Absolute Advantage Podcast

Matt Sandrini is a high-performance and business coach, Amazon bestselling author, and an expert in time management and productivity. His coaching helps entrepreneurs find the results they are looking for through clarity, structure and accountability. He helps his clients reduce their stress, improve the productivity of their workday, and get more accomplished in less time.

Matt is the founder of Time Zillionaire, a website and program designed to help entrepreneurs and business leaders cut through the endless minutia we tend to get trapped by, and instead learn to focus on those few activities that will actually benefit our quest for success and happiness. Quick weekly emails provide actionable tips and strategies and offer readers easy access to Matt's wisdom. Matt is also the author of Invest Your Time: Work Less, Achieve More, Master Your Life, where he outlines many of the strategies he teaches to his clients.

Matt learned early in his own entrepreneurial career to question the value of his time and the activities he was spending it on. When he began his first business, he recognized that he was focusing on the wrong activities and putting in too much time for too little value. That was when he began learning to refocus his priorities and better manage his time, and today he shares those valuable practices and habits he developed for himself with other business leaders and entrepreneurs.

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It takes a mix of many different ingredients to find success as a business leader: money, the support of your team, professional and social connections, the list goes on and on. But there is one precious resource that could be said to be more valuable than the others. This particular resource is always in short supply, and there is really no way to get more when you run out. Of course, I'm talking about time. Balancing your time can easily be a constant struggle and source of stress for any business leader. It seems that there are always countless things jostling for your attention, so how do you know where you can best spend this precious resource?

Meet Matt Sandrini. Matt is a business coach, Amazon bestselling author, and a time management expert. Matt believes that the key to finding true success as a business leader or entrepreneur is learning to cut through the static and focus on the activities that truly matter and best contribute to your happiness and success. In his own entrepreneurial career, Matt had to learn to refocus his efforts and make the most of the time available to him, and now he teaches others the valuable skills he developed.

In this episode of Absolute Advantage, Matt shares his strategies for determining where you are spending your time and discovering all the places you are losing it to unhelpful, unnecessary activities. He offers up sensible strategies and insights for maximizing the amount of time available to you and accomplishing as much as possible in as short an amount of time as you can. Your time is incredibly valuable, and I hope you'll spend a little of it listening to my conversation with Matt Sandrini and learning from his incredible time-saving wisdom!

• Invest Your Time: Work Less, Achieve More, Master Your Life by Matt Sandrini: https://amzn.to/2WveD0p
• Website: www.timezillionaire.com/advantage

Michelle Tillis-Lederman is a recognized speaker, trainer, leadership coach and consultant, and author. She was named by Forbes on their list of "25 Professional Networking Experts to Watch." Through her company, Executive Essentials, Michelle works to help national and global businesses, organizations and individuals build stronger relationships. Michelle has been featured on NBC, CBS, the New York Times, Forbes, Working Mother Magazine and many other high profile publications and news outlets. Prior to her current work, Michelle served as an NYU professor, financial executive and CPA.

Michelle's newest book, The Connector's Advantage: 7 Mindsets to Grow Your Influence and Impact, seeks to help readers learn to more effectively communicate, form and cultivate relationships, and ensure that their voices are heard, through smart strategies and sage advice from more than two dozen experts in the area of communication and relationship-building.

Michelle Tillis-Lederman is truly an expert in the art and science of building better relationships and becoming a Connector, and I hope that you will listen to her wisdom and apply it to your own role as a business leader.

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As business leaders, we live and die by our relationships to the people around us. Whether they are our clients, our peers, or the teams we lead, our relationships to the people we work with professionally can either drag us down or elevate our leadership to new levels of success.

I want to introduce you to Michelle Tillis-Lederman. Michelle is an expert in strengthening those key relationships that are so important to our role as business leaders. Through extensive professional experience and research, Michelle has mastered the art of creating, growing and strengthening relationships, and she has helped many high-profile organizations create more successful, impactful and effective teams.

In this week's episode of Absolute Advantage, Michelle discusses her background in every aspect of the finance industry and her interest in creating stronger connections between members of organizations. She explains why anyone can become a Connector, someone who serves as the catalyst for stronger relationships in everyone around them. She describes the different types of connectors and their various strengths, and she shares tips and strategies for strengthening your own relationships with others and becoming a true Connector.

• Website: www.executiveessentials.org
• Website: www.michelletillislederman.com
• Website: www.theconnectorsadvantage.com
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/communicationexpertspeaker/
• Twitter: @mtlederman
• The Connector's Advantage by Michelle Tillis-Lederman: https://amzn.to/2ZQrP1N

Harry Maziar's career as a business leader has been long, successful, and storied. Harry served as the President of Zep Manufacturing Company, a division of National Service Industries, for 27 years. Prior to his role as President, Harry served as the company's first director of sales, where his leadership helped to create double-digit growth consistently for two and a half decades.

In recent years, Harry has served on a number of business and community boards for both for-profit and charitable organizations. He is also the author of Story Selling: Sage Advice and Common Sense About Sales and Success, where he offers a collection of entertaining and informative stories as a mechanism to teach the key principles of sales in a memorable and engaging way. Harry's passion is to inspire and empower others to pursue their life's purpose and find true success.

Harry Maziar's wisdom, experience and talent for sales and leadership can be valuable tools for your own pursuit of being the most effective leader you can be. I hope you will listen to the episode and absorb Harry's teachings.

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As leaders, we're always looking to better ourselves, strengthen our leadership, and inspire those around us. That focus and drive to constantly be improving is a key ingredient in becoming a great leader. And one of the many ways that we can learn important lessons is through stories

Today I'd like to introduce you to master storyteller Harry Maziar. Harry is a business leader and salesperson with a proven track record of success. As both director of sales and, later, President of Zep Manufacturing Company, Harry led his company through an incredible period of growth and prosperity over the span of his career. Harry is also the author of Story Selling, in which he shares powerful, entertaining and inspiring stories of sales and leadership.

In this episode of Absolute Advantage, Harry discusses the importance of storytelling as a way to transfer knowledge in a memorable way. He talks about the qualities of a leader and the critical role that clear communication serves in leading others and bringing them to your way of thinking. And he shares his thoughts on mentorship and the importance of paying it forward. Harry Maziar is a thoughtful, genuine and entertaining storyteller and a truly exceptional leader.

Additional Resources:

• Story Selling by Harry Maziar: https://amzn.to/2VxzjaO

Petra Velzeboer is an international keynote speaker, psychotherapist, mental health consultant, executive coach, and podcast host who is dedicated to helping others through developing empathy in the workplace to create stronger connections with our teammates and improve the productivity of our organizations.

Petra's own remarkable story is one of triumph in spite of the odds being stacked against her. Having been raised in a cult, Petra experienced a level of abuse and control that led her to develop addiction problems and ultimately consider suicide as her only way out. However, Petra was able to overcome these incredible challenges, conquer her addiction issues, and attain an education that was denied to her as a child growing up within a religious cult.

Petra shares her powerful and inspiring story in an effort to help lift others up and promote kindness and compassion. She believes greatly that empathy, authenticity and connection are the keys to making the world a better place and to allow us, both individually and as a society, to achieve our full potential.

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Inspiration, motivation and empathy can come from many sources. These sources can be uplifting stories of human love and compassion, or they can come from a darker place of overcoming the most difficult of life's challenges. But, no matter the source, we can draw on these stories to lift ourselves up, inspire ourselves, and better understand ourselves and the world around us.

I want to introduce you to Petra Velzeboer. Petra is a psychotherapist and mental health consultant, and she also works as an internationally respected keynote speaker and executive coach, as well as hosting her own podcast, Adversity to Advantage. Petra's story is a remarkable tale of falling all the way to rock bottom and then climbing back up again through perseverance, willpower and hope.

In this episode of the Absolute Advantage podcast, Petra shares her emotional story of growing up in a religious cult, being subjected to brainwashing and intense punishment, turning to substance abuse to deal with the internal hurt and turmoil, and eventually overcoming all of these obstacles to find true success and happiness. Petra's story is deeply personal, powerful, and inspiring. Petra also discusses her role as a mental health professional and the vital importance of mental health and self-care as a leader.

Ways to contact Petra Velzeboer:

• Website: www.petravelzeboer.com
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/petra-velzeboer/

Dr. Daphne Scott is a leadership coach and corporate development expert with more than two decades of experience working with organizations. In addition to her own extensive coaching and leadership training and her degrees in Applied Positive Psychology and Physical Therapy, Daphne leans on her background in theater with the Second City Improvisational Conservatory Program to strengthen and diversify her coaching.

Daphne is a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach, certified Hendricks Coach, a founding member of the Conscious Leadership Group, as well as a member of the International Coaching Federation. She has also studied with top-level executive coaches, consciousness experts and organizational psychologists.

Daphne believes that one of our key roles as leaders is to equip and enable the people around us to succeed. This involves spending the time and effort necessary to help them identify their natural abilities, and it also involves putting them in positions that best leverage those abilities. It requires us to recognize and appropriately respond to the thoughts, feelings, fears and questions our team may experience.

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A goal we all have in common is our ongoing work to become better, stronger leaders. It's why I created the Absolute Advantage podcast, to help you obtain the skills and wisdom of other great leaders so that you can achieve your maximum potential.

That's why I want to introduce you to Dr. Daphne Scott. Daphne is a leadership coach and corporate development expert par excellence. Daphne believes that we have the ability to equip our teams with the skills and motivation needed to truly excel in their roles… but only if we ourselves step into our own potential as leaders.

In this episode, Daphne discusses the importance of understanding the thoughts and feelings our team members experience, and she shares her five key relationships that we as leaders should develop: our relationship to time, to money, to ourselves, to our friendships, and to the unknown. By strengthening those relationships and by taking proper care of ourselves, we can then create that all-important Ripple Effect in our team.

I hope you will listen to the episode and embrace the remarkable insights Daphne Scott shares during our conversation. Daphne's wisdom is an amazing road map you can follow in your quest to become an unstoppable leader of an incredible team!

• Website: www.daphne-scott.com/absolute/

Laura Gassner Otting is a professional keynote speaker, respected author, and successful entrepreneur. She helps innovators, idealists, and iconoclasts get "unstuck" by providing the extra push they need to achieve extraordinary results.

Laura is the founder of Limitless Possibility and a founding board member of the Boston-based philanthropic group SheGives. Prior to her current work, she served as the founder and president of the Nonprofit Professionals Advisory Group for more than thirteen years. She also served as a Presidential Appointee in the Clinton White House, helping guide and shape AmeriCorps. Laura is the author of several successful books including Mission Driven and Transitioning to the Nonprofit Sector, and her latest book is called Limitless: How to Ignore Everybody, Carve Your Own Path, and Live Your Best Life.

Laura is a strong believer in not letting others put you in a box and hold you back. She believes that we all have limitless potential within ourselves to set our own definition of success and then achieve that success by breaking through walls and finding our own path through life. Limiting thoughts, whether from ourselves or others, have no place in Laura's philosophy. She truly believes that self-empowerment is the key to unlocking our true potential and becoming limitless.

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All of us have certain limits and expectations placed upon us from the time we come into this world. Whether it's the parent that pushes us to go to medical school, or the teacher who tells us we aren't capable, or the well-intentioned family member who warns us against pursuing our dreams, outside pressures are a constant anchor that too often weighs us down.

Laura Gassner Otting wants to free us from that weight. Laura is a professional keynote speaker, author and entrepreneur who believes in the hidden potential present in every person. Laura believes in helping people achieve consonance, the state of aligning what they do with who they are. Through her four C's (calling, connection, contribution, control), Laura helps people break through their limits and achieve success, no matter how they define it for themselves.

In this episode, Laura discusses her career journey and shares how she "accidentally" became a keynote speaker. She shares strategies and insights from her new book, Limitless, with the goal of helping her readers get "unstuck" from the roadblocks they face and break through to a new level of success, prosperity and empowerment. She teaches people that success is not a list of boxes someone else creates for you to check off, success is however you define it.

As business leaders, from time to time we can all use a reminder that our limitations are illusions and that our goals are within our reach. I hope you'll listen to the episode and share in Laura Gassner Otting's remarkable wisdom.

• Website: www.limitlessassessment.com
• Website: www.heylgo.com
• Twitter: @heylgo
• Limitless by Laura Gassner Otting: https://amzn.to/2FRFRY0

Tristan White is the founder and CEO of The Physio Co., a unique healthcare business focused on delivering exceptional physical therapy for seniors that ranked number one on BRW's list of Australia's 50 Best Places to Work in 2014, and has consistently been placed on the list for ten consecutive years. He is also the author of the book Culture is Everything: The Story, Secrets & Systems of a Startup That Became Australia's Best Place to Work.

Tristan is a qualified physical therapist who began his career working in a nursing home. He had originally hoped to work in athletic physical therapy, but after his experience at the nursing home he recognized an immediate and urgent need for a service that could help senior citizens stay mobile, safe and happy.

Tristan built his business from the ground up on a foundation of strong culture, and his own experiences have evolved into his "Culture is Everything" system that helps other business leaders develop a world-class culture in their organizations. The four pillars of Tristan's system can help any business become a great place to work, and that can lead to increased team efficiency, motivation and morale.

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One of the primary things that can elevate your business into a great business is its culture. A strong culture and clear values provide many different benefits to an organization, and it is often the starting point for the Ripple Effect that you've heard me speak about so many times. But a great culture is more than a plaque on the wall. It's something that is found deep within the DNA of the business and its leadership.

Tristan White knows the importance of culture. Tristan is the founder and CEO of The Physio Co., an Australian business that helps bring effective physical therapy to elders and helps them maintain their mobility, safety and independence. The Physio Co. has been rated among the best places to work in Australia for ten consecutive years and even topped the list in 2014, and the main reason is its powerful culture and values.

In this episode, Tristan shares why he founded The Physio Co. and why he realized early on that the best way to grow his organization was through culture-focused and values-focused leadership. Through this commitment to culture, Tristan was able to grow his business from a one-person operation to a large and thriving team that is able to deliver over 200,000 consultations every hear.

I hope that you can derive great wisdom from the story Tristan shares during our conversation. His dedication to culture is something that can benefit every business in every industry. By making your culture an inextricable part of your business, you can begin a powerful Ripple Effect of your own. Please enjoy the episode.

Ways to contact Tristan White:

• Website: www.tristanwhite.com.au/absolute/
• Think Big, Act Small Podcast: www.tristanwhite.com.au/podcast-page/001-podcast-welcome/
• Culture is Everything by Tristan White: https://amzn.to/2FKyIc0

Terry A. Smith is the Lead Pastor of The Life Christian Church (TLCC) in West Orange, New Jersey. TLCC has grown from a small 54-member congregation to nearly 3,000 members over the course of 27 years. TLCC is widely recognized for the diversity of its membership as well as its powerful leadership culture.

Terry is also the co-founder of the New York City Leadership Center and has served as a board member or leader for many organizations. He is also a respected national and international speaker and the bestselling author of "Live 10: Jumpstart the Best Version of Your Life" and "The Hospitable Leader".

Terry believes in the idea of hospitable leadership, defined as creating an environment of welcome that embraces diversity and inclusivity. In Terry's opinion, hospitable leadership is the foundation of every other leadership style and structure. After all, if you don't invite people in, you can't hope to lead them.

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There are many different styles of leadership, and there are countless leadership methodologies, courses, books, and seminars that each promise to teach you the secrets of becoming an effective leader. But you can't be a leader if you have no one to lead, and that's where hospitable leadership comes in.

Terry Smith understands this. Terry serves as the Lead Pastor of The Life Christian Church in New Jersey, and he is an expert in leadership. Terry practices hospitable leadership, which is the idea of creating a diverse and welcoming space for people, allowing them to be open and receptive to your message. Hospitable leadership is closely related to servant leadership, but it also serves as the necessary first step to fostering communication and building trust.

In this episode, Terry shares his thoughts on hospitable leadership and the profound effect it can have on your organization and your team. Hospitable leadership creates an empowering and safe environment that allows the Ripple Effect to flourish and work its magic.

I hope that you will listen to my conversation with Pastor Terry Smith and are able to absorb the incredibly valuable information and strategies he shares. Terry's thoughts on hospitable leadership will allow you to lay the foundation of openness and trust that is critical for any business leader to be able to more effectively guide their teams. Please enjoy the episode.

Ways to contact Terry A. Smith:

• Website: www.terryasmith.com/advantage/
• Live 10 by Terry A. Smith: https://amzn.to/2WyQm9q
• The Hospitable Leader by Terry A. Smith: https://amzn.to/2V2RkKt

Lila Stewart is the co-founder of Hari Mari, a high-end flip flop brand sold in stores like Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Zappos, and by hundreds of other retailers as well as through the company's own website. These flip flops are made with high-quality materials and feature bold, bright colors and extreme comfort. They have been featured in Forbes Magazine, Vogue Paris and Business Insider among other global media outlets. Hari Mari believes in the Ripple Effect, donating 1% of their sales to the fight against pediatric cancer.

Lila's journey began in Jakarta, Indonesia, where she and her husband lived for three years. During her time there, Lila volunteered for human rights organization American Women's Organization of Jakarta. Upon returning to the United States, Lila and her husband realized how stale and low-quality the flip flops available here were, so they set about revitalizing the market with their own high-quality brand. Lila's philanthropic roots continue today with Hari Mari's donations to pediatric cancer research.

Lila believes that great leadership stems from lifting up the people around her, treating everyone with fairness, and tackling every challenge with a positive outlook. Lila Stewart is a phenomenal example of how the Ripple Effect can bring lasting, positive changes that go far beyond the profitability of a business and extend outward to the community at large.

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What makes a strong business leader? Certainly, guiding the organization toward success is a factor, but an exceptional leader is also a champion for positive company culture, employee engagement and satisfaction, and a sense of family and community. An exceptional leader uses the Ripple Effect to not just run a business but to make lasting positive changes to everyone around them.

Lila Stewart understands that the role a leader plays goes far beyond the bottom line of the business. Lila and her husband co-founded Hari Mari in an effort to bring a quality product to a stagnant and uninspired market. In doing so, they have built a strong organization that offers great value to its customers, takes care of its employees, and gives back to its community through giving a portion of its sales to the fight against pediatric cancer.

In this episode, Lila shares how the idea for Hari Mari came about, and how her philanthropic spirit became interwoven in the company's culture from its beginning. Lila discusses how her gratitude, mindfulness and passion have all contributed to her success as a leader and to the success of Hari Mari itself.

As you know, I deeply believe in the tremendous power of the Ripple Effect. It is one of the guiding principles of my own work and one of the main themes of the Absolute Advantage podcast. Lila's story is an excellent example of why the Ripple Effect is such an incredible force and how it can enrich our organizations and our lives. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Lila and are inspired to allow the Ripple Effect to work its magic for you.

• Website: www.harimari.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/harimarishoes/
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/harimarishoes/

Steven Griffith is a respected author and speaker, researcher, performance expert, and a leading authority on the connection between time, productivity and performance. In his work, he recognizes that our use of time is a major indicator (and driver) of our success as business leaders.

Steven is also the author of the new book The Time Cleanse: A Proven System to Eliminate Wasted Time, Realize Your Full Potential, and Reinvest In What Matters Most. In the book, Steven teaches valuable time management skills and helps readers reframe their relationship with time, maximizing the potential of the time they spend. For more than 20 years, Steven has worked with CEOs, entrepreneurs, athletes, business executives, celebrities and other high-profile clientele across the globe.

Steven believes that we are wasting tremendous, reclaimable amounts of time without even realizing it. His own work with his clients has shown that the average person can reclaim ten, twenty, even up to forty hours a week from pointless activities, distractions, unnecessary conversations and other insidious "time toxins" that don't reward us for the time we spend on them. We can save those wasted moments and channel them into things that matter, making us happier and more productive.

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How many times in your week do you find yourself wishing you had more time in your day to be more productive? How often do you say "I don't have time for that right now"? How often do you catch yourself wishing you had more leisure time or more time to focus on the things you enjoy?

Steven Griffith has the solution that will allow you to reclaim more precious time in your week. Steven is an expert in time management, and he has helped high-profile clients all over the world recover time that would otherwise be wasted. Steven has identified "time toxins," distractions and other unproductive wastes of time that we can easily sacrifice hours of our week too, without even realizing that we're doing it.

In this episode, Steven shares valuable strategies for identifying your unnecessary time sinks and then reclaiming your time from them. You are going to be shocked when you realize exactly how much of your valuable time is being wasted on time toxins throughout your life. Learn from Steven's wisdom and, instead of asking yourself where the time has gone, start asking yourself what you're going to do with all those reclaimed hours!

Ways to contact Steven Griffith:

• Website: www.stevengriffith.com/absolute/
• The Time Cleanse by Steven Griffith: https://amzn.to/2Y1PZFP
• "Get Steven's Master Class on Time Free When You Order The Time Cleanse!" www.stevengriffith.com/master-class
• https://www.stevengriffith.com/absolute/