Transform leadership success with 'LEADOVATION: Reimagine. Facilitate. Flourish.' This podcast, ideal for executives and HR professionals, offers a unique blend of innovative leadership strategies and practical insights. Dive into a world where reimagining traditional approaches, facilitating effective solutions, and flourishing in a dynamic business environment are key.
Each episode is packed with real-world examples and actionable advice, addressing challenges like employee engagement, workload management, and rapid organizational growth. Whether you're advancing your career or driving company success, 'LEADOVATION' is your guide to sustainable leadership excellence.
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Alicia Branham: Balancing Authenticity and Strategy in Small Business Marketing
Episode 237
Tuesday, November 12, 2024 • Duration 33:22
About Alicia Branham:
Meet Alicia Branham, the marketing powerhouse with a story beyond business savvy. Her journey reflects adaptability and determination, traits cultivated during her formative years when her parents uprooted her to Uruguay. With over 25 years as a Creative and Marketing Director in the Commercial & Industrial PVF and HVAC markets, Alicia is renowned as the “secret sauce” for transformative business growth. Her clients achieve prestigious accolades and industry recognition under her expert guidance, including magazine covers and Rep of the Year awards.
In this episode, Dean Newlund and Alicia Branham discuss:
Challenges small businesses face in marketing and branding
The role of authenticity in personal and professional branding
How mental health affects leadership and brand alignment
The importance of consistency for building a strong marketing presence
Using AI and technology to enhance small business marketing
Key Takeaways:
Regularly posting on social media, even if engagement is low initially, signals reliability to both algorithms and followers, which can significantly impact visibility.
Using AI, like ChatGPT, can streamline content creation and offer small businesses cost-effective solutions for marketing strategy development.
For businesses to grow effectively, it's often crucial to hire a marketing strategist who can align brand messaging with sales and growth objectives.
Leaders who are open about personal challenges and mental health can foster a culture of authenticity, which resonates with clients and employees alike.
"It is okay to go in a direction and realize it doesn't fit you and maybe it doesn't align with you anymore. And it's completely fine to switch. It's completely fine to pick up and switch chairs and move. It is 100 percent okay to do that.” — Alicia Branham
Claire Milligan: How Private Equity Drives Efficiency and Strategic Leadership
Episode 236
Tuesday, November 5, 2024 • Duration 27:26
About Claire Milligan:
Whether she’s helping businesses transform their cloud spending or hitting the slopes as a ski patroller, Claire Milligan thrives on distilling complex problems down to their core issues — and turning these pragmatic findings into groundbreaking solutions. Through a journey spanning marketing, UX, and leadership roles at tech companies like Tallie and SpringAhead, she’s meticulously constructed a diverse skill set built upon hands-on expertise and an unrelenting thirst for knowledge. Now, as the CEO of startup Aimably, she’s applying her unique superpowers to help businesses grow by spending smarter and dramatically reducing their cloud costs.
In this episode, Dean Newlund and Claire Milligan discuss:
Private equity’s role in transforming and growing companies
The expanding financial responsibilities of CTOs
Cost reduction and financial efficiency in software companies
Leadership continuity through acquisitions and turnover
Aligning operations with long-term financial objectives
Key Takeaways:
Private equity helps companies transition from good to great by rigorously assessing core operations, eliminating inefficiencies, and focusing on mission-driven growth.
Successful CTOs in private equity contexts must adopt a financial mindset, overseeing budgets, cost management, and return on investment for technology spending.
Evaluating every role within a team based on adaptability and alignment with evolving business priorities is essential for CTOs managing acquisitions.
Companies preparing for potential acquisition can benefit from acting as though they are selling, which enhances operational efficiency and scalability.
Cloud infrastructure spending can significantly impact profitability, so companies should regularly audit and optimize their cloud costs.
"The whole goal of private equity is to take a good company and make it great by examining everything as an opportunity to stop, reset, re-evaluate, and make sure you’re not wasting time or resources on things that aren’t core to your values or mission, driving much more success out of the same core architecture.” — Claire Milligan
Damon Lembi: Fostering a Culture of Learning and Continuous Growth
Episode 227
Tuesday, September 3, 2024 • Duration 45:01
About Damon Lembi:
Damon Lembi is a two-time bestselling author, host of The Learn-It-All Podcast, and thought leader focused on leadership development and lifelong learning. As CEO of Learnit, the global leader in corporate training, he has upskilled over 1.8 million people and gained key insights into effective leadership.
A former baseball player, Damon learned valuable lessons in teamwork, motivation, and persistence. His book, The Learn-It-All Leader, provides strategies for leaders to embrace continuous learning and build leadership skills.
With nearly thirty years of experience, Damon shares leadership lessons with an approachable style. His insights have been featured in major publications like Fast Company and Forbes. Damon inspires audiences with his humor and passion, encouraging them to grow and embrace their inner learn-it-all leader.
In this episode, Dean Newlund and Damon Lembi discuss:
Creating learning organizations
The importance of failure in learning
Fostering a learning culture
Aligning learning with organizational strategy
The concept of Learning Time Off (LTO)
Key Takeaways:
Learning organizations need to provide employees with both time and space to engage in training and coaching during work hours.
While failure can be a valuable learning tool, it must be managed differently depending on the industry, such as in marketing versus surgery.
Learning programs should be customized based on feedback from new hires and aligned with leadership's vision and goals.
A baseline recommendation for LTO is two to three hours every other week for employees to focus on learning activities.
A successful learning culture requires consistent reinforcement, practice, and alignment with the company's strategic objectives.
Miriam Meima: The New Wave Of Leadership
Episode 137
Tuesday, December 13, 2022 • Duration 36:29
Miriam Meima has been a coach & facilitator for over twenty years, dedicating her life to studying the overlap between business and psychology. Miriam has coached founders and executives at hundreds of companies, including a dozen $1B+. She often partners with companies from Series B all the way through going public. She works 1:1 with senior leaders, facilitates team offsites, and develops customized leadership development journeys for leaders at all levels. Her specialty is in helping people unlock the next level of performance while maximizing authenticity.
Miriam’s credentials include an MA in Organizational & Management Development and a BA in Business & Psychology. She is a Master Certified Coach with the International Coaching Federation, a Fellow at the Harvard Institute of Coaching, and a member of Forbes Coaches Council.
In this episode, Dean Newlund and Miriam Meima discuss:
What’s the difference between therapy and coaching?
The gift of things shutting down around us
Relationship between competence and intuition
Accepting yourself and relaxing into your wisdom
Key Takeaways:
Therapy is standing in the present and looking backward while coaching is about standing in the present and looking forwards. The two have different vantage points and different intentions.
When things shut down, we were forced to look in the mirror and think about who are the people that matter and what are the experiences that matter. We had the opportunity individually and collectively to reset.
Being competent is what unlocks your ability to trust yourself and therefore allows you to be drawn to a certain direction through your intuition.
A lot of challenge at all ages for humans comes from feeling like we have to prove ourselves - the breeding grounds for insecurity. If we allow ourselves to feel accepted, we could trust ourselves more and relax into our wisdom.
"If we can all become students of ourselves we’ll start to notice we feel pulled in certain places, and that's usually tuition at work."
Michele Sammons: How To Use The Power Of Your Intuition To Make Better Decisions For Yourself And Your Business
Episode 136
Tuesday, December 6, 2022 • Duration 46:15
Michele Sammons is an inspirational author, intuitive teacher, and highly-attuned guide who works with clients worldwide helping them transform their lives.
As an empath and intuitive, Michele’s light-hearted, joyful approach embraces people right where they are on their spiritual path and gently guides them to personal clarity and understanding. She is passionate about working with Spirit to uplift others while spreading love and joy along the way.
Michele makes her home in Memphis, Tennessee, with her husband Scott, and chocolate Labrador, Dewey. Michele is the author of The Little Book of Big Knowing: Tiny Bursts of Insight to Wake Up Your Soul and Intuitive Companion: Consult Your Inner Guru for Everyday Guidance.
Michele’s work is featured in Authority Magazine, Thrive Global, and Well Defined.
In this episode, Dean Newlund and Michele Sammons discuss:
People’s innate ability to be intuitive
Intuitive brainstorming
Intuition is the path
Nurturing intuition
Key Takeaways:
We are all born naturally intuitive but as we grow older, the tendency is that we lose connection to it and get trained out of our natural ability.
People have different ways of tapping into their intuition, but your ability to be intuitive is not limited by space. Through intention and giving yourself permission, you can let your creativity and ideas flow.
Intuition is a delivery mechanism, it’s the path in which you can receive guidance.
Get quiet and spend some time in silence. Check in with yourself and pay attention to your emotions and your body. Find a calm, centered, neutral space so that you can tap into your higher self.
"Spend some time in silence. That's when our intuition has room to grow and show itself. Let the outer world dim its lights a little bit so we can turn to the inner world."
Donna Loughlin: How Visionaries Create Followers
Episode 135
Tuesday, November 29, 2022 • Duration 38:56
Donna Loughlin is the Founder of LMGPR and known for her work with futurists and innovators. She has launched more than 500 companies, taking them from stealth to market leaders since forming her agency in 2002.
She is also the host of BeforeItHappened, a leading narrative podcast featuring visionaries and the moments, events, and realizations that inspired them to change our lives for the better.
Donna excels in the realm of storytelling and uses those skills to propel new companies into the mainstream.
In this episode, Dean Newlund and Donna Loughlin discuss:
How robots could improve working conditions
Listening will never be obsolete
Opening ourselves up to change
How to be more innovative
Key Takeaways:
Robots are not taking our jobs but there are jobs that robots are very willing to take, jobs that are either too tedious or too dangerous for human beings.
You can never take the human factor out of industry and life. Only people have the ability to listen, understand, and have empathy for others. Making decisions and other cognitive functions are other examples.
We need to have more gratitude and less attitude. Be open to change and to conversations especially when there are differences in opinions.
Surround yourself with talented people. Ask questions and learn from others. Know your talents and apply them.
"Robots can perform tasks and can do some miraculous things. But they can't replace our cognitive thinking, human engagement, and interaction."— Donna Loughlin
Sybil Ackerman-Munson: Create Your Financial Legacy and Do Your Good
Episode 134
Tuesday, November 22, 2022 • Duration 31:59
Sybil Ackerman-Munson is a nonprofit professional and foundation advisor. She founded Do Your Good, an LLC dedicated to helping individuals and businesses make lasting, meaningful contributions to the world. In September, she will be launching her Crack the Code Course, step-by-step lessons on how to build a philanthropic life.
In this episode, Dean Newlund and Sybil Ackerman-Munson discuss:
How you could do more harm than good without due diligence
For-profit business concepts that are useful for nonprofit managers
Preventing burn out in the nonprofit space
Adjusting your pitch according to the kind of donor
Key Takeaways:
Being an effective giver will take certain due diligence, especially if you have a lot to give. Giving without knowing the community and the reputation of a nonprofit can do more harm than good.
Nonprofit founders generally start companies to do good, but to sustain their organization, they need to have studied how to operate a for-profit business and how to collaborate with others.
The motivation for everyone ultimately is to do good, but the good can only be sustained if those who initiate and manage that change is properly incentivized. It’s not wrong for nonprofit workers to earn more.
There are three kinds of donors. First is the sustainer donor, they are the ones that love your group and will fund you year after year. Second is the campaigner donor, somebody who cares about a specific cause. The third is the launcher donor and they want to fill in the gaps.
"You, as a nonprofit, need to know the kind of donor you're talking to. In my over a decade of experience, I've found that there's three distinct types of donors. And if you talk to the one wrong, you're not going to even get in the door." — Sybil Ackerman-Munson
Danielle Mulvey: Never Settle
Episode 133
Tuesday, November 15, 2022 • Duration 37:00
Danielle Mulvey is a former flight attendant-turned-entrepreneur who has cracked the code on recruiting, hiring, and retaining what she refers to as “5-Star Employees”.
Never one to settle for average, Danielle has scaled her several companies to over $50 million in annual revenue while spending less than 10 hours each week overseeing their operations.
Danielle’s own team of trusted 5-Star Employees provides her with the freedom to spend the rest of her workweek guiding other entrepreneurs through podcasting, workshops, and community curating.
In addition to running her companies and assisting other entrepreneurs, Danielle is the Chief Curator of The ALL IN Company Community, which strategically advises other entrepreneurs on attracting and hiring 5-Star Employees. She has been developing, testing, and sharing these ideas for more than 10 years now, with a staggering 90% success rate! Danielle attributes this success to her undeniable gift to identify and nurture 5-Star Employees. She knows in order to succeed, leaders need to get comfortable with the uncomfortable and go all in on their employees, who will reciprocate and go all in on the company.
In this episode, Dean Newlund and Danielle Mulvey discuss:
Casting a wide net
Hiring based on alignment
Why is it important to be aligned
The difference between limber and flexible
Key Takeaways:
One out of seven candidates is a potential five-star employee. The key is to cast a wide net, attracting as many candidates as possible and getting out of the box with your recruitment strategies.
Hire people who are aligned with your true core values. That’s the foundation of any business. If people aren’t aligned, the relationship will not last.
If you don’t love what you’re doing, you’ll go to work and be in pain the whole day through. This is a great cause for inefficiency in the workplace, people can’t go into flow and they’ll probably tap out after three hours at work.
Tim O'Neal: 30th Anniversary: Lessons Learned from Excellence in Leadership Award Winner
Episode 132
Tuesday, November 8, 2022 • Duration 20:43
With nearly three decades of experience working in the thrift industry, Tim O’Neal has spent the past 18 years focused on the vision of ending poverty through the power of work.
When O’Neal was brought on with Goodwill of Central Arizona, the organization was in serious financial trouble and at risk of having its membership removed by Goodwill Industries International. O’Neal’s arrival marked a turning point in the 70-year history of the organization, and his leadership was instrumental in keeping the organization running by increasing retail operations by 3000 percent during his tenure as the Vice President of Retail Operations (1999 – 2007).
O’Neal brought a distinct level of professionalism to the retail side of the organization, a characteristic that quickly spread throughout the organization. O’Neal values the time and effort of his employees above all else. He knows the successful reach of Goodwill of Central and Northern Arizona’s mission is due to the hard work and innovation all employees exhibit every day. O’Neal recognizes talent and feels it is important for the organization to cultivate leadership at all levels. He is most proud of the transparency the nonprofit presents, as well as the workplace culture that regularly earns top marks on “Best Places to Work” rankings.
Goodwill’s founder, Edgar Helms, envisioned providing people in need with the skills and opportunities that lead to self-sufficiency by providing a hand-up, not a handout. O’Neal believes wholeheartedly in carrying out this mission to better the lives of everyone in our state. He knows the best way to bring a positive impact to Arizona is to work together, collaborate, and cultivate partnerships with community members, organizations, and leaders.
Tim O’Neal is proud of his employees and proud of the positive impact Goodwill of Central and Northern Arizona leaves on the local community.
O’Neal holds a Certificate in Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management from the Harvard Business School Executive Education program. O’Neal graduated in June 2010 from Goodwill Industries International’s Executive Leadership Development program, which drives excellence, strategic planning, and personal development skills for top executives in the industry.
Bryan Clayton: You Get the Culture You Deserve
Episode 131
Tuesday, November 1, 2022 • Duration 28:19
Bryan has been in the lawn care industry his entire working life starting with mowing neighbor’s lawns in high school to ultimately founding Peach Tree Inc, a market-leading landscape company in the southeast, and growing the firm to over 125 employees. In 2013 he navigated the successful acquisition of Peach Tree to Landscapes USA a national provider of commercial landscape services. The inspiration for GreenPal is born out of the frustration Bryan observed while operating the landscape business, and how difficult it is for homeowners to find, schedule, and pay a reliable small lawn care professional. Bryan is in charge of GreenPal’s strategic direction and growth to become the platform that powers the lawn care industry.
In this episode, Dean Newlund and Bryan Clayton discuss:
How culture can be an advantage
Leaders are responsible for the culture
How you could fix a bad culture
Building a culture vs cultivating a culture
Key Takeaways:
People choose companies based on how they feel and one of the things that affect how they feel about the company is its culture.
If you’re a leader in a space, then you are primarily responsible for the office culture. You get what you give out, your people reflect how you are and how you treat them. If going to work feels like a chain around your neck, guess how your team members feel.
If you want to fix your culture, focus on doing small things consistently and build up from there. Learn to genuinely care about the people in your company, know their names, and be sincerely curious about their lives and how they are doing.
Building a culture in your company is less like being a construction worker and more like being a gardener. The culture of your company needs constant tending, it’s not a project that has an endpoint - it’s a living thing that needs continuous nourishment and growth.
"As the CEO, chief, boss, or whatever you call yourself, you get exactly the culture that you deserve. You hired these people, you brought them on to the mission with you, and believe it or not, they are reflecting your level of enthusiasm."
If you’re an employer, you’re looking for limber people, not flexible people. A limber person is someone who’s amenable to change, not rigid, someone who can go with the flow and do what’s asked of them.
"When you're working with like-minded people who have the same core values, I mean, that's where the magic happens.." — Danielle Mulvey
In this episode, Dean Newlund and Tim O'Neal discuss:
Creating impact through servant leadership
The purpose is community
Taking care of your team
Communication and transparency
Key Takeaways:
We have different job titles, but nobody's more important than the next person. Take care of your people and they’ll take care of everything else.
The purpose is community, taking care of your fellow humans. No matter what people think, you and I can make a difference and that’s why it matters.
As a leader, make sure that your organization has enough resources to weather any kind of storm that comes up. Be careful about the decisions you’re making today. Keep in mind that you have a responsibility to care for your team when tougher times arrive.
Why wouldn’t you want to communicate and be transparent? It saves you the hassle of having to relay messages over and over to make sure that everybody’s on the same page.
"If you're the leader, the number one job, you have to take care of your people. And if you do that, they take care of everything else." — Tim O'Neal
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