Conversations with and for Entrepreneurs we love

How do you take a "good" idea and turn it into a Sustainable Business

Craig Oldham sits down with fellow Mahdlo Fractional CMO to discuss the not so "secret" sauce to building a business from idea to sustainable business.

I sit down with Josh Reverand, Director at Gap International to discuss how building and measuring affinity within your organization can give you an edge in executing your go-to-market strategy.

With Valentine’s Day around the corner spend time this year recognizing your employees achievements with the unique gift of Vosges.

In my interview with Katrina Markoff - Founder and CEO of Vosges Haut-Chocolat we discuss her story of how Vosges came to be the inspirational company it is today, the purpose, what drives her, and her unique creative process. This is one of the most unique brands out there today built to originally resemble a fashion brand but niche for foodies. Katrina’s creations span across the globe and are inclusive of various cultures, spices, and cuisines. Her chocolate is nothing like you have ever tasted before as she continually surprises time and time again with her unique flavor creations. If you are looking for something unique and joyful to do to appreciate your friends, employees, or colleagues that provides a unique sensory tasting look no further. With Valentine’s Day coming up and especially after the year we have all been through we could all use ideas on ways to spread more love internally in the workplace and externally as well. Give the gift that makes everyone feel special - the gift of https://www.vosgeschocolate.com/

In the 4th episode of 6 series conversations between Tom Cole (President & CEO of RDA) and I, we discuss how to define KPIs, which KPIs should you be measuring, and what’s the role of technology in all of this.

Working with non-profits is something we have done for many years. These organizations have a purpose to serve that extends from the board room to employees, communities and society at large. Purpose is a powerful growth accelerator and it’s also why their organizations matter to people. This is similar to corporations and how they continue to evolve and accelerate purpose driven efforts in the past 6 months. In this interview, I chat with Ken Erke, Mahdlo advisor and the owner of Major Behavior, about his thoughts on branding for a higher purpose.

We recently had a chance to connect with Tom Cole the President and CEO of RDA. Here’s a summary of our conversation with the full interview to the right.

While working with different clients on how to improve their market strategies, one of the biggest red flags we see is a company having 30 or 50 things that they consider to be “key measurables.” On paper, this may seem like attention to detail. In reality, however, this is more likely a sign that they don’t know what to focus on. In other words, they don’t know how to meaningfully measure their business so they just measure everything. Ideally, you want to get yourself down to around 4 or 5 key KPIs in order to track your progress towards business goals. But where do you start? Let’s take a look.

Having advised clients on sales and marketing challenges for some time now, our experience shows us they typically have challenges in one or more of the 4 key areas:

Alignment

Process/Delivery

MarTech Enablers/Technology

Organizational Agility/Design

Organizational agility is definitely worth focusing on because of how rapidly things are changing right now in the business world.

Organizational agility is the capacity of a business to respond quickly. Having a team that can easily pivot is invaluable. However, even outside of these unprecedented times, organizational agility is an important trait. Alison Farmer identifies key traits for organizational agility in this interview.

This week we had an opportunity to sit down with Adam Rotmil who is a Product Discovery and Design Lead for AstraZeneca. Adam is one of the leading minds in the design industry and he talks about what makes for good design in the healthcare space. Adam has worked for many leading brands and is also an Adjunct Professor of Design at MICA – Maryland Institute College of Art. Make sure to check out his new podcast Still Iterating.

When it comes to business growth, many people see technology as a central component of their goals. While this is certainly not an unfounded stance to take, the fact of the matter is that technology is only one part of a greater strategy. In addition, if used improperly, technology could be a hindrance to your growth goals rather than a benefit. Let’s discuss how to implement things into your business the right way.

Part three of my conversation with Tom Cole, President and CEO of RDA. In this session, we’ll discuss how to create a culture of continuous improvement. A culture where the entire organizations understands how to move the business forward and is empowered to act on it. Here’s a summary of that conversation.