Hi everyone,

After 183 episodes of the Business Bookshelf podcast I have decided to bring it to an end.

Like for most people the last two years have been challenging.  The constant source of joy has been this podcast.  It has taken me from my study here in South Africa and allowed me to speak to incredible people around the world.

I am very appreciative of everyone who has been involved in the podcast - the authors who were interviewed, the companies that sent me authors to interview, the listeners of the podcast and my family.

Wish you everything of the best!

Episode 182 of the Business Bookshelf podcast - Linda Cohen - author of "The Economy of Kindness: How Kindness Transforms Your Bottom Line"

Linda has been a Kindness Catalyst for over 10 years.  She presents to organizations and businesses on the Economy of Kindness: How Kindness Transforms Your Bottomline.  She lives in Oregon with her husband, their two spirited teenagers and two Cavalier King Charles Spaniels. She loves yoga and meditation and will never pass up a good cup of Earl Grey tea.

Imagine a company culture where employees feel valued, recognized, and empowered enough to go the extra mile for customers and colleagues; where leadership can be authentic, transparent, and connected to their team. The Economy of Kindness: How Kindness Transforms Your Bottom Line by Linda provides real life examples of companies that have employed kindness as their secret weapon to build and maintain their organizations.

Linda's website can be found here - www.lindacohenconsulting.com

Episode 181 of the Business Bookshelf podcast - Jeff Finney - author of "That's It, I'm Fired"

Perhaps you're one of those business owners who forgets to eat lunch. Or, if you do, you pick up a sandwich while checking your email. Maybe you haven't been on a real vacation in years and your family time is limited to an hour or two a day. Sound familiar? Entrepreneur and CEO Jeff Finney can certainly empathize with your struggle. He wrote his upcoming book That's It, I'm Fired in order to aid hands-on business owners in perfecting their business operations so that they can take a step back and finally enjoy their personal lives.

Jeff Finney is the owner and CEO of Ultimate Cabinets and The Push Thru, LLC, with over 15 years in the woodworking manufacturing business.  I’ll have links to these and a link to his podcast called “The Push Thru”.

Jeff's website can be found here - www.thepushthru.com.

Episode 180 of the Business Bookshelf podcast - Dr. Gregory Bott - author of “Faster Safer Wealthier" 

Dr. Gregory Bott is an entrepreneur, investor, and university instructor. At the age of 24, he quit his full-time corporate employment in pursuit of both higher education and entrepreneurship. Since then, he has owned and operated numerous businesses across multiple industries, including hospitality, real estate, and agriculture. His businesses have ranged from franchised to independent, from start-ups to acquisitions, from heavily staffed to one-person operations, from leveraged to debt-free, and from sole ownership to numerous shareholders.

Gregory is the author of “Faster Safer Wealthier: Skip the Start-up and Buy a Stable Business to Build Intergenerational Wealth”.   High-risk entrepreneurship is a tough route to a rich life and financial freedom. Start-up stress, like relying on a once-in-a-lifetime innovation or setting out on a one-track objective of billionaire status, results in detours and setbacks rather than the financial rewards you desire.

Not all businesses are high-risk endeavours though. Substantial, lasting wealth can be built in the space between broke and billionaire—when you reframe your idea of business ownership.

Skip the risky start-up and walk straight into an already cash-flowing company to create and retain wealth! Dr. Gregory Bott’s structured framework for small business acquisition will mitigate risk, accelerate wealth accumulation, and elevate your business for profitable growth. With this step-by-step guide for both new and seasoned entrepreneurs, you can start on a steady path of incremental gains as a rightful business owner—for safer financial success that lasts generations.

Greg's website can be found here - https://gregbott.com.

The book can be purchased here - https://amzn.to/3rRlxxN.

Email the host Lance Peppler at [email protected].

Episode 179 of the Business Bookshelf podcast - David Ehrlichman - author of “Impact Networks"

David is cofounder and coordinator of Converge a network of systems strategists, designers, facilitators, educators, and evaluators who partner with people, organizations, and networks to navigate complexity and co-create meaningful change.

David is the author of “Impact Networks: Creating Connection, Sparking Collaboration, and Catalyzing Systemic Change”.   The social and environmental challenges we face today are not only complex, they are also systemic and structural and have no obvious solutions. They require diverse combinations of people, organizations, and sectors to coordinate actions and work together even when the way forward is unclear. Even so, collaborative efforts often fail because they attempt to navigate complexity with traditional strategic plans, created by hierarchies that ignore the way people naturally connect.

By embracing a living-systems approach to organizing, impact networks bring people together to build relationships across boundaries; leverage the existing work, skills, and motivations of the group; and make progress amid unpredictable and ever-changing conditions. As a powerful and flexible organizing system that can span regions, organizations, and silos of all kinds, impact networks underlie some of the most impressive and large-scale efforts to create change across the globe

David's company is Converge found here - www.converge.net.

The book can be purchased here - https://amzn.to/3GR2XMq.

Email the host Lance Peppler at [email protected].

Episode 178 of the Business Bookshelf podcast - Erika Andersen - author of “Change from the Inside Out"

Erika Andersen is the founding partner of Proteus, a coaching, consulting and training firm that focuses on leader readiness. Over the past 30 years, Erika has developed a reputation for creating approaches to learning and business-building that are custom tailored to her clients’ challenges, goals, and culture.

Erika  is the author of “Change from the Inside Out: Making You, Your Team, and Your Organization Change-Capable”.

Change initiatives fail because humans are hardwired to return to what's worked for us in the past. Erica’s book offers a straightforward process for rewiring ourselves and those we lead to be more change-capable.

Erica's company is Proteus found here - www.proteus-international.com.

The book can be purchased here - https://amzn.to/33sa2nZ.

Episode 177 of the Business Bookshelf podcast - Joseph Armentano - author of "A Helluva Ride" 

Joseph is Chief Executive Officer of Paraco Gas Corporation, a privately held energy and industrial distribution company serving the Northeast region. Paraco is the 13th largest propane marketer in the U.S. with more than 300 employees headquartered in Rye Brook, New York

Joe is the author of “A Helluva Ride”.  Joe's memoir is a tribute to his father's out-sized personality, his passion for life, and his remarkable ability to shake off failure and move forward.

Joe's company is Paraco found here - https://paracogas.com.

The book can be purchased here - https://amzn.to/3y8KzeA.

Episode 178 of the Business Bookshelf podcast - Emily Bermes - author of "Bomb Proof - A Field Proven Guide for the New-to-Role Executive"

Being a new executive is hard.  In fact, more than 50% of new executives fail within 18 months. A lack of contextual knowledge, chronic corporate misalignment, and early costly missteps can doom new leaders before they really have a chance to lead. But it doesn't have to be this way. With the right information, new executives can thrive.

Today our guest is Emily Bermes.  Emily is an experienced Human Capital consultant with deep expertise helping executives navigate new role assimilation at the officer level.

She utilizes a truly interdisciplinary approach which combines more than 15 years of business experience as a partner-level management consultant and executive coach with applied social science principles to create elegant solutions for tough organizational and human capital challenges. Provides data-driven solutions that are practical, powerful and demonstratively effective.

I talk to Emily about her new book “Bomb Proof - A Field Proven Guide for the New-to-Role Executive”.

I talk to Emily about:

Emily's company is Bermes Associates found here - https://www.bermesassociates.com.

Email the host Lance Peppler - [email protected]

Episode 176 of the Business Bookshelf podcast - Justin Goodbread - author of "Your baby is ugly" 

Justin is a nationally recognized financial educator, wealth manager, author, speaker, and entrepreneur. Armed with 25+ years of experience starting, buying, owning, and selling businesses, Justin has dedicated himself to offering business owners strategies that increase the long-term value of their companies.

Justin is the author of “Your baby is ugly”.  Are you creating a business that’s attractive to others—or is it a business only a parent could love?

If your business isn’t attractive, you’ll struggle to rise up as a marketplace leader and catch the eyes of financial investors when you need it—or sell your business for profit in the future. You might find yourself heavily involved in every detail, but pouring endless time and energy into your business might not improve its value,—or have an effect on your personal net worth.

Justin's company is Heritage Investor found here - https://heritageinvestor.com.

The book can be purchased here - https://amzn.to/3DFzPFw.

Email the host Lance Peppler at [email protected].

Episode 175 of the Business Bookshelf podcast - Raj Sundarason - author of "The DAP Strategy: A New Way of Working to De-Risk & Accelerate Your Digital Transformation" 

Raj is the regional vice president and chief evangelist of WalkMe, the world's premier DAP provider, and a pioneer of digital adoption, with over 20 years of experience in digital programs.

Fueled by his ideology of the Power of How, he collaborates with international senior digital transformation leaders to match business challenges with digital adoption program solutions that impact revenue, cost, and risk imperatives.

Raj is the author of “The DAP Strategy: A New Way of Working to De-Risk & Accelerate Your Digital Transformation”.

As teams struggle to out-perform, new software offers opportunities to improve business outcomes. Yet millions of dollars and hours of productivity are wasted each year as companies fail to manage change in a cloud technology-led world.

The problem isn't the people or software — it's a lack of confidence and knowledge. Enable new ways of working to de-risk and accelerate the potential value from your digital transformation initiatives with Digital Adoption Platforms.

The DAP Strategy shares practical insights to empower leadership teams and employees to master digital tools. Strategic yet nontechnical, this is your guide to accelerating capability and unlocking the potential of digital transformation programs for your organization.

Raj's website is the DAP Stratetgist found here - https://www.dapstrategist.com.

The book can be purchased here - https://amzn.to/3pD8sHf.

Email the host Lance Peppler at [email protected].