• Host: David A. Rosen, CEO of Acrelic Group.
• Guest: Darrin Mitchell, CEO of Mitchell Industries.
• Theme: Insights from successful business leaders in manufacturing and innovation.

1. Darrin Mitchell's Success Story:

• Grew a manufacturing business successfully from a remote Canadian island.
• Developed a global supply chain and patented intellectual property.
• Achieved profits significantly higher than industry average.

1. Strategic Business Decisions:

• Focus on creating innovative, complicated products to gain a competitive edge.
• Successfully turned competitors into partners/customers by understanding their limitations and offering solutions.

1. Customer-Centric Approach:

• Emphasis on spending considerable time with customers to understand and meet their needs effectively.
• Example: Customized equipment for specific customer requirements, leading to substantial sales.

1. Leadership and Management:

• Importance of a strong management team that aligns with the company's growth and vision.
• Encourages leaders to be actively involved and connected with all aspects of their business.

1. Overcoming Challenges:

• Strategies to manage cash flow and payroll challenges.
• Innovation in product development and business model to stay relevant and profitable.

1. New Venture - Manufacturing Masters:

• Post selling his business, Mitchell launched 'Manufacturing Masters', a digital platform providing quick, expert insights for manufacturing businesses.
• Focuses on practical, actionable advice across various business functions.

1. Advice for Business Growth:

• Encourages being customer-centric and innovative.
• Stresses the importance of courage and proactive problem-solving in business.
• Highlights the need for businesses to adapt and evolve constantly.

1. Utilizing Digital Technologies for Business Growth:

• Darrin Mitchell emphasized the power of digital platforms for brand building and customer engagement.
• His approach included using YouTube for outreach and sensors on trailers to provide real-time data to clients, enhancing customer service and business partnership.

1. Navigating Global Supply Chains:

• Mitchell highlighted the importance of understanding and effectively managing global supply chains.
• He shared insights on direct sourcing from countries like South Korea, China, and Taiwan to overcome markups and supply chain inefficiencies, demonstrating a proactive approach to cost management and resource allocation.

1. Leadership in Adversity:

• The videocast showcased Mitchell’s ability to lead through difficult situations, including a significant warranty issue in 2008.
• His decisive actions during this crisis, like forming new partnerships and managing financial challenges, underscore the importance of resilient and adaptable leadership in sustaining business growth.

• Secret: Turning Competitors Into Partners - Customers
• Secret: Spending Ridiculous Amount of Time with Customers
• Pounce on Opportunities - The Call from an Elon Musk Company
• Secret: Being a curious leader and finding information about the end result of my supply chain
• Fear Drove Their/His Need to Be Customer Centric to Grow
• Darrin's Background Story - Hungry and Needed to Pay for Food!
• Growth Curve HERE
• Lessons Learned During Growth and Critical Pivots
• Pivot 1: Stop Production on Zero Margin Products
• Pivot 2: Making Sure I had the Right Management Team
• Pivot 3: Manage Payroll and Cash Flow or Else...
• Secret: When you don't make payroll, it comes out of our pocket!
• Example: I always love partnering with my competitors
• Secret: Having your Partners Think of You as the "GO-TO"
• You have TWO Jobs as a Leader
• Business # 2.... more successes
• Built a learning Management System
• What is the Vision of the Future for Darrin and Manufacturing Masters?
• Why Manufacturing Industries Shrank!
• Passionate About Business not just shooting to be low cost but focus on innovation, US Industries' GREATEST Competitive Strength...
• David: Businesses Face the Market in 3 Ways: Customer Centric, Process Focus, and Product/Technology Oritentation, BUT One is usually dominant!
• Darrin: Being Customer Centric Creates Greater Cash-Flow for Small to Medium Businesses
• Darrin: Where is your Courage Threshold?

This videocast offers valuable insights for owners and executives of middle market companies, particularly in manufacturing. Darrin Mitchell’s journey and strategies underline the significance of innovation, customer focus, and adaptive leadership in achieving business success.

In this enlightening discussion with Marbue Brown, Founder, The Customer Obsession Advantage and an expert in customer obsession and business strategy, and  David Rosen, CEO of Acrelic Group,  delves deep into the realm of transformative growth and customer-centricity for businesses. The conversation uncovers valuable insights and strategies that every business executive should consider for driving success.

[00:04:26] Illustration of Customer Obsession Value – Customer Reviews

[00:08:23] Critical tool for customer service: Andon Cord!

[00:12:03] How JP Morgan, Amazon, Costco Move the Needle Applying Customer Obsession?

[00:13:48] Businesses came together to apply the principles of Customer Obsession!

[00:27:05] Customer Obsessed Companies Treat Customer Service as a Marketing Expense

[00:38:14] B2B Must be Customer Obsessed! Not just B2C

[00:45:39] How Do you get Started in Being More Customer Obsessed?

[00:51:43] Product companies should ask... New Product or features?

[00:58:14] Role of the Board in Customer Obsession

[01:03:53] 3 Board Questions

The discussion is filled with insights and real-world examples from best-in-class companies, highlighting the importance of making customer obsession a core principle in your business strategy.  Here are the top seven (7) highlights of this revealing program:

1. Customer Obsession as a Core Principle: Marbue stresses the significance of putting customers at the heart of your business strategy. Companies like Amazon and Zappos exemplify how customer obsession can drive long-term success.
2. Seeing Around Corners: The ability to "see around corners" and anticipate customer needs is a trait of customer-centric companies. Costco and Trader Joe's are cited as examples of businesses that excel in this area.
3. Continuous Innovation: Marbue emphasizes the importance of relentless innovation. Companies like Apple and Amazon consistently launch new products and services to meet customer demands, fostering loyalty and growth.
4. Metric Insights: Metrics like Net Promoter Score (NPS) and Customer Effort Score (CES) offer valuable insights into customer sentiment. These metrics help companies understand their customers better, just as best-in-class companies have done.
5. Transformative Growth: Middle-market companies can achieve transformative growth by embracing customer obsession. Examples, such as Amazon Prime, illustrate the impact of innovation in meeting customer goals.
6. Board Governance and Customer Focus: Boards play a critical role in promoting customer-centric thinking. They should consider digital transformation, diversity, and data security in shaping the company's customer-focused approach.
7. Success Blueprint: Marbue outlines the importance of setting ambitious goals and fostering customer obsession within the organization. Best-in-class companies serve as a source of inspiration for this customer-centric journey.

This discussion underscores that customer obsession isn't just a strategy but a way of thinking and operating that can propel businesses to new heights of success.

1. Customer Obsession as a Strategy: Marbue Brown emphasizes the significance of adopting a customer-centric approach, and David reinforces this concept as the CEO of Acrelic Group. They explore how best-in-class companies prioritize customer needs and continuously innovate to stay ahead.
2. Navigating the Middle Market: David, drawing from his extensive experience, sheds light on the unique challenges middle-market companies face. He discusses the importance of aligning business goals with customer goals to create meaningful solutions.
3. Data-Driven Decision-Making: Marbue highlights the role of data in understanding customer sentiment. David Rosen emphasizes the need for businesses to embrace digital transformation and secure data practices to thrive in today's landscape.
4. Strategic Board Governance: The conversation touches upon the role of boards in fostering customer obsession. David discusses how boards can guide companies toward customer-centricity by asking the right questions and focusing on innovative thinking.
5. The Value of Acrelic Group: Throughout the discussion, David exemplifies the expertise and guidance offered by Acrelic Group. As a leader in strategic planning and transformative growth, Acrelic Group helps businesses leverage customer-centric strategies to achieve and exceed their goals and outcomes.

This conversation underscores the significance of customer-centricity in achieving transformative growth. David Rosen and Acrelic Group stand out as invaluable partners for businesses seeking to embrace customer obsession as a strategic advantage and navigate the middle market effectively.  Be sure to check out other Amazing Execs Show programs here:  https://acrelicgroup.com/ae and review more about customer centric thinking with a key discussion between David and Mike Bosworth.

Learn how you can Elevate Your Business with Customer Obsession.

1. Human beings hate being told 'what they need to do.'
2. Most salespeople prematurely elaborate.
3. Discovery Resistance is preventing good salespeople from connecting with, and building trust with their prospects.
4. Peer curiosity is the first step in a buy cycle, and
5. Peer envy is the number one B2B emotional buying reason.

See and Review and Read His Books: Mike Bosworth Books on Sales

Mike's Books:

 Book 1: Solution Selling

Book 2: Customer Centric Selling

Book 3:  What Great Sales People Do: The Science of Selling Through Emotional Connection and the Power of Story 

[00:07:16] "Most Great Salespeople are Intuitive... They Do NOT Follow a Model"

[00:09:56] The One Minute Story...and they invite you in!

[00:11:06] Through my Sales Approach (Stories), I Sold More in 5 Months than Anyone, in History had sold in One (1) Year!

[00:13:54] Sales Secrets - Storytelling Creates Peer Envy!

[00:14:44] Discovery Confirms and Scopes the Problems

[00:18:40] Bosworth - Three Pieces of a Startup are Needed!

[00:20:08] Microsoft Example in the "Chasm"

[00:23:13] Ill bet that >50% of those new better mousetraps were a solution, looking for a problem...

[00:24:34] 90% of our Customers Purchased Our Software without a Live Demo

[00:26:44] 1. Solution Selling - Intelligent Discovery Approach

[00:27:55] II. Customer Centric Selling - Easier to Have a Stranger Share a Goal than Pain

[00:30:22] III. Story Seekers - Discovery Resistance is the #1 Problem Sales People Face... and its not their Fault!

[00:34:09] Bosworth: Each Salesperson Needs Three Distinct Stories!

[00:36:23] Three Stories: Hero Stories - Personal Stories - Company Stories

[00:39:20] Shifting Sales Cultures and Behavior Examples

[00:39:38] Best Sales People Diagnose and then Offer a Solution...

[00:41:00] Sales Tip: Be Careful of Jumping to Conclusions That You Know What the Prospect Needs to Do!

[00:43:50] Rosen: The Thing that Separates Success from Failure are the People Issues!

[00:44:23] Accidental Team Building - Workshop Story

[00:50:24] Bosworth – Key Attributes of Successful Leaders - Authenticity and Vulnerability!

[00:51:17] The Hardest Thing in Selling is Connecting with Strangers!

[00:53:10] Mike Bosworth Rule in Teaching People to Connect... Vulnerability and Go First!

[00:54:26] Bosworth: The Number One Problem of CEOs is Not Managing Silos

[00:56:01] Bosworth - Transformation Requires that People Leave their Comfort Zones and Get Out Into Their Learning Zones

[00:56:40] Rosen - What do you make of a CEO that Doesn't Want to Lead Culture?

[00:58:24] The Meaning and Value of Balanced Leadership

[01:05:07] Mike's Book Pick #1: Naked Sales by Ashley Welch & Justin Jones

[01:05:29] Mike's Book Pick #2 - Sell Without Selling Out! by Andy Paul

[01:05:59] Bosworth Final Thoughts to Business Owners and Executives

[01:06:33] We Want to Empower People to Solve Problems... Not sell an "It"

[01:06:51] Buying Visions are Emotional

Peggy Parfenoff, the CEO of World Chicago from Chicago. Peggy has put together an amazing program in coordination with the State Department that creates cross-border relationships between owners, entrepreneurs, and executives of European companies with US based entrepreneurs, owners and executives of companies as well. She not only focuses around Europe, but brings in fellowships with hundreds of people from throughout the world into meet and interrelate with US businesses, educational institutions, nonprofits, and other GMOs.

• US Companies Learn about other Geography Cultures and Potential access to customers and suppliers
• Cross-Border Issues resolved quickly
• Best practices sharing between the US companies and their peers globally
• Support energy and growth in startups, seed, growth, and scaling phases of business growth

In this program specifically that we’re talking to today, you’ll hear about the highlights of the differences between European entrepreneurs and the US entrepreneurs that they interact with, and you’ll also hear that there’s also subtle differences in cultures even amongst the US entrepreneurs and the European entrepreneurs within their own continents And so it’s not a unique thing, but this is an amazing program that that sheds light on the value and benefits of US democracy, as well as the benefits and value and the good and the bad of the US entrepreneurial and capitalistic, uh, cultures that exist here that I think bring opportunities to all.

I hope you enjoy listening to our conversation today with Peggy, and I would love for you to subscribe down below if you’re listening to us on your favorite podcast station, or if you’re watching us on YouTube or watching us on our website.

We’d love to get your feedback, have you subscribe and be the first to get upcoming episodes with some other amazing executives. Welcome Peggy.

World Chicago is a nonprofit organization that hosts international exchanges, sponsored primarily by the US Department of State. So we’re bringing emerging leaders from 140 countries around the world, nearly the entire world to Chicago on exchange programs. They might be youth who come for a two week exchange and stay with host families.

They might be a government official on a international visitor leadership program sponsored by the state, staying for a week in a hotel and meeting with their peers and counterparts. Or they might be an entrepreneur coming from Europe, staying for a month in a fellowship, in a higher level internship, and really engaging in the entrepreneurial community.

So through all of our various styles of programs, we get about a thousand people a year in Chicago and in sending out great impressions of our city around the world.

one of our biggest programs we have for entrepreneurs is called the Young Trans-Atlantic Innovation Leaders Initiative, or YTILI is what we call it for short. And that brings 60 entrepreneurs from 39 possible European countries. So this is one of the State Department programs.

It’s focused on Europe. There are other department estate programs for entrepreneurs focused on the western hemisphere, focused on Southeast Asia and on Africa. But this particular program that World Chicago works on is focused on Europe. So every European country from Russia down to Malta and Ireland all the way over to Turkey.

So my two primary activities in the for-profit world are I'm the President of Katahdin Industries Inc.

Tim Cabot: It's a platform company that focuses on coating and the application of coatings onto medical devices located here in Massachusetts. And it's a company that I've been involved with for the past 17 years, building it up both organically and also through a number of acquisitions.

In addition to my work at Katahdin, I've also been fortunate enough to be involved in a family company called Southworth International Group. Southworth is a large. Provider of equipment for the material handling industry? It is located both here in the US and it has overseas operations as well.

So it's a global company. In that role, I'm a chairman of the board and I've been involved with it for approximately the same amount of time since about 2008.

David Rosen: Do you have other board roles as well, currently or in the past?

Tim Cabot: The other current role I have is I'm the the chair of the finance committee of a not-for-profit located here in Boston called Community Resources for Justice.

It's about a 70 million non-profit focused on the developmentally disabled as well as people leaving the prison system and reestablishing connections into the world.

[00:01:43] Turning the Career Journey into an Acquisition Opportunity

[00:06:45] Where Tim's Career Journey Began

[00:09:43] How the Katahdin Business Grew from $9M to $50 Million

[00:14:33] Focus on Growth and Managing Lower Priorities that Turn Into Opportunities

[00:30:19] What it Takes to be a Great Leader

[00:35:15] People Teams and Business Success

[00:37:35] Key Considerations About Boards and Board Governance

[00:39:49] Dealing with Counter Strategic Initiatives - What Can You Do?

[00:44:51] Risk

[00:48:15] How to Reach Tim Cabot

Hello, and welcome to the amazing exec show. I'm your host David Rosen. And this is episode 1 0 3.

We're talking today with the Rob household, CEO of CIMQUEST, a high tech software and systems reseller. I think what you're going to find interesting today is that Rob is an entrepreneurial hero and CEO being involved in fast paced, high tech and internet-based companies throughout my career.

I'm rarely surprised about how businesses survive and what they need to do to decide on sustaining their business. I hope you find interesting today hearing from Rob about how he has actually made decisions in his business proactively where he affected 20, 30, 50% of his revenue and traded off acquiring new product lines that he would sell, that he knew would sustain and grow his business over time.

What would you do? Here is what Rob said:

Robert Hassold: Talking about some of the major pivots we went through, we were in the early days of additive manufacturing or 3d printing, and even back then, it wasn't even called 3d printing. It was called rapid prototyping. We Tried unsuccessfully twice to enter into that space, really picking the wrong vendors, the wrong partnerships, the wrong technology, and got beat up a little bit with two trials and picking up the technology.”

But eventually we got it right just about four and a half years ago, we pivoted from a single vendor, which was Stratasys to several different vendors. And at the time we did that, Stratasys was over 50% of our business. So imagine flicking a switch and losing 50% of your business overnight and the recurring revenue stream that goes along with that.

So it was quite a risky maneuver, but we wanted to address some of the positive changes occurring in the market and being able to address that. More high level production, manufacturing capability that was hitting the streets through other technology providers, such as HP, desktop metal and others.

David A Rosen:

I hope you found that Interesting. There's a lot more where that came from in this discussion with Rob. I hope you enjoy the program and let us know what you. Let's get to it.

00:03:00            CIMQUEST has many “Firsts” and developed being the #1 or #2 Global Reseller in Different Software and Hardware Markets

00:09:00           People are critical to success and that led to ensure that his teams and organizations were able, interested and committed to numerous changes they made to succeed and grow

00:17:00            Pivots… Lots of them

• Rob has proactively pivoted his business several times and picked up new products and product lines while flicking the switch and getting rid of others…
• Rob discusses his thinking, expectations, time to recover and more

00:20:46            Embrace Partners and Good Relationships. They are few and far between

00:24:58            Challenges in the 3D Printing, Additive Manufacturing Space Today

00:28:46            High Growth 3D Printing Marketplace is booming…

00:32:39            3DPrinting works great for Prototyping, but not a first choice for medium to large scale manufacturing.

0035:27             An Analogy on Market Adoption: 3D Printing and Autonomous Trucks

00:36:26            Dealing with Inflection Points

00:36:50            Keeping Up with Market Trends is Critical as a Business Leader

00:38:00            Rapid Shift from On-Premise Software to the Cloud was a big Inflection Point

00:40:12            Rob Share his Leadership Dynamics and Values for Success as a CEO

00:41:51            Speaking of Heroes.  Jack Welch from GE and Elon Musk (Rob was one of the first Tesla Buyers in his town)

00:45:43            Private Company Governance and Value Thoughts

00:50:06            Post Pandemic Business Leadership

This is episode 102 with Liane Clamen, the president and CEO of Adaptilens.  Liane launched a new company, raised capital, and formed the business that is expected to change the outcomes for patients who require cataracts surgery.  Its still early in the development of the “medical device” and the process that will change this market.  Liane will share some great stories about:

• What triggered her to start a company around this idea,
• The challenges and opportunities in medical device startups,
• How to get from Concept to Market,
• The value of culture and people in the early formation stages along with some of the key considerations to ensure you move nimbly, swiftly and purposefully,
• What role and value the board and the role of its members to the company,
• Her perspectives on what makes a CEO successful, and
• Key Considerations for others who are considering the same path.

Imagine having cataract surgery and having to choose whether after the surgery, you'll be able to see distance or close up as your optimal eye range.  That's what happens today. Adapt a lens is in the development of a new product that will help us be able to throw away our glasses after cataract surgery and be able to. Have a lens that acts just like the current lens that we're born with.

Liane Said:

So today she'll be talking about how she's:

• brought the team together,
• developing their product during COVID
• leveraging the value of her board to accelerate the development of her product, and
• How she thinks about business as a very technical background, CEO and founder.

"So I think in order to become an entrepreneur, one must be comfortable with the concept of risk. It's risky to start a new business and do something that nobody's done before. And again, the people I've surrounded myself with are also up for the challenge..." Liane mentioned.

And she offered Advice to other CEO Founders:

1. Surround yourself with really great people. people that are brilliant and creative, but people that you like to work with, because you'll be spending a lot of time with your team.
2. And the second piece of advice really is I had this idea a long time ago, but it wasn't until the Patent and trademark office issued our patent that I felt we could go out and do some fundraising and then the fundraising process takes a lot of time with a lot of rejections along the way. So patience and persistence are also really key.
3. Remain passionate. when you're gut tells you that you've got a great idea that can really help a lot of people keep that passion and persistence and keep going for it.

 " rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Simone Sinek

Welcome to episode 101 of the Amazing Execs Show. I’m your host David Rosen. I would like to introduce you to Harry Moser, who is not only an amazing business leader and executive, but also is single-handedly, with his team, increasing the resurgence of Manufacturing Success and Reshoring of US manufacturing. He is the founder of Reshoring now.org program, or also called the Reshoring Initiative.

Harry Moser and I discuss the great trend of Manufacturing Reshoring that started in 2014. Manufacturing Companies, Employees and Supply Chains are not only re-thinking their China Supply Chain Policies to Diversify, but also to bring Manufacturing Closer to Demand, rather than being close to supply of cheap labor and lower cost materials.

Harry's successful previous career highlighted some great accomplishments as the CEO of a Manufacturing company for more than 22 years. Harry shares his insights on what it takes to lead businesses and transform them. See or hear how Harry accelerated his company's market share from a position of #7 and #8 to the Market Leader #1

• Manufacturing Declined by 70% from the middle 80’s to today in terms of labor and the number of companies located in the US
• There are great resources available to evaluate the total cost of ownership of manufacturing products in the US versus other countries
• The Tension with China will grow dramatically in the next few years
• ESG assessments for offshore versus onshore production look very attractive
• Business Leadership by Harry Moser
• Grew a business, organically from #7 or # 8 in their manufacturing market segment to the #1 positioned player
• Learned to be less of a micro-manager
• Achieving greater influence in organizations to be more “sales” and customer focused
• and more…

Hello. Welcome to the Amazing Exec show. I'm your host David A. Rosen, and I'm here to introduce you today to someone very special on episode 100.

His name is Jothy Rosenberg. And he has been a serial entrepreneur, founding many, very deep tech companies, as well as working for some great programs in NASA and security programs at Draper labs and others.

But what you're going to see is not only a business athlete today, but you're going to see an amazing human athlete who's overcome his handicaps of being an amputee since he was 10 years old. To this day, he is still involved in racing and sports as active as anyone else I know if not more.

You will learn more about his perspectives as a 9 time CEO in the areas of:

1. Being a Balanced Leader with a strong support network and family to help him succeed and navigate through challenges
2. Managing People in various stages of growth from startup to growth to scale
3. Commercializing Deep Technology and creating industrial products for larger markets
4. Views on the value and roles of Board Governance and the relationship between the CEO and the Board, including investors
5. The Value of Independent Board Members to the Business

Want to learn what business owners, founders, and executives have done to seperate themselves between success and failure? Our bi-weekly series of Interviews will reveal amazing stories about business and personal athletes and what they have learned and how they have succeeded. We also share what has created failures, but learnings that help them avoid future risks and decisions.

Our episodes will be published starting the first week of May.