneurial economics and John Boyd’s unique approach to “the whirl of reorientation”, and focusing on the importance of influencing and inspiring collaboration, as contrasted with managerial control.

Mark McGrath highlights the role of appreciation leadership, recognizing the worth of ideas, and fostering human interaction. He advocates for continuous reinvention and the active creation of mismatches to outpace competitors. Entrepreneurs need to embrace adaptive systems, prioritize human-centric leadership, and leverage novel ideas for sustained success in ever-changing business landscapes.

Resources: 

AGLX - Consulting & Coaching Group: aglx.com

Mark McGrath on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markjmcgrath1/

Show notes:
0:00 | Intro

01:50 | Rethinking Management Amid Uncertainty

04:23 | Entrepreneurship: Navigating Uncertainty for Value Creation

06:38 | Entrepreneurship as a Continuous, Never-Ending Process

08:50 | Massive Mismatch: Preserving vs. Exploring New Futures

14:16 | Disruptive Innovation

15:19 | Entrepreneurial Method as Continuous Ongoing Loop of Value Creation

20:21 | Idea of Entrepreneurial Intent

22:42 | Positive and Negative Feedback: Feedback Loop

25:12 | Organizational Structure and Empowerment in Business and the Military

34:56 | Quantification VS Qualitative Analysis

38:02 | Rethinking Management VS Embracing Adaptive Systems

39:20 | Wrap-Up: Mark McGrath’s Concept of Leadership 

Mental models are defined as fundamental assumptions that shape the way individuals perceive and interact with the world. When our mental models are wrong, we can’t see the world as it really is. New mental models introduce a new and better understanding. This episode of the Value Creators podcast introduces eleven fundamental mental models, ranging from understanding value as a subjective creation within the minds of customers, to the strategic accumulation of knowledge within a firm, to the pivotal role of empathy and the transformative nature of marketing as behavior. Each mental model contributes to a new holistic paradigm designed to guide entrepreneurs in creating sustained value.

Mental models contribute to the necessary shift in business mindsets towards a dynamic approach that emphasizes the continuous flow of experimentation and the ongoing refinement of knowledge through error correction. 

Resources: Hunterhastings.com

Shownotes:
0:00 | Intro: Choosing Right Mental Model for Success

02:43 | Mental model Number 1: Value is Created by the Customer

04:07 | Mental Model Number 2: Knowledge

05:13 | Mental Model Number 3: Empathy 

06:23 | Mental Model Number 4: Marketing

07:26 | Mental Model Number 5: Design

08:15 | Mental Model Number 6: Innovation

09:30 | Mental Model Number 7: Entrepreneurship

11:08 | Mental Model Number 8: Finance and Accounting

12:13 | Mental Model Number 9: Organization

13:08 | Mental Model Number 10: Business is a Flow

14:05 | Mental Model Number 11: Knowledge Accumulation

15:20 | Wrap-Up: Value Creation For Customers

Visual design is an important element in value creation, especially in telling a brand’s or a business’s story in a way that engages with customers and communicates shared values. Visual designers are multi-talented artists and storytellers with an acute understanding of customers and their emotional responses to visual cues. Our guest this week is Jacqueline Porter, an accomplished professional in her field and a very successful business owner in her own right.

We explored the business of design and creativity from the challenges within design education, and the drawbacks of rigid design frameworks and the value of subjective, creative approaches. A notable reference to a transitional figure in design Steve Jobs shows how simplicity and creativity - rules and no-rules - can work together.

The conversation moves to the realm of implementation in branding, exploring the delicate and shifting balance between fixed and flexible elements. Jacqueline advocates for constant evolution, telling a story with a dynamic interplay between exploration and exploitation for sustained success. Consistency is achieved with creativity, empathy, and adaptability.

Resources:
https://www.jacquelineportercreative.com/

Shownotes:
0:00 | Intro

02:28 | Jacqueline's Defines Visual Design: Inclusions, Exclusions and Importance

03:54 | Nike Example: What Represents a Good Design?

05:32 | Jacqueline on Branding: Advertising's Impact

06:54 | Professional Approach: Visual and Wood Synergy in Business

09:28 | Clients Don't Know What They Want: Process VS magic

11:02 | Lum Spirits Story

15:51 | Color Palette: First Step for Visual Representation of Lum Brand

20:09 | Visual Design Mastery: Empathy, Psychology and Branding

21:23 | History of Rules VS No Rules

22:54 | Newtonian Economic Thinking and Bauhaus Analogies

24:42 | Steve Jobs Simplicity is a Transitional Example

26:27 | Designer Examples: Getting Outside of the Box

29:05 | Crack is Wack

32:22 | Implementation of Design

34:50 | Wrap Up: Fixed and Flexible Idea

In our ongoing series investigating leadership in business - coming from the skeptical perspective of “Is there such a thing?” - we meet Amanda Goodall, a professor of leadership at Bayes Business School, City University of London, specializing in the influence of leaders and managers on performance, shares insights from her book "Credible: The Power of Expert Leaders." 

She has a new perspective on business leadership. It’s not a general management function that can be taught in an MBA course. It can’t be learned from leadership courses. It can’t be implemented by management consulting firms. Leaders must first be experts in their field and the core business of the firm.

Amanda shares the importance of experts in providing a clearer sense of purpose and fostering a longer-term organizational perspective. The dialogue concludes with a call to establish expert-friendly environments, and emphasizes the removal of impediments to harness expertise for organizational success.

Resources: 

https://amandagoodall.com/

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63251919-credible

https://www.amazon.com.au/Credible-Expert-Leaders-Amanda-Goodall-ebook/dp/B0BS3FS9XH

Shownotes:
0:00 | Intro

02:41 | Leadership Studies: Academic Overview

06:26 | Defining Leadership's Impact on History

09:07 | Patterns of Expert Leadership

13:35 | Success of Expert Leaders: Key Principles

17:25 | Expert Leadership at All Levels

18:05 | Reed Hastings' Leadership Style and Bureaucracy in Organizations

21:32 | Openness and Autonomy: Keys in Tech Companies

22:38 | Challenges in Defining Core Functions

25:15 | Rethinking Leadership: Business School Approach to Leadership

30:48 | Metrics Obsessed Defined

33:28 | Expert Leadership: How They Craft a Clear Essence of Purpose

35:22 | How Expert Leaders Create More Productive Workplaces?

38:43 | Expert Leaders Exhibit Greater Emotional Intelligence 

41:34 | What is an Expert-Friendly Company?

45:40 | Removing Barriers to Get an Expert-Friendly Organization

47:27 | Wrap Up: Revolutionary Approach of Amanda Goodall 

Moshik Temkin is a historian who offers an alternative perspective on leadership. He asks, do leaders make history or does history make leaders? Those two forces can’t be separated. While leaders contribute to shaping history, they are also molded by powerful historical forces. This nuanced perspective is evident in analyses of historical figures like FDR, Margaret Thatcher, Martin Luther King Jr., and Malcolm X, emphasizing the role of circumstances in leadership's response to complex historical challenges, ultimately leading to significant changes in their respective nations. The conversation explores moral leadership in the civil rights movement, comparing the approaches of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Despite their distinct styles, both leaders shared a commitment to collective progress and justice, challenging the prevailing emphasis on individual success. Temkin addresses the ethical dilemmas leaders encounter during crises, prompting reflection on the justifiability of extreme measures for the sake of victory.

How does this discussion contribute to the question of leadership in business? Leadership is subjective. We look to those who we feel can guide us, whether in politics or business. There are principles that cross both fields.

Resources:
 https://www.moshiktemkin.com/warriors-rebels-saints
https://www.moshiktemkin.com/

Shownotes:
0:00 | Intro

02:03 | Leadership and Its Impact On History

07:04 | Leadership in Japanese Decision-Making During WWII

11:34 | Leadership Decisions During World War II

17:39 | Atomic Bomb Decision-Making During WWII

20:45 | Core Assumptions in Decision-Making 

23:23 | Machine Making Decisions VS Individual Making Decisions

26:04 | Abysmal Leadership and The Cuban Missile Crisis

30:14 | Individual Leadership Defined With Examples 

45:08 | Wrap up: Conclusion 

We live in a video age, which opens up a vast array of entrepreneurial pathways. Video is a field for open-ended free creative expression, as well as for tightly managed business tools built for ROI. It’s the ideal field for creative entrepreneurial small business innovators. Cynthia Kay of CK and CO is both a business founder and CEO of a video production business and a consultant and advisor to small businesses. She shared some of her insights and a preview of her 2024 book Small Business Big Success.  

Resources: 

CK’s business resources site: https://cynthiakaybiz.com/

Books you can buy now: https://cynthiakaybiz.com/books/

Cynthia Kay’s upcoming 2024 Book - Small Business, Big Success:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0CFWFZQTS/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1700618573&sr=8-3

Shownotes:
0:00 | Intro

02:37 | CK's Business Backstory: Inception to Present

04:41 | Started with Cold Calls and Big Capital Investment

06:39 | Tech Evolution Every Two Months

07:14 | Business Growth: Gradual OR Leaps

09:00 | Understanding the Big Business Perspective

11:58 | Education's Video Evolution: A Rapidly Changing Business Tool.

16:47 | Clients' Perception of Video Costs

18:30 | Functional knowledge: Educating Clients on Video Value and ROI

19:56 | Defining 'Best' in Video Production

22:39 | CK’s Advice: Solving Common Small Business Problems

25:08 | Excel as a Small Business Owner, Embrace Big-Thinking Strategies.

27:27 | From Expensive Equipment to iPhone Editing

29:17 | Small Customers Can Evolve into Major Assets

32:29 | Key Areas for Small Business Growth through Strategic Partnerships

35:58 | Can Small Businesses Outshine Big Corporations?

38:11 |  Automating Operations: Essential or Optional?

40:55 |  Wrap Up: Cynthia’s Upcoming Books Overview

LaSean Smith outlines a business investment partnership built on permanent capital, emphasizing long-term commitment and trust-building between an investor/source of capital and a business. The discussion covers disciplined methodologies, leadership transitions, and a unique compensation approach using Phantom Stock Shares. LaSean predicts a rise in smaller, values-based companies, and underscores the significance of audience and automation in acquiring and revitalizing brands. 

There can be a shift towards stable, smaller businesses connected to communities, challenging the trend ofdominance by larger and parger corporations.

Resources: https://cagr.com/

The nature of work has changed, so how we manage it must change, too.

As businesses barrel along into the fast-changing digital age, we find that the very nature of work has changed. The new name for the office or the factory is the hybrid workplace. Not only where we do work, but how we do work has changed, and how we synchronize work with each other has changed the most. For the firm, productivity is at risk. And all the standard approaches to business that we’ve been taught are outdated. Take management as an example. How do you manage a hybrid workplace and workforce. Our point of view at The Value Creators  is that management is an old-fashioned concept we have to discard. We need something new. 

The Value Creators podcast hosted two of the best experts to address the challenges of the hybrid workplace, Julie Kantor and Felice Ekelman. They are co-authors of the book that will provide the background to our discussion today: Thrive With A Hybrid Workplace: Step-by-Step Guidance from the Experts.

Shownotes:
0:00 | Intro

03:06 | Old System VS New System: Work-life Balance & Remote Work During the Pandemic

09:55 | Hybrid Work and Leadership in a Post-Pandemic World

14:02 | Hybrid Model: Nine to Five Model is Gone

16:42 | Hybrid Workplace: Seven Seas Framework

22:53 | Hybrid Policy: How Are We Managing Change?

24:50 | Culture of change: Importance of Face-to-Face Connection

28:07 | Communication, Collaboration, and Leadership in a Hybrid Work Environment

34:46 | Coaching as a Fundamental Part of the Hybrid

37:27 | Smart Goals: Well-Being in the Workplace

38:48 | Productivity in the Hybrid Workspace

41:34 | Hybrid Workspace: Compliance Load

46:12| Wrap up: Where are we heading? 

Trini Amador is the Value Creators’ go-to guru for all things marketing. He has a long career as CEO of a global branding consultancy, BHC Consulting, and he is also the founder and proprietor of Gracianna, an estate winery that has established a portfolio of greatly acclaimed, gold medal winning prestige wines from its home in the heart of Sonoma County wine country, on the banks of the Russian River.

Trini joined the Value Creators podcast to discuss his latest thinking distilled from his extensive brand-building experience: his theory of talkability.

Shownotes:
0:00 | Intro

03:17 | Understanding Talk Ability Theory: Basics, Floaters and Swimmers

07:20 | Three Areas of Talk Ability Theory

09:06 | Is Managing Expectations and Feelings a Brand's Duty?

11:11 | How digital marketing is typically described and the Traditional Funnel Approach

16:45 | Modern Marketing Innovation: Returns Policies and Proactive Issue Resolution

20:54 | Roger Martin's habit-driven brand strategy is outdated

22:39 | Concept Trini of Expectations

24:41 | Fundamental Elements of the Brand Blueprint and Speed Change

27:56 | Optimizing Social Media for Brand Talkability

28:50 | Heineken Double Zero Strategy

31:24 | Importance of Valuable Feedback in Business 

33:18 | Trini’s Business Insights and Lessons Learned 

38:46| Wrap up: Find Trini Amador and His Team at Gracianna.com

This episode is a repost from The Working On Purpose Podcast

Capitalism comes in for criticism, despite the fact that this economic system has resulted in substantially increasing global per capita income over the centuries, spurring economic growth and progress. 

Critics often criticize a kind of Aberrant Capitalism, one that is dominated in their minds by corporations, whose behavior is not always meritorious. 

But from the earliest times, it was Customer Capitalism, not corporate capitalism, that was the driver of individual prosperity and thriving. Companies such as Wedgwood & Bentley of Wedgwood China fame (founded 1759) set the original precedents by prioritizing customer needs and innovation, laying the foundation for contemporary business practices. The advent of these corporations facilitated large-scale entrepreneurship, promoting innovation and efficient responses to customer demands.

Entropy has set into the capitalist system since the founding days, and there is some corporate behavior that needs reform. Dr. Alise Cortez is attentive to these concerns. We discussed the prospects for a revival of customer capitalism

Resources: 

Connect with Hunter Hastings on LinkedIn

Connect with Dr. Alise Cortez on LinkedIn

The Value Creators Website

Hunter Hasting’s Blog

 Dr. Alise Cortez's websites:  Gusto-Now.com and AliseCortez.com

Show Notes:
0:00 | Intro
3:25 | Capitalism: Bad Rap and the Purpose 
08:07 | Standard Oil's Impact on Civilization
09:52 | World War: Capitalism in the Next Era
14:20 | The Post-War Capitalism: Command and Control
19:50 | Period of Financialization 
21:05 | Maximising Shareholder Value 
22:14 | Government as the Customer 
25:35 | The Promise of Customer Capitalism 
28:30 | Current Landscape of Customer Capitalism 
33:03 | Management Practices of Forward-Thinking Companies: Extremely Flat Organization
35:33 | Cross-Functional Teams 
37:45 | Short-Term Problem Solving vs. Long-Term Planning 
39:50 | Long-Term Stock Exchanges: Role and Contribution
40:30 | AI and Middle Management
42:24 | Principles Over Rules 
43:40 | Customer-Centric Business Models 
45:13 | Idea of Subjective Value and Empathy
48:37 | Wrap - Up

We all suffer from negativity. That’s a business risk for entrepreneurs, since we are in the business of running lots of experiments, some of which will work and some of which won’t. If we process the learning negatively (“I should never have tried that” versus “One more useful piece of knowledge”) we open ourselves up to unproductive disappointment instead of the energizing excitement of discovery.

Anthony Iannarino knows the problem, and knows the solution: take a negativity fast. Just like cutting bad food choices from your diet to improve your metabolic health, you can cut negative thinking to improve your emotional health. He discussed his book, titled The Negativity Fast, and shared his insights with The Value Creators podcast.

Resources: The Negativity Fast: Proven Techniques To Increase Positivity, Reduce Fear And Boost Success.

Shownotes:
0:00 | Intro

02:30 | Dangers of Negativity in Entrepreneurship and Evolutionary Biology 

07:06 | Major Triggers: Stress and Optimism Bias

10:44 | Exploring Internal Dialogue in Anthony Iannarino's 'Negativity Fast' 

14:09 | Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

16:28 | Empathy as a Key Exit from Negativity 

19:35 | Detailed Insights on Empathy by Anthony Iannarino

23:44 | Idea of Radical Acceptance

27:04 | Value of Feedback and Solutions in Entrepreneurship

30:47 | Practice Gratitude in detail by Anthony

34:25 | Emotional and Metabolic Health: Keys to Overcoming Negativity

37:38 Positivity and Negativity: A Matter of Choice

39:26 | Does Positive and Optimistic Approach Link to Better Performance?

41:36| Wrap up: Practical Advice and Mind Hack by Anthony Lannarino 

Jeremy Vesta is a Value Creator in a field where value creation is intensely focused on the experiences of individual consumers: health care. He’s CFO of Curally, an innovative services company designed to help individuals in a highly distinctive and intensely focused manner: helping every individual to be healthier today than they were yesterday. Curally is bringing a fresh new kind of innovation to an industry with a traditionally closed structure.

Resources
https://curally.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremy-vesta-b967505/

Shownotes:
0:00 | Intro
02:14 | A Conversation with Jeremy Vashta: How He Surveyed the Healthcare Field
06:00 | Discussing Healthcare Economics in Detail
10:22 | Defining Nurse Coaching
12:31 | Initiating Relationships with High-Risk Individuals
14:35 | Training Nurses as Coaches
16:24 | The Key Variable in Engagement
18:08 | Jeremy’s Unique Corporate Value Proposition: Promoting Wellness and Building a Cohesive Culture
21:57 | Discussing Measurable ROI in Detail
23:53 | Sedentary Lifestyles and Obesity: Discussing the Biggest Healthcare Problem
26:40 | Embracing Long-Term Health and Behavior Modification
31:34 | Creating a Hospitable Environment Can Prevent Diseases
36:12 | Coaching Definition Beyond the Medical Field By Jeremy
39:01 | Can AI Help With Coaching in the Future?
41:30 | Wrap Up: Reach out to Jeremy at curally.com

A breakthrough technique for Small Business: Don’t manage, build systems. 

Many small business owners experience frustration in trying to manage their businesses. So many things can get in the way of organized and profitable implementation. Management is hard, especially when it involves managing other people. Beverlee Rasmussen has interviewed and coached thousands of small business owners all over the world, and spent 10,000 hours developing her small business system of systems. 

Systems are how things get done. If you build systems, you don’t have to manage people. Beverlee offers systems for every facet of small business: Leadership Systems, Operations Systems, Financial Systems, Team Systems, and Marketing Systems. Those titles might seem like something for big businesses only. But they’re not. Every business owner can design and implement their own systems - and doing so will bring back all the joy and freedom and success that you expected from becoming an entrepreneur.

Don’t manage, build systems.

Resources:

Beverlee’s latest book: Small Business, Big Opportunity: Systematize Your Business.

Small Business Coach Training

Small Business Field Guide: Organized and Profitable

The Small Business Coach Gameboard

Damon Lembi is the CEO of LearnIt, a service company dedicated to helping all firms become learning organizations. He is the go-to expert on learning, change, and people development. He shared some of his 25+ years of experience with The Value Creators podcast.

In this episode, Josefine Campbell shares how being agile is the most important and impactful management innovation of the 21st century. 

How we need to strip away all bureaucratic and processual obstacles to create a fast delivery of superior customer experiences, how its principles can apply at the individual level as well as the organizational level, and how being agile comes down to self-awareness and self-management. 

It is evident that in today's economy, AI & software are extremely powerful tools in business, creative pursuits, and innovation.
 
In this episode, Ben Johnson, co-founder of Particle41 and other successful software companies, joins to discuss the integration of AI from enhancing customer support to aiding software development, the ethical considerations of AI usage, and its simulation of empathy.

For the full show notes visit: thevaluecreators.com

Mark McGrath of AGLX has developed a management approach he calls The Adaptive Entrepreneurial Method. He combines the insights of John Boyd and the entrepreneurial principles of Austrian economics. 

Boyd was a prolific writer on strategy, particularly famous for his development of the OODA Loop model of decision-making under uncertainty, feedback, and responsive re-orientation, as well as the author of a vast body of work on strategy. 

Austrian economics overlaps in the area of entrepreneurial judgment, which is purposeful action under uncertainty, and dynamic responsiveness to the resultant marketplace signals (ie. feedback loops) that action generates.

He joined The Value Creators podcast to explore the intersection of John Boyd and Austrian economics.

For full show notes visit: thevaluecreators.com

There’s a considerable debate among consultants and academics regarding the definition of management: what is it? Is it a science, is it a process, is it a set of tools that business schools teach us how to use? 

In this episode, James Burstall comes on to explain his perspective on management as a mindset (the interacting mindsets of many different people in many different circumstances in fact)  as proposed in his new book titled The Flexible Method: Prepare To Prosper In the Next Global Crisis.

Entrepreneurs aren't just about meeting needs; they're all about setting trends and leading the way. Think of the big names like Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, and Sam Altman. They don't just follow the usual business rules; they rewrite them. So, how do they actually pull it off?

In this episode, John Tamny, the Vice President at FreedomWorks, editor of RealClearMarkets, and Senior Economic Adviser to mutual fund firm Applied Finance Group,  will take us on a journey to see how entrepreneurs, the minds that redefine industries, shake things up by tackling needs that haven't been addressed yet. He's all about those game-changers who see opportunities where others don't. 

For full show notes visit, thevaluecreators.com

At the Value Creators, we favor a much different business model than the one that’s traditionally taught in business school. Our model focuses on value, understanding that value is experienced by customers, and that it’s entirely subjective. You can’t put numbers on it, you can’t capture it in a plan, it’s not something that can be distributed to shareholders. It’s not a thing of any kind.

We build the Value Creators system on the firm foundation of economics. In this episode, we’re going to explore the basis of sound economic theory and a sound understanding of value. A key word is subjectivism, which may sound very wonky, but it’s the gateway to understanding value.

To talk about value and subjectivism, our guest today is Professor Mark Packard. He’s the Research Director at the Madden Center for Value Creation, part of the College Of Business Management at Florida Atlantic University. He’s the author  He’s the author of Entrepreneurial Valuation, An Entrepreneur’s Guide To Getting Into The Minds Of Customers.

In this episode of the Value Creators Podcast, Hunter Hastings, an economist and corporate marketing professional, is interviewed by Natalie Born, host of the Innovation Meets Leadership Podcast. 

Imagine a future where your organization works backward from a detailed vision of how customers will interact with your products and services. This is a concept Hunter Hastings passionately discussed on the podcast. He advocates for a mental shift in organizations to focus on the flow of information from the customer, leading to effective marketplace tests and implementations. 

Hastings reflects on the historical shift from customer-centric entrepreneurship to bureaucracy and financialization, emphasizing the need for organizational innovation to remove barriers. The conversation explores the importance of empathy, understanding customer needs, and the potential for flatter organizational structures to accelerate innovation. 

Resources: 

Connect with Hunter Hastings on LinkedIn

Connect with Natalie Born on LinkedIn

Valuecreators.com

Hunter Hasting’s blog

Innovation Meets Leadership Podcast

Show Notes:

0:00 | Intro
02:03 | Hunter Hastings Professional Background
04:50 | Procter and Gamble's Customer-Centric Approach
08:58 | Removing Barriers to Innovation: Mental Model
11:47 | Fundaments of Innovation: Self-Management
15:20 | Morning Star's Self-Management Model
18:01 | Imagining the Future for Implementation
20:39 | Vision and Customer-Centric Innovation
22:45 | Example: The Blackberry and Customer Frustration
24:57 | Tension Between Customer Knowledge and Innovation
26:44 | Empathy and Interaction in Entrepreneurship
28:52 | Wrap-Up 

What is capital? Capital is value.

And since all value is subjective, capital can be understood as the value subjectively attributed to any resources available to a business for production. That means it includes capital goods like machines and offices, intangibles like brands and lines of code, and people and their skills and knowledge, both tacit and explicit, accumulated and
evolving.

In this episode, Peter Lewin, Professor of Economics in the Naveen Jindal School of Management at the University of Texas at Dallas, talks about capital, defining it, understanding it, optimizing it, identifying its role in business, and how it becomes valuable.

0:00 | Introduction to capital value

0:45 | Introducing guest: Peter Lewin

2:46 | Capital and Flow of value

10:52 | Inbound & outbound flow thru time

14:28 | Net Present Value

15:52 | Free cash flow vs. EVA.

22:51 | Value drivers

25:43 | Advertising campaigns

27:20 | Interest elasticity of present value

31:24 | About business advice

33:16 | Connecting EVA. with value drivers

38:15 | Sports analogy

The vast majority of businesses – the very backbone of the economic system – are derogatorily defined as small and medium enterprises by government statisticians. A better mental model is that they are the champions of value creation. 

Hermann Simon is a renowned management thinker and author, chairman of the consulting firm Simon-Kucher and the founder and leader of the research project he calls Hidden Champions. Hidden Champions uncovered the data demonstrating that – compared to the larger and more publicized companies of the major stock indexes like the S&P 500 - small and medium businesses are typically more profitable, more efficient (higher revenue per employee), faster growing, better at investing in and producing innovation, and better at making a return on that innovation, i.e. creating new value.

For full show notes visit, thevaluecreators.com

Continuous change is a feature of the adaptive entrepreneurial model of value creation. Digital marketing is a perfect illustration. By definition, it’s a field characterized by feedback loops and the only way to stay ahead is fast response and a willingness to learn and change.

Kevin Roy, CEO of the digital marketing agency Green Banana has been a pioneer in this field and stayed ahead as a leader. 

For full show notes visit, thevaluecreators.com

Is there such a thing as leadership in business? Or is it a manufactured concept to sell books and executive education courses from big-name business schools?

To shed some light, we talked to Adam Bryant, who has made leadership into his own field of expert knowledge and professional practice. He did so by interviewing over 1000 business leaders, both CEO’s and other senior executives, in multiple industries and stages of business growth and at every scale. He’s published his findings on LinkedIn and in the “Corner Office” column he created for The New York Times.  His latest book on the subject is The Leap To Leader: How Ambitious Managers Make The Jump To Leadership. He is the senior managing director and a partner at the Exco Group, an executive leadership development firm.

For full show notes visit, thevaluecreators.com

Successful innovation is a combination of deep customer knowledge and deep technical knowledge. Both are critical, and it is the unique combination of them that becomes a marketplace advantage by serving customers by solving an important problem for them with a differentiated, preferred, and technically superior approach.

Reza Farahani, the founder of WFHomie, is a data scientist who, working at top global companies in tech and consulting, developed great insights into the way data can reveal human motivations and patterns in customer behavior.

Equipped with deep technical knowledge in data science and analytics as well as deep customer knowledge, he speaks on how we can apply this to startups to solve new problems for our customers, create healthy and productive teams, and create real innovation.

For full show notes, visit: https://thevaluecreators.com

You need two types of knowledge to succeed in the business world: specialized technical knowledge and deep customer knowledge. This will allow you to create uniquely valued experiences tailored to your customers and thus build a thriving business.

Jason LaBaw, as the founder and CEO of Bonsai Media Group and a pioneer in web development, AdWords, Google Analytics, and Umbraco development, has accumulated over 18 years of industry experience, client service, and strategic leadership in the digital world and has become an expert in combining technical and customer knowledge to scale.

In this episode, Jason touches on how he believes the future will look and what principles he is certain will be invaluable to thrive in a futuristic economy, such as empathy, planning, and budgeting.

For full show notes, visit: https://thevaluecreators.com

In a complex world full of uncertainty, all businesspeople and entrepreneurs can draw guidance from shared mental models that help us make better choices. John M. Jennings took this advice to heart and developed a latticework of mental models for financial investing and any other business discipline, which he explained and expanded on in his book The Uncertainty Solution: How To Invest With Confidence In The Face Of The Unknown.

John is a premier thought leader in the wealth management industry and President and Chief Strategist of St. Louis Trust and Family Office, a $15 billion national investment firm. He is also an adjunct professor at Washington University's Olin School of Business in its Wealth and Asset Management Graduate Program.

In this episode, he not only teaches why we always look for certainty and how we can be aware of certain pitfalls we fall into while dealing with uncertainty but also how to navigate uncertainty to not only come out unscratched but profit from it.

For full show notes, visit: https://thevaluecreators.com

Curt Carlson is both the leading theorist and the leading practitioner of the economic science of value creation – the practice and discipline firms follow for the profitable generation of new, more valued experiences for customers. He teaches value creation in his work for Universities such as WPI, provides hands-on training workshops for companies through his Practice Of Innovation consultancy, and built a track record of marketplace success as CEO of SRI.  

He joined The Value Creators podcast to explain value creation as a business model. He recently explained the theory and practice of value creation in a LinkedIn post titled The Customer Centric Enterprise, which we repeat here. 

For full show notes, visit thevaluecreators.com/business-podcasts/tvc-1/

Welcome to the Value Creators podcast, the ultimate destination for business enthusiasts seeking to unlock the secrets of success through the lens of Austrian economics. Join Hunter Hastings and a variety of insightful guests as they delve into engaging conversations with business owners and esteemed practitioners from leading business schools.

In each episode, the Value Creators podcast goes beyond the surface-level discussions of traditional business strategies and explores the profound impact of Austrian economics on the world of entrepreneurship. Drawing upon the rich principles and theories of this school of thought, our host uncovers hidden gems and actionable insights to help listeners improve their businesses.

Join us every week for a new exploration into value creation!

This episode is a repost from The Learn-It-All Podcast

The decline of customer capitalism and the shift in support for capitalism among young people highlights the need for a cultural transformation in business and economics. By prioritizing customer value, fostering empathy, and empowering employees, businesses can build stronger relationships with customers and drive long-term sustainable growth. The future of customer capitalism lies in understanding and meeting customer needs, leveraging technology to enhance the customer experience, and reforming business education to prioritize customer value creation.

In this episode of the Learn It All podcast, guest Hunter Hastings, an economist, venture capitalist, and author of "Aberrant Capitalism: The Decline of Customer Capitalism," discusses the decline of customer capitalism and the shift in support for capitalism among young people. Hastings emphasizes the importance of customer-centric business practices, the impact of financialization, and the need for empathy in business. He advocates for a reform in business education to prioritize customer value creation and introduces an online course aimed at teaching these principles. The conversation also touches on the potential of AI in enhancing customer experiences and the importance of capitalism in improving well-being.

Hunter Hastings' insights provide a valuable roadmap for businesses and entrepreneurs looking to navigate the evolving landscape of capitalism and create meaningful value for customers. By embracing the principles of customer capitalism, businesses can not only thrive but also contribute to a more empathetic and customer-centric society.

Resources: 

Connect with Hunter Hastings on LinkedIn

To download the book: Aberrant Capitalism: The Decline of Customer Capitalism

The Online Value Creators Course: Valuecreators.com

Connect with Damon Lembi on LinkedIn

Connect with Darren Bridgett on LinkedIn

Yasmin Davidds, president & CEO of Dr. Yasmin Davidds Leadership Institute and Multicultural Women's Executive Leadership Institute advocates for a leadership approach called "graciously assertive," which blends self-advocacy with empathy for others. 

Dr. Yasmin outlines eight pillars crucial for effective leadership, emphasizing practical methods like gratitude lists and self-awareness exercises to foster personal growth. Central to her philosophy is "graciously assertive" communication, combining assertiveness with grace to achieve collaborative outcomes. Yasmin discusses how this approach can transform workplace dynamics, emphasizing empathy and mutual understanding in both professional and personal relationships. She also addresses challenges faced by women, particularly women of color, advocating for gratitude and empathy to navigate biases effectively. Yasmin promotes moral leadership aligned with personal values, stressing genuine inclusion and the importance of mindsets like gratitude and growth for continuous personal and professional development.

Resources:

Connect with Hunter Hastings on LinkedIn 

Connect Yasmin Davidds on LinkedIn

Yasmin Davidds Website: dryasmininstitute.com

To download the book: Graciously Assertive

Show Notes:

0:00 | Intro
00:46 | Yasmin’s Point of View: Being a Better Human Being
02:37 | Graciously Assertive: Eight Pillars
04:13 | First Pillar: Self-Awareness
06:50 | Second Pillar: Social Awareness
08:23 | Third Pillar: Empathy
09:52 | Fourth Pillar: Self-Regulation 
11:45 | Fifth Pillar: Self-Compassion
12:17 | Zero Tolerance for Judgement
13:37 | Most Empowering: Pillar of Gratitude
16:37 | Eight Pillar: Healthy Boundaries 
18:20 | Assertive or Graciously Assertive Communication
23:45 | Empowering Women in Diverse Challenges
26:42 | Moral Leadership
30:50 | Find the Barriers and Remove Them
32:49 | Mindset
35:13 | Inclusion
38:13 | How does Yasmin teach?
40:19 | Wrap-Up

Teams are the new focal point of organizational design and organizational function. Motivation - quantified as “energy” by Proijal Ghatak and Onloop - is the key to team performance. Technology is advancing to the point where motivation can be monitored using AI, and self-reported feedback and other nuanced approaches to understanding and improving motivation levels are delivering real progress. Purpose portfolios can align individual motivations with organizational goals, capturing the role of purpose in driving productivity and engagement.

Projjal mentioned companies experimenting with holocracy and distributed flat organizations, although scaling such structures was noted as challenging due to inherent human tendencies to seek direction and guidance. The conversation also explored frameworks like RAPID (Bain’s Responsible, Accountable, Perform, Informed, Decide model) and spans of control, highlighting strategies for optimizing organizational effectiveness and managerial efficiency.

Projjal emphasized the importance of respect and trust in leadership dynamics, noting that effective leaders inspire motivation and engagement through their actions and guidance. The role of AI in augmenting managerial capabilities and increasing spans of control was also discussed, highlighting the potential for technology to enhance organizational structures and improve managerial effectiveness.

Resources: 

The Post-Managerial Era (Blog Post) 

Connect with Hunter Hastings on LinkedIn 

Connect with Projjal Ghatak on LinkedIn

onloop.com

Show Notes:

0:00 | Intro
0:57 | Problem to Solve
3:02 | Collaborative Software Tools Shift Mindsets
9:31 | Great Breakthrough: Products Addressing Management Problems
16:44 | HR's Original Design: Suppressing Dissent, Keeping Control
17:44 | Teams as Core Units: Hybrid, Remote and Onsite
21:41 | Entrepreneurial Intent Without Clear Goals
25:11 | Feedback Loop
26:19 | New Performance Management Project 
31:25 | How Do Projjal Detect Motivation?
35:29 | Experimenting with 'Things That Matter'
38:15 | Service Orientation
41:04 | Organization and Firm Structure
50:40 | Right Hemisphere Dominant VS Left Hemisphere Dominant 
53:19 | Wrap-Up

Kimberlee Josephson is an associate professor of business at Lebanon Valley College, and an insightful and energetic promoter of entrepreneurship and free markets at The American Institute For Economic Research. 

Resources: 

Connect with Kimberlee Josephson on LinkedIn 

Read Kimberlee Josephson's articles at AIER

Connect with Hunter Hastings on LinkedIn

Learn Entrepreneurial Value Creation with our Value Creators Online Course  

Show Notes:
0:00 | Intro
2:02 | Kimberlee Josephson’s Background
3:53 | Big Picture of Capitalism
8:16 | What was the Problem?
11:34 | How Kimberlee Teaches Power Structure and Other Programs
17:19 | Companies Prioritizing Morals Over Profi.
19:55 | Maximizing Shareholder Value: Research Perspective
23:04 | Antitrust: Government's Role in Business Scrutiny
28:15 | Monopoly as a Business Goal: Darker Motives
33:15 | Critics of Capitalism: Distorted View of Competition
37:21 | Focus on Positive Business Dynamics, Not the Destruction Part
39:44 | Value Creators Online Course
40:57 | Business Education 
44:23 | Redefining Entrepreneurship 
46:44 | Academia Being Non-Dynamic: Where to Get Business Education? 
51:38 | Wrap-Up

Leadership is not what the business schools and the coaching industry tell you it is.

"A Leader's Destiny" challenges conventional notions of leadership, offering a thought-provoking exploration into the complex interplay of psychology, culture, and society. Written by Elias Aboujaoude, the book delves deep into the modern leadership landscape, dissecting prevalent trends and highlighting the need for a paradigm shift in how we perceive and cultivate leaders.

It highlights how leadership has been oversimplified into formulaic steps and mnemonic devices, creating an illusion of quick mastery. This reductionist approach fails to capture the complexity of human behavior and context, lacking empirical support. Instead, Dr Aboujaoude proposes a shift towards viewing leadership as a state of mind, emphasizing psychology over pseudoscience and recognizing individual uniqueness. This reframing calls for a departure from the business school model of leadership, advocating for a more personalized and nuanced understanding rooted in psychology and character.

Dr. Aboujaoude’s  Value Creators podcast discussion with Hunter Hastings delves into the often-overlooked role of followership, critiquing the prevalent focus on grooming leaders at the expense of valuing followers. It emphasizes the importance of acknowledging followers as essential components of effective leadership and calls for a more balanced perspective that appreciates their contribution. Additionally, the conversation touches upon the significance of empathy and humility in leadership, advocating for emotionally intelligent and empathic leaders who understand the role of luck and serendipity in their success. Overall, the discourse prompts a critical reflection on current leadership culture, urging a reevaluation of conventional wisdom and a renewed focus on psychology, individuality, and genuine concern for both leaders and followers alike.

Resources: 

Connect with Hunter Hastings on LinkedIn

Connect with Dr. Elias Aboujaoude on LinkedIn

To Read, Sample, and Buy the Book on Amazon: 

A Leader's Destiny: Why Psychology, Personality, and Character Make All the Difference

Show Notes:

0:00 | Intro
0:18 | Leadership Industrial Complex.
2:56 | Supply Demand Analysis: How Did Leadership Manufacturing Start
4:44 | Crisis: Leadership Demand Mismatch
8:59 | Attention Economy: Impact on Leadership
11:52 | Redefining Leadership: Psychology Perspective
17:34 | Leadership: Moving Beyond Formulaic Approaches
20:12 | Leadership Challenges: Left Hemisphere Dominance
22:45 | Individual Uniqueness vs. Formulaic Approach
24:46 | Charisma
30:05 | Fostering Effective Followership
32:18 | Distributed Leadership
34:42 | Leadership-Free Concept: Network Structure
35:40 | Culture 
40:38 | Cultural Reflection: Emphasizing Empathy
43:34 | Luck and Serendipity
46:34 | Whether Elias is Optimistic OR Not?
49:00 | Wrap-Up: A Leader’s Destiny Book