BOSS-it

BOSS-it host, Mark Edwards has a wide-ranging chat with CTO and author, Mark Herschberg, who, it turns out, has been a guest on 180 podcasts. No pressure there then for our host to ask some decent questions :-)

Brief Bio for Mark Herschberg

Back in the 90s, during the .com era, Mark was a software developer. At the same time, he recognised the skills required to be successful were leadership, communication and networking. These were skills that were not taught in college, so he ended up teaching them at MIT - for the past 20 years.

Mark has followed these two careers in parallel and is still a CTO.

Best Lessons Learned

Mark says the best lessons he has learned came from a book called "Peopleware", by Tom de Marco & Timothy Lister – The essence of the book is that most software projects fail not because of technological (software) issues but for sociological reasons – In other words, because your team didn’t talk to each other and plan and communicate well, they messed up the project. 

He outlines the most important things to do to avoid this scenario:

1) Set the overarching goal – What are we trying to achieve? – Not just what it is but how it's positioned.
2) Have a clear process - How are we going to work together? Have a clear idea for what happens when there’s an issue? – How do you raise that to your teammate? Where do we use Slack, versus an email or a meeting? Don’t leave this to chance.
3) Agree the definition of “Done”? – You need a common definition so that everybody knows when a job is actually complete.

Links:

The Career Toolkit – Mark A Herschberg
https://www.thecareertoolkitbook.com/

Download the career development kit:
https://www.thecareertoolkitbook.com/author

Peopleware by Tom de Marco & Timothy Lister
https://menloinnovations.com/

The BOSS-it Podcast:
https://www.bossequity.com/resources/podcasts

[email protected]
https://www.bossequity.com/

In this podcast, Mark has an illuminating conversation with John Taylor of Action.ai, a company that offers the world's most advanced natural language technology, conceived by the best computational linguistics.

Never one to shy away from a controversial question, Mark’s opening question, “Does AI really exist?”, doesn’t disappoint. 

Taking this in his stride, John says it does exist but the term is much misused. He agrees that "AI" is an extraordinarily broad term that has, unfortunately, been attached to just about everything in any context you can imagine.

However, the current buzz is justified as the sector is at an extraordinary flexion point, where computational power and algorithms can be applied to use the tech in really useful ways - in healthcare, customer service etc.

John notes that knowledge is building really rapidly - and its origins are in academia.

Early Foray into Entrepreneurship

John started his entreprenuerial career early, setting up a small software company with a friend to pay university fees.

That friend was Richard Tolcher, now Action-ai's CTO. Richard was brilliant technology-wise but also had a strong commercial awareness - an unusual combination. Their aim was to do something really pioneering - to create "Delightful Automation".

The Vision: "Delightful Automation"
 

John and Richard knew that the Big Tech companies - Facebook, Microsoft and Google - were going to launch automated customer communication with chatbots, and although this had potential, it wasn’t really going to work, in terms of the “Delightful Automation” John and Richard were seeking to achieve.

It was going to make an impact but it wasn’t going to change behaviours and the way people interact.

Their vision has remained constant since the early days but everything else has evolved over time and the business now looks radically different from Day 1.

Most Important Things Learned from Running a Business

 John believes the most important element of the business is its people. And they need to be exceptional. Compromising on the people you hire is a poor economy. In the early days, when funds are limited, if you can find a way to hire those 4 or 5 great people, the difference to the business can be immeasurable.

His approach was to try to run a capital-efficient business, understanding that if you want large, flashy offices, you will need to raise huge amounts of venture funding.  John acknowledges that it's harder to run a capital-efficient business but when funding does arrive, it’s a lot easier as you’re not sitting in offices where your overheads are huge, you haven’t made promises you can’t keep, lost track of consultants etc etc.

He notes that there is a caveat though, as you can’t be so cautious that you can’t move quickly. You need to assess how much money you need to spend to get to market quickly - but it’s also about balancing spending as little money as possible in the first couple of years.

Another critical ingredient is that you need to own your own IP and be able to prove that you do. It's simple enough to achieve but you need to be aware of the need to do this from the beginning.

Getting smart people into the business sets the culture for the business. It's important you have a culture of integrity and aim to build long-term relationships.

Thanks for your time and a fascinating conversation, John.

Links and Contact:
Email John: [email protected]
https://action.ai/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnjamestaylor/?originalSubdomain=uk

[email protected]
https://www.bossequity.com/

Mark Edwards talks with Martha Amram of Glynt.ai.

Revisiting their previous conversation,Mark and Martha have an in-depth conversation, spanning exciting innovations in AI and Machine Learning, no-code platforms, the increasing demand for carbon emissions data and how companies can now make money from their data.

Background

With a PhD from MIT, Martha's background is in economics & finance. From there, she moved into the energy sector and for the last 8 years, she has been running Glynt, which captures energy data and turns it into a useful product.

Right now, there’s a pressing need to record emissions in order that they can be reduced. 

Glynt.ai

Glynt is the market-leading producer using AI of carbon emissions. They are at the forefront of not only change (reducing emissions) but also of making profit from that change. So, AI and data are absolutely critical.

There’s now a big market in carbon credits - selling them directly, selling them as options and futures and embedding them into green loans - Sort of the Fintech of carbon emissions.

Two Major Pivots for Glynt

Realising that building templates didn't scale, they built a ML (Machine Learning) system to eliminate the need for templates, but also to avoid using expensive ML specialists. They created a system that could be operated by no-code users.

Doing this, significantly reduced costs to the business and was an important strategic pivot for Glynt.

Glynt's second pivot was coming out of Covid - in late Spring 2021 - Everybody was exhausted after 20 very difficult months and nobody had time to think - It could be called an "Enterprise Attention Deficit Economy", where people just wanted easy solutions to their problems. 

So, to address this attention deficit economy, Glynt simply configured their existing AI solution to focus on carbon emissions.

The Future for Glynt

There’s now an underlying, new demand for carbon emissions data and the ability to make money from it.

Glynt's extensible solution can produce Scope 2 & 3 emissions data. Having combined those two things and being an emissions data producer, they are simultaneously connecting everything to the financial market.

Supplying data is Part A of contributing to climate change solutions, Part B is showing people how to profit from their own data - And this is where Glynt is poised to make a huge difference in accelerating the cycle of change.

Currently, every CEO has an issue with reporting emissions data. Clearly this is a risk management challenge for them, and this is fuelling a huge demand for for carbon emissions data and for Glynt's services.

Regardless of the size of the enterprise, the pressure is now on to have really accurate data today and to be able to report reductions tomorrow. Climate tech is now a huge market - with $40 billion a year spent on solar, wind and building in efficiencies.

That complete market needs data to drive down next year’s data, next year’s reported emissions.

Biggest Business Lessons Learnt

Martha's  approach is:

1. "Get ready to be lucky" - What can I do now to be prepared to take that random call that’s gonna be the game-changer..? Where are my gaps?
2. Take the big mission and break it down - Deliver your message so your team can take it forward, build a very tightly run organisation, particularly as everybody is working from home - Clear communication from the top and setting the culture is a ‘must have’.

Links:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/martha-schary-amram-b9164328/
https://glynt.ai/

Mark Edwards talks with Alex Gesell of Imagine Growth, a training institute, focused on the tech sector.

A true digital nomad, Alex lives globally, spending 3-6 months in the most beautiful places from Europe to Latin America, US, Africa to Asia - He has employees on all 5 continents and clients mainly in Europe and the US.

It’s a fully virtual company, which he founded 2 years ago and built from the start with the idea of having a truly global company. It’s a company that embraces the next level of working globally together with no borders and no distance is too far.

To make this work in practical terms, Alex has made a conscious shift to scheduling his business meetings around where he currently chooses to live - whether that’s in Colombia, London or Silicon Valley. 100% of customer conversations are online - There’s literally no need to be face-to-face. Conversely, whenever he has the opportunity, Alex loves to have face-to-face meetings.

Imagine Growth Institute

Imagine Growth Institute is a training institute, dedicated to a very specific target audience - The tech industry, including software & consulting founders and their executive teams.

Imagine’s vision is to help people change the way they do business, from strategic positioning to scaling up their business x2 to x10 times.

At the same time, they work on top leader personal growth on all levels -  Alex likes to call this "body, mind, soul reprogramming. Questions tackled are those that face many top entrepreneurs and executives: How do you live an empowered life as a leader and not simply work 100 hours, contsantly stressing out about reaching the next quarterly goal - At the same time, how do you transform your operations for the future?

Alex has worked for 10 years in the tech sector, mainly in the innovative RPA and AI niches. In all the organisations he worked with, he realised that 2 things weren’t working:

1. Branding and content marketing - Really creative content to educate the customer about the innovative tech sector.
2. Lead generation 

The biggest mistake they all made was to be panicking about the results for “this quarter”. And this was true in companies of all sizes - from small companies with 50 people to Microsoft-size corporates.

If you want to really grow your business, this is a strategic essay - a core capability. Producing software is one element, while generating sales is another. The bridge between these two elements is communication with your market through thought leadership and then leveraging this to generate leads.

You need to combine this with smart outreach, not a ‘shotgun in the dark’ approach. It must be specifically targeted outreach so you are adding value.

Thanks, Alex, for a really interesting conversation and great insights :)

Links & Contact:
Alex Gesell:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandergesell/
https://imaginegrowth.institute/  https://www.instagram.com/imaginegrowth.institute/?hl=en

Mark Edwards:
https://www.bossequity.com/resources/podcasts https://www.linkedin.com/in/markledwards/
https://www.bossequity.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/markledwards/

Mark Edwards has a stimulating conversation with Matt Rosenthal, CEO at Mind Core. 

What Matt Finds Inspirational..

Matt says he likes change and uncertainty, coupled with having to figure things out and not being quite sure what’s coming next. He also loves failure as it forces him to push himself and to learn and to see how far he can go and what he’s capable of - He’s often surprised by what he can do and inspired by seeing what he can do and how far he can go in his life and how many people he can impact.

Matt has read the book, “The 5am Club” by Robin Sharmer about 10 times because there’s so much information in it about the brain and how it works. Matt habitually gets up early and meditates for 20 minutes, then reads - He feels this sets the tone for the day. 

The One Thing…

Matt says the one thing he really aspires to is that feeling of happiness and joy - almost like constant sunlight that people around you can feel radiating from you.

Money is, of course, great and it can make life fun but it can also disappear at any moment, whereas an awesome state of mind that impacts you and those around you is something nobody can take away from you...

Links & Contact:

Matt Rosenthal:

Podcast: Digging In 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-rosenthal-mindcore/
https://www.instagram.com/mattrosenthal_/?hl=en

Mark Edwards:
https://www.bossequity.com/resources/podcasts
https://www.linkedin.com/in/markledwards/
https://www.bossequity.com/

The 5am Club – Robin Sharmer

Malcolm Gladwell Books:

Blink
Outliers
The Tipping Point

Think and Grow Rich - Napolean Hill

Jordan Belfort:

TED Talk: Sir Ken Robinson - Do Schools Kill Creativity?

The Sedona Method

Mark Edwards  has an animated, all-encompassing chat with award-winning, published author, strategist and brand expert Minter Dial

Background

Minter is a welcome and lively guest on BOSS-it. He introduces himself as 56 years old, living in London, an American citizen with a French passport, married to a Spanish lady

He's changed profession & moved country 15 times, worked at L’Oréal cosmetics company for 16 years and also at an investment bank. He started a travel agency for musicians, taught tennis, worked in a zoo and an aquarium.

Minter has also written a novel, a biography and 3 business books and produced a World War II documentary.

On Ageing and Staying Curious

Change things up - When you put on your trousers or underwear, change legs - 97% of what we do every day is the same every day. We are creatures of habit - Can we “unwire” ourselves?

Locked away in the ivory tower that is HQ, leaders become isolated from reality, because nobody has the courage to tell the boss what’s going on.

Leaders need to do more learning to experience things first hand - Not just read about stuff in the Financial Times.

Keep on “checking out the new stuff” and that’s how you’ll stay young at heart and be able to contribute longer-term to the business.  Older people have experience and there’s value in that.

What personal achievement are you most proud of?

The journey I was on for 25 years to discover who my grandfather and grandmother were. My grandfather was killed in a Japanese Prisoner of War camp - To understand what they went through and to give thanks for the freedoms they fought for. Minter interviewed 130 WW2 veterans for the film,  and it made him realise how truly privileged we are to be living the lives we do. Minter bellieves we can learn from the values they espoused, that they had a higher sense of honour and levels of courage and love that ran very deep.

Minter's film, “The Last Ring Home” outlines some of the challenges of having a father who didn’t return home and coming to terms with it. Through this journey, Minter and his father were able to understand themselves better and allow themselves to cry.

Final Thoughts...

Life is short - We need to cherish it; cherish the people we love and accept our emotions and imperfections.

Thanks so much, Minter for a really interesting and enlightening conversation.

Links & Contact:

The Last Ring Home
Film: http://www.thelastringhome.com/
Book: http://www.thelastringhome.com/book

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs

Minter Dial:
https://www.minterdial.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/minterdial/?originalSubdomain=uk
https://www.facebook.com/minterdial/

Mark Edwards:
https://www.bossequity.com/resources/podcasts
https://www.linkedin.com/in/markledwards/
https://www.bossequity.com/

Mark Edwards has a lively and engaging conversation with seasoned US entrepreneur and former NYPD detective, Greg Demitrou.

Background

Greg is CEO of Lorraine Gregory Communications and Greg’s Corner Office. A retired NYC Detective, he rebranded himself in the marketing space, where he's been for almost 30 years.

Greg says being a detective was an ‘interesting ride’ that gave him many skills, including ‘good ears’, so when he's talking to marketing clients those skills help him listen and understand what they really want.

They started the business in a little shop back in 1992 with no fax machine, no computers - just 3 ladies stuffing envelopes. Fast forward 30 years and they’re a fully-integrated marketing company with 30 employees. The agency is front of house and they have a print & mail factory at the back of the house. They’ve recently added two television & film studios.

Greg says his company takes customers on the complete marketing journey: all the necessary skillsets are in-house so they very rarely need to send work out

Detective Greg Demetriou.

He joined the Police force just before his 18th birthday in a clerical trainee position but they sent him over to the detective squad in East Harlem by mistake - These were the days when detectives had tattoos, wore Fedoras and smoked cigars. They taught him how to be a detective and he loved it.

One sunny August day, a suspect was being pursued by officers so Greg joined the chase. As the youngest and fastest, Greg was first through the door and he was shot. The suspect also shot & killed the uniformed officer Greg was with.

This was a life-changing event in Greg’s life. It ended his Police career and set him on a different path.

After that, he worked with his brother for a while but when his brother passed away suddenly, the business was closed down. So, again, Greg was out of a job.

Top Marketing Tips for Software Companies 

It’s all about the audience - Who is the audience? - What does the audience need? Software companies create solutions to address a need - How deeply did they interrogate that need?

It's important software companies communicate their “Why” - Why do people need their software? - Can it save them money? - Can it get them more business? - Can it make their lives easier? It’s not about the features of the software; it’s all about the benefits. "If I buy your software, what is it going to do for me?” This needs to be communicated.

Greg finishes almost with an aside that neatly epitomises the essence of what marketing is all about: “What is a brand? A brand is a promise of an experience.”

Thanks for your detailed insights and amazing story, Greg. We appreciate your time.

Links & Contact:

 Greg Demetriou:
https://gregscorneroffice.com/index.php/ask-ceo/greg-demetriou-2/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregdemetriou/
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/ask-a-ceo/id1519848446?utm_medium=podcast&utm_source=bcast&utm_campaign=ask-a-ceo
https://twitter.com/gregscorneroff
https://www.lorrainegregory.com/greg-demetriou 
Tel: +1 631-694-1500

Mark Edwards:
https://www.bossequity.com/resources/podcasts
https://www.linkedin.com/in/markledwards/
https://www.bossequity.com/

This week, Mark Edwards talks to former Royal Marines Commando, Ben Williams.

From taking drugs to being pinned down under Taliban fire, Ben took some hard knocks in his teenage years, which prompted him to decide that a life of crime wasn't for him - So, he joined the Marines to find out if he was part of the 0.1% who would make it through training.

After a tour in Afghanistan at the height of the conflict, Ben returned to the UK and trained new recruits for 3 years, before being given a medical discharge.

Having enjoyed the coaching aspect of military life, Ben set about utilising his experiences as a Marine to help those in the corporate world. 

Ben has also written a book - Commando Mindset - in which he writes about the "ARA model" of coping in adversity, explaining that it's based on principles he learned with the Marines, as follows:

A - Accept: Think with clarity
R - Remove: Remove unwanted emotion
A - Adapt: What's changed? What do we do now? How can we now take the fight to the enemy?

The ARA model is designed to help people think with clarity in a crisis situation, so they don't freeze but instead, make calm, coherent decisions and take positive action.

This ability to think rationally in a crisis, clearly has immense benefits in the corporate world - particularly in the current situation of the Covid-19 pandemic, which is causing global economic chaos. Ben's business was one of the many casualties and he has since pivoted to create Loopin, an app that monitors and takes care of employees' mental health.

The Loopin support team includes a psychologist, whilst the app includes well-being interventions, hints & tips. It's really helpful for HR to see if a team is under stress - but, for employyees' peace of mind, they can't access the team data. It remains confidential within the team on the app. Loopin can highlight to HR if teams are exhausted and even indicate how that is likely to play out in the future, so they can take action to mitigate. 

A highly entertaining listen, with many real-world anecdotes, both from Ben's military career and corporate experience. 

Links:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-williams-vgs/
https://medium.com/@ben_82245
Book: Commando Mindset
https://www.letsloopin.com/

Podcasts:
The Infinite Monkey Cage Brian Cox & Robin Inc
Secret Leaders Dan Murray-Serta
Squiggly Careers  Helen & Sarah

In this highly entertaining, both serious and amusing podcast, David Angel talks to Mark Edwards about the gratitude he now has for his life. 

Starting life as a chef and 'accidentally' falling into sales, David went from door-to-door sales to in-office calling - 300 calls a day. 

As a saleman and manager of sales teams, his drink and substance abuse gradually increased to a point where he lost everything and found himself living in his car. 

From this rock bottom, David gradually rebuilt his life to the point that he became a sales coach and helped others work on their selling skills as well as their mindset. 

David describes his persistent anxiety as like living with a pet tiger. When the tiger behaves, he enjoys laser-like focus, drive and determination; when the tiger misbehaves, it's a totally different story. But David has now learned different, more positive coping mechanisms. 

Amongst the seriousness, David and Mark swap anecdotes of some hilarious - and not so hilarious - situations selling door to door landed them in: being chased by German Shepherd dogs and bombarded with missiles by 10-year olds at houses where sales people weren't welcome, people dressed as pirates with parrots on their shoulders. As David says, such episodes gave him a rhino skin but also taught him never to pre-judge people. 

An easy-listening podcast, as entertaining as it is informative. 

Links:

The Sales Network platform - send a DM and talk to David direct
Instagram: The Sales Angel
https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidangeltsn/?originalSubdomain=uk
https://www.tethr.men/