Access to Anyone

Today we’re joined by Andy Lopata, one of Europe’s leading business networking strategists.

A business networking strategist, Andy Lopata works with companies on how to build and benefit from networks. It’s not just about sales. Whether it’s lead generation, breaking down silos, recruitment and retention of staff or developing future leaders, networks have a key role to play. He helps his clients recognize that role and put the strategy and skills in place to leverage it. Andy has been quoted in the international press, including The Sunday Times, The Financial Times, and The Guardian in the UK. He has written three books on networking, with his fourth scheduled for publication in 2019.

For eight years, Andy was Managing Director of one of the UK’s leading referral-focused networking groups with over 2,000 member companies. He now works with companies from one-man bands to global names such as GlaxoSmithKline, BDO, and Paypal to help them realize the full potential from their networking.

Today’s guests are 42 Entertainment’s Michael Borys and Alex Lieu.

Michael Borys leads the interactive design team at 42 Entertainment. He is responsible for all online, mobile and real-world puzzles, games and social activities. From scores of casual games found throughout 42E’s projects such as TRON’s ‘Space Paranoids’ and the Dark Knight’s ‘Sitting Ducks’ to amazing real life collaborative scavenger hunts like the one held in the dead of night on Alcatraz Island, Michael always strives to give the audiences new experiences in fun. From 1996 to 2000, he led various teams within the Disney Company and helped in the creation of the original Disney’s Daily Blast online. In 2000, Michael teamed up with Alex Lieu at 3pinmedia to work on major projects for Disney Imagineering and the Disney Theme parks, as well as create animations and games for television and the web.

Pushing the boundaries of traditional entertainment and social gaming while re-defining the rules of digital and real-world play, Alex Lieu serves as both Creative Director and Lead Experience Design Director for 42 Entertainment’s award-winning projects. From sending scores of Batman fans to mysterious locations where mobile phones were buried inside Joker-themed cakes, to leading players through a scary dilapidated warehouse leading to an ultra-secret Nine Inch Nails performance, Alex is constantly searching for new ways to immerse audiences and weave them into fiction. He pioneered immersive storytelling techniques that blend the digital and real to create “events” in fictional worlds that attract massive participation.

In today’s special episode of Access To Anyone, we’re reaching into the archives to replay one of our most popular episodes!

Nobody likes the waiting game.

You know what we’re talking about – you reach out to somebody and they never get back to you. They just disappear. Next thing you know anxiety kicks in, you’re pessimistic, defeated…and you end up blaming yourself for everything that could have gone wrong.

So how do you deal with this?

Fortunately, we’ve cracked this puzzle.

Today’s guest is executive coach Alisa Cohn.

Alisa Cohn is a leading global executive coach and consultant with 20 years of corporate experience. She works with CEOs, board members, startup CEOs, entrepreneurs, and high potential and emerging leaders in career transition to empower them to get better results. She consults on organizational development, change initiatives, and talent management. Her focus is on leadership, management, and goal achievement. Using strategies designed to overcome obstacles quickly, Alisa helps leaders to think and act creatively, to make better, more deliberate decisions, and to eliminate unproductive thinking.

Her specialties include executive presence, power, influence and charisma, corporate politics, agile leadership, resilience, strategic decision-making, developing a strong personal brand, and building social capital. Additionally, Alisa designs workshops and deliver talks for executives, remote teams, managers and employees on similar topics.

Our guest today is Adam Hansen, Partner and VP of Innovation at Ideas to Go.

As a new product professional, Adam Hansen has always believed in the power of possibility—accepting new approaches, questioning conventional wisdom, and being open to anything. This impulse led him to a career in developing new products for innovative companies such as M&M/Mars, Melaleuca, and American Harvest, before joining Ideas To Go in 2001.

Now as a facilitator, Adam is passionate about helping clients understand their own possibilities—even beyond the scope of their projects—so they take the innovative energy and momentum they gained at ITG back to their own organizations.

His path to innovation process started with an MBA in product management from Indiana University. He also cultivated his passion for New Product Development as the VP of Association Development for PDMA, and has also enriched his own practice through training in Innovation Engineering.

Today’s guest is Todd Giannattasio, Founder and CEO of Tresnic Media.

Todd Giannattasio is head of business development and lead strategist for Tresnic Media, a Hubspot Certified Inbound and digital agency focused on content marketing to attract and convert more customers. He brings his clients’ online presence to the forefront of their market through customer-oriented design, quality content strategies and engaging, online customer relationships.

Todd has been featured on expert panels by the Association of Accounting Marketing and YP.com (Yellow Pages), as well as a guest lecturer at Rutgers Business School, and NYU Business School, where case studies of his work are required reading for the digital marketing graduate program.

Learn more about Todd Giannattasio:

Today we welcome back Dorie Clark, the bestselling author of Reinventing You and Stand Out.

Dorie Clark is an Adjunct Professor at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and author of Entrepreneurial You, Reinventing You, and Stand Out, which was named the number one leadership book of 2015 by Inc. Magazine. A former presidential campaign spokeswoman, the New York Times described her as “An expert in self-reinvention and helping others make changes in their lives.” A frequent contributor to the Harvard Business Review, Dorie consults and speaks for clients including Google, Microsoft, and The World Bank.

Her work has been published in the Harvard Business Review Guide to Getting the Right Job  and the  Harvard Business Review Guide to Networking, and she is quoted frequently in the worldwide media, including NPR, the BBC, and MSNBC. She is also a regular commentator on Canada’s CTV and was named one of Inc. Magazine’s “100 Great Leadership Speakers for Your Next Conference.” 

At age 14, Clark entered Mary Baldwin College’s Program for the Exceptionally Gifted. At 18, she graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Smith College, and two years later received a Master of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School. As a former New England Press Association award-winning journalist, Clark directed the environmental documentary film  The Work of 1000  and was a producer for a multiple-Grammy-winning jazz album.

Today’s guest is Caleb Gardner, the co-founder and managing partner of 18 Coffees.

Caleb Gardner is an insatiably curious digital thought leader and futurist with unique professional experience, from startups to nonprofits, from Fortune 100 clients to heads of state. He has more than a decade of experience in digital leadership and social impact, building content strategies and developing operational frameworks for a variety of organizations in the public and private sectors, turning online communities into social movements.

For more than three years, Caleb was the lead strategist and editorial voice for BarackObama.com (Organizing for Action), one of the largest digital programs in existence, with a millions-strong email list and massive social media following — including the fourth largest Twitter account in the world.

Now as co-founder and managing partner of 18 Coffees, Caleb is growing a community-driven digital innovation firm that helps mission-driven companies solve problems, surface new ideas, and own the future. Caleb is also a writer and speaker, a father of three, and an occasional photographer and musician.

Today’s guest is community builder and podcasting expert Jonathan Baillie Strong.

Jonathan Baillie Strong is a podcast consultant and community builder who helps empower creative entrepreneurs by giving them the processes, frameworks, and tools to execute their vision. He is also the founder of #podcasters, the largest online community for podcasters and comprehensive directory for all services related to podcasting.

Today’s guest is social entrepreneur and serial inventor Robin B. Palmer.

Prior to her career as a serial inventor, founder, and entrepreneur, Robin B. Palmer starred in Broadway musicals for 15 years as Robin Boudreau. She played Linda Ronstadt’s sister in The Pirates of Penzance, co-starred with David Cassidy in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and sang “Memory” in CATS.

Licensed by Audible, Robin invented My Wake UP Call® Motivational Alarm Clock® Messages & My Good Night Messages, which has 100 hours of patented digital content with the Dalai Lama and other experts who wake you up to live your dreams instead of “alarming” you. Robin’s new invention is FlyteBike Portable Pedals, the world’s first portable exercise pedals. At 3 pounds, FlyteBike folds flat, comes in it’s own case, and attaches to your seat for travel stability. Robin is also a sought-after speaker, and has recorded two original song albums, Grace Place and My Inspirational Lullabies, for dreamers of all ages.