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Darin Strauss is a writer first and foremost. It’s his writing that has won him numerous awards, landed him on bestseller lists, and got him a spot teaching at one of America’s top universities. That said, Darin’s savvy at establishing important career-building connections provides a model for professionals in a range of fields that go far and beyond fiction.

During the course of our conversation, Darin discusses the pros and cons of social media, opens up about his newest projects, and waxes poetic on the role of serendipity in success..

Topics include…

Why relationships must be based on more than wants.

Friendship as the key to professional success

Finding inspiration on the toilet

The art of handling Neo-Nazis on social media

Darin Strauss is the internationally bestselling author of the novels Chang and Eng, The Real McCoy, and More Than it Hurts You, and most recently a memoir Half a Life. A recipient of a National Book Critics Circle Award, the Guggenheim Fellowship, an American Library Association Award, and numerous other prizes, Strauss has written screenplays for Disney, Gary Oldman, and Julie Taymor, and currently has a production deal with Sony Pictures Television. He is a Clinical Professor of Fiction at NYU's creative writing program. His work has been translated into fourteen languages and published in nineteen countries.

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In last week’s episode, things got personal as Dan Kuschell revealed how a brush with death made him a better leader, father and relationship maker. This week is all about business as he teaches us to become master marketers and thoughtful leaders. According to Dan, it all comes down to building emotional connections, avoiding the get-rich mentality, and getting people to love what you love.

Dan discusses:

How to say “no” without ruining the relationship.

What it means to be transformational versus transactional.

Turning your peers into power connectors

Dan Kuschell works on the leadership team with Joe Polish and Genius Network and is an expert at helping companies scale and grow 2x, 5x, even 10x or more. He's the founder of Growth to Freedom™, ProsperityBasedLiving.com, creator of Millonaire's Mindset®, and the bestselling author of Bootstrap Business as well as A Champion in the Making: Awaken the Champion Within Your life, Business, and Relationships. Dan started the first of 11 companies back in 1992 and has been on NBC, ESPN, Spike TV, Wall Street Journal online, Entrepreneur, numerous radio and TV programs, and can show you how to have greater impact, contribution, and significance.

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In part one of our recent conversation with Dan Kuschell, the angel investor and “business growth specialist” talks about his childhood ambitions of playing professional baseball, how an adolescent interest in neuroscience led him to a career in marketing, and why a brush with death made him a better leader, father, and overall relationship maker. In the process, we explore whether the concept of “thought leadership” still holds true in our oversaturated era.

Dan discusses:

The three questions that can change your life.

Deciding who you want to be a hero to.

Unusual ways to turn childhood dreams into a gratifying living.

Dan Kuschell works on the leadership team with Joe Polish and Genius Network and is an expert at helping companies scale and grow 2x, 5x, even 10x or more. He's the founder of Growth to Freedom™, ProsperityBasedLiving.com, creator of Millonaire's Mindset®, and the bestselling author of Bootstrap Business as well as A Champion in the Making: Awaken the Champion Within Your life, Business, and Relationships. Dan started the first of 11 companies back in 1992 and has been on NBC, ESPN, Spike TV, Wall Street Journal online, Entrepreneur, numerous radio and TV programs, and can show you how to have greater impact, contribution, and significance.

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Last week we talked about a trait all highly successful people share —the ability to get powerful people to help them. We discussed some great examples of this dynamic at play, and a few truly bizarre ones...such as that of the man who used this characteristic to convince America to eat bacon for breakfast. (check out the episode if you haven't heard it)

Today we go even further and explore the question of how to apply these principles in the brave new digital world.

Topics include:

Is podcasting losing its effectiveness?

The true meaning of follow up

The corrosive power of maybe

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If there’s one thing all massively successful people have in common, it is that they figure out how to get influential and powerful people to make things happen for them. By combining the unprecedented visibility afforded by digital technology with timeless (and underused) principles of group psychology, you can crack this code for yourself.

Topics include:

Life changing lessons from the man who convinced America to eat bacon for breakfast

How email marketing became the world’s wimpiest tactic

Why you should be ruthless about which opportunities you take on

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Celebrities do it. Dictators do it. Billionaire CEOs do it.

And if you want to become as successful as you can be in the hyperconnected age, you have to do it.

Not only do people have a primal urge to connect, they also need to feel they are part of something greater. If you can learn to take advantage of these overlapping human tendencies, you have the potential to reach the top of whatever endeavor you dedicate yourself to.

Today, we discuss the leaders who have attained unfathomable success by building cults of personality around themselves. Then we explore how you can apply these techniques in your own career and life.

In this episode, we touch on…

Why networking is not enough

The importance of making enemies

Examples from David Bowie and the guy who made bacon popular

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"What makes someone a Connector? The first—and most obvious—criterion is that Connectors know lots of people. They are the kinds of people who know everyone. All of us know someone like this. But I don't think that we spend a lot of time thinking about the importance of these kinds of people. I'm not even sure that most of us really believe that the kind of person who knows everyone really knows everyone. But they do."

This quote from Malcolm Gladwell played a part in inspiring Michael Roderick to create ConnectorCon, a conference for thought leaders, innovators, educators, and catalysts who are obsessed with connecting and committed to giving.

ConnectorCon 2015 took place a few weeks ago and it was a huge success. Today, Nik Parks will be sharing some highlights of the event! Because the event was so successful, there were a lot of people there. You'll probably hear some background noise throughout this episode but we promise the content is excellent.

Topics include:

Is "networking" a bad word?

Does it help us in the long run to help and serve others?

Is it possible to help others without an ulterior motive?

How do you ask for help?

Is it important to build relationships with people outside your industry?

How to fit "networking" into a busy schedule

How many networking events you should attend

Casting a wide net vs. niching down

When you're helpful, people are more likely to help you

Being the most interesting man (or woman) in the world

People from this episode:

Jeff Stevens, The Huffington Post

Sean Scuderi

Jeffrey Shaw, Creative Warriors Unite

Brian Antolin, CoTo Travel

Dorie Clark

Mina Salib, usspire

Willie Jackson, Abernathy

Marc Raco, Hope is Project & Fashion is Your Business

Christina Salerno, Living Quirky

As a trailblazing digital producer and video game designer, Blaine Graboyes knows what it means to thrive on the cutting edge of technology. By embracing risk and capitalizing on cool, new concepts, he’s built an award-winning career with a wide range of connections. Today he reveals how to hack into the gaming subculture, and why contribution in any form is the key to gaining access to powerful players and building influential relationships that endure the test of time.

Topics include:

Getting in tune with your intuition.

How to manage your time at both a micro and macro level.

The best approach for saying no to projects.

Blaine Graboyes is an award-winning Executive Producer and Game Designer with more than twenty years of experience developing successful digital entertainment products. His expertise spans the business, creative, and technical aspects of launching and successfully operating video games, websites, social and mobile apps, entertainment properties, and fan communities. He has produced over 4,000 digital projects for world-renowned entertainment, business and fine art clients, including DreamWorks, Mattel, Spin Master, Sony Pictures, Disney, Nickelodeon, LeapFrog, DIRECTV, Warner Bros., The Guggenheim Museum, Nam June Paik and Yoko Ono.

Blaine is currently the CEO of GameCo, Inc., a pioneering new company poised to unite skill-based video games with real-money casino floor gaming, has created the world's first video game gambling machines (VGM™) in an effort to bring a new generation of gamers to land-based casinos.

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Frans Johansson is relinquishing logic and harnessing the power of serendipity. In his internationally acclaimed works, The Medici Effect and The Click Moment, he provides extraordinary insight into the intersection – the serendipitous place where imagination, innovation and ingenuity coalesce. Today Frans discusses why embracing the random, seizing the unexpected, and immersing yourself in diversity are the driving forces behind connectivity and success.

Frans discusses:

Why “weak ties” are a catalyst for serendipity.

Embracing the true power of stepping away.

Introverts versus extroverts.

How to leverage your network with spontaneity.

Why you should indulge in activities outside your core business (and not feel guilty about it).

Frans Johansson is a renowned author, entrepreneur, international keynote speaker, and the founder and CEO of The Medici Group. His debut book, The Medici Effect, was named one of the “Best Books on Innovation” by BusinessWeek, one of the top 10 best business books of the year by Amazon.com, and is now available in 18 languages. His acclaimed follow-up book, The Click Moment, rewrites the rules for success.

Frans has advised Executive Leadership in the world's largest companies, including BAE Systems, Caterpillar, MetLife and Nike, as well as startups, venture capital firms, government agencies, and universities around the world. He sits on the Diversity and Inclusion Board of Novartis, and has been featured on CNN, ABC, and CNBC among others. He has written articles on healthcare, information technology, and the science of sport fishing.

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Patty Soffer moved from her early career as a model to become an award-winning strategist, celebrated author, and marketing mogul. Her secret is that she never lets a good opportunity go to waste. While working in fashion she watched closely to learn the secrets of promotion and the applied what she learned to co-create one of the country’s top marketing and branding agencies. But when her partnership dissolved several years later, her business (and livelihood) came crashing down.

In today’s episode, Patty discusses how she transformed this heartbreaking failure into her greatest success story, and how she uses her unparalleled insight to help others build stronger partnerships, thriving businesses, and high-profile relationships.

Topics include:

The surprisingly simple way to connect with top-level players.

How to stop conceding to cop-outs.

Avoiding the blame game and holding yourself accountable for your failures.

The connections between establishing your expertise and building relationships.

Patty Soffer is a renowned brand strategist and partnership coach who incorporates building a human foundation into all that she does. In 2001, Patty co-founded Soffer Adkins, the award-winning branding and design firm with her business partner. Their clients included McDonalds, Marriott, Heineken, Perry Ellis and many others. The firm received nearly 100 Addy Awards amongst other industry recognitions, and was named one of the Hot 500 Companies in the nation by Entrepreneur Magazine.

Currently, Patty is consulting with businesses and partners who understand the value of building a Human Foundation, and also acts as a brand strategist for special projects. She is also the celebrated writer of Partnership or Partnersh*t: You Decide and The Workbook: The Companion Book to Partnership or Partnersh*t: You Decide and other works.

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