Corporate Thought

This was a deep and very personal conversation with Michele starting in high school and going through her career at Donna Karan and then her own fashion consulting business to raising her autistic son.  Michele does an amazing job of showing how she manages all of the things she deals with and somehow finds the time to do it all.

April 19 is the birthday of many including James Franco, Tim Curry and Ashley Judd and anniversary to many events including the American Revolution ("The shot heard around the world was on April 19) and the bombing of the Federal building in Oklahoma City.

Michele spoke about the SLP who really helped her understand what it was going to take to  – Speech and Language Pathologist

Michele also mentioned how she has a Marriage and Family Therapist, an MFT and how important that is in her life.

For more information on our A-HA! Dinners and other Corporate Thought gatherings, please check out corporatethought.com

Michele can be found at michelemarrone.com and on Instagram and Pinterest @michonwear.

Noah is a self-described Recreational Mathematician

Our conversation started off discussing the restaurants and features of living in Charlottesville, Virginia. These restaurants included: Ace Biscuit & BBQ, Wayside Chicken and Moose’s By The Creek

Noah mentioned The Putnam Competition which he explained is essentially The Smartest Person on the Planet Exam

Noah is disrupting the Commodities Markets. Here is a primer on commodities trading (until Noah disrupts it).

I jumped on my limited knowledge of commodities markets by citing the movie Trading Places. Thankfully, Noah likes that movie and legitimizes the accuracy of how markets were described in that classic comedy.

Noah describes some games in explaining Game Theory.  Battle of the Sexes and The Stag Hunt

I made a poor reference to War Games and Tic-Tac-Toe. Another great 80’s movie.

Noah can be reached at www.coordisc.comwhere you can learn more information about his project.

Melanie is a leading expert in Tax Lien Investments.  You can learn more about tax lien investing from her great white paper.  You can download it.

Melanie talks about fear and how it can hold you back.  She talks about zero confidence and about grinding it out for purposes of putting a roof over her and her son’s head and food on the table.

Melanie talks about her mentor Ken who helped her start her company and the need to have a mentor…a “Ken” in their life.

I told Melanie about Yuval Harari, the author of Sapiens and Homo Deus.  These are both amazing books.

Melanie loves How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. I am re-reading it.

A code of ethics and a moral compass is very important to Melanie and she has a zero tolerance policy at her company.

Melanie likes to listen and is inspired by the stories told on the podcast, Startup Hustle and she also listens to Startup Grind.

Melanie taught me about the “Saucemoto” which brings silly happiness to people

Melanie can be found at:  @TaxLienWealthSolutions on Facebook and Instagram or at www.taxlienwealthsolutions.comand www.Detroitwealthsolutions.com

This was a fantastic conversation and I love how Mario navigated his life into finding and pursuing his passion.

Mario’s reference to three movies that influenced him:

1.  Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

2.  The Wizard of Oz

3.  Dumbo

I stumped Mario with an old school Food Network show staring Bobby Flay and Jack McDavid – Grillin’ and Chillin’.

Mario would come home from school and watch Great Chefs of America and Great Chefs of the World.  Here are all the episodes.

Mario is impressed with Jose Andres and his Instagram show.

Mario pivoted to weight loss coaching and was encountered with the question “What do I eat?” So, he wrote a book…The Good, The Bad, The Cookbook

Mario can be pen/paper or organizes ideas on the computer using the program Workflowy.

I write long form articles using Scrivener.

Okay – here it is, Kraft Spaghetti.

I proclaimed Mario a real life Pete Schweddy.

Mario talked about his original 10 minute podcast concept and the GIO method – Gratitude, Intentionality and Outcome.  He has an article on his blog describing the method.

Mario can be found at: marioporreca.com and most everywhere else.

Mario is grateful for his relationship with G-d, his family and for the opportunity to pursue what he loves.

Marsha’s early jobs included being a California Raisin.  I couldn’t resist this.

Marsha drops a lot of books and articles worthy of our attention:

Phoenix Project by Gene Kim, Kevin Behr and George Spafford

Booster Rockets in the Workforce – article by Phillip Shoemaker

Marsha’s recommendations – never use password123! or anything similar.  She references 2 Factor Authentication – Here is more if you are lost on this.  Also password managers.

Trusted Advisor by David Maister is the first book that new team members at ScaleSec are asked to read

ScaleSec uses Gusto.com as their HR portal

I told Marsha about the Savannah Bananas and their owner, Jesse Cole.

Marsha told me about a small book that I was compelled to read right away - The Difference by Subir Chowdhury

Marsha’s last book recommendation is How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk by Adele Faber

Marsha is on LinkedIn or you can email her at [email protected]

Don is a successful author of two books – Sell or Don’t Eat and The Blueprint of God

Don was instrumental in the creation of the EPIC In Business Conference

Don is an avid reader and believes that leaders should be lifelong learners and readers.  He mentioned many books as recommendations including:

Start with Why by Simon Sinek

The Infinite Game also by Simon Sinek

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John C. Maxwell

As a Man Thinketh by James Allen

The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown

Daring Greatly also by Brene Brown

Awakening the Giant Within by Tony Robbins

Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

The Go-Getter – by Peter Kyne.  If you tell us more about you, we will share a copy with you for free.

The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz

Don spoke of Tony Robbins’ course Unleash the Power Within.  I took this course following the recommendation from Don of being so instrumental in his life.

Don also mentioned The Authentic Women Series, published by his daughter Ashton but now renamed Awakening Membership. https://www.awakeningmembership.com

Don’s website is donwlong.com  He has a free coaching programs available on his site.  Also check out lifebitesforlife.comfor a free 30 day program of 5 minute talks from Don.

This is the final episode of the special summer series of conversations between Marc and his daughter Annalee.

Today, Annalee Marling and Alexandra Kerr, hosts of The Ketchup Sesh join me to discuss social media, the future of Tik Tok, how Gen Z communicates and the effects of the Cancel Culture on history.

Marc is joined by a very special guest, his daughter Annalee Marling.  They discuss the effects of the Corona Virus Pandemic on the lives of teenagers as well as her thoughts on race relations in the United States.