Days Past Tooncast

How do you mold a legendary career from curiosity and hard work? Today, Fortune 500 executive turned advisor and mentor Joe Morgan joins Christopher Lochhead in this free-ranging conversation. They talk about leadership, being a CEO, the power of curiosity, and so much more.

“In the microcosm of the world, because we've tried hard and we participated, I think we can leave a legend.” - Joe Morgan

Three Things We Learned

Buying is an Awesome Job

Joe attributes some of his success to luck, some to being in the right place and some to being consistent. After shifting degree programs three-quarters out of college, he ended up taking any job he could due to the massive-scale layoffs in his field. Eventually, he became a buyer in a chemical company, which opened a lot of doors for the young upstart.

Doing the Work to Produce the Results

A mentor’s advice on being part of what’s most important to the executive team guided Joe. So even as a young man and up-and-comer, whatever the task was, he took it seriously and delivered. Soon enough, his efforts paid off and resulted in his being fast-tracked, a chance to build his career to greater heights.

Be Curious

Joe has always wondered why younger people tend leave their curiosities unsatisfied. He is someone who’s always curious and has a knack of driving people into a corner with his queries. This curiosity didn’t land him the “corporate training” that most young people would undergo, but he got to learn from the people at the grassroots of the company, and this helped him achieve many great things.

Some people like Joe live a life that isn’t all that straightforward. However, they are able to make legends of themselves by putting in a lot of hard work, effort, and curiosity.

Bio:

Joe Morgan is the founder and CEO of siY, LLC. This is a middle-market consulting firm focused on helping leaders with transformative change, cultural development, and go-to-market strategy.   

Having spent his career serving as a CEO or Member of the Board for large public as well as start-up and growth companies. Joe brings a wealth of experience and demonstrated leadership in transformational business environments.  

He has been successful in driving value and achieving strategic growth objectives in many industry sectors. These include service, technology, and manufacturing.

Joe’s experience includes having served as the CEO and Board member of Standard Register, a $1B+ public company, and recognized leader in the management of mission-critical communications for various sectors, including health care, financial services and manufacturing.  

He also served as Chairman and CEO of Uniguest, the leading provider and trusted integration partner of secure managed technology solutions with focus in hospitality and business services; Chairman and President of Sony Chemicals, a leader in specialized coatings for the automatic identification and electronics market; and President and Board Member of eflatbed.com, an on-line marketplace for transportation.

Additionally, Joe is on the Executive Advisory Board for NexPhase Capital, a private equity investment firm focused on middle-market companies.   He also serves on the Boards of Lion Group, OmniSYS, Heapy Engineering, JBM Envelope Company and Mary Queen of Angels Eldercare.

He serves on an advisory capacity at CURA Homecare, and is on the advisory board for WPI Life Sciences.

Joe is frequently called upon as a speaker and lecturer.

Links:

http://safeinspiredyou.com

https://twitter.

On today’s episode of Legends and Losers Unlocked, Christopher Lochhead tackles another topic that has been on his mind of late. Entrepreneur and Tesla founder Elon Musk has received a lot of negative press recently. Christopher proceeds to break down what the press doesn’t get.

“These geniuses, these people who take big risks are by definition unique, by definition strange. They are doing things that are exponential, not incremental.” - Christopher Lochhead on Elon Musk

The Controversial Elon Musk

Lately, Elon Musk has done some things that are a little bit unusual. These include tweeting a lot about taking Tesla private and claims about the rescue of the boys in a cave in Thailand that got people upset. Not to mention the piping hot issue of his smoking weed and drinking scotch when he guested on a podcast.

These concerning issues have raised a couple of eyebrows, but the press has only managed to skim the surface.

Mega Outlier in a World of Outliers

Elon spends his whole life going too far to find out how far he can go. And this is what the mainstream media doesn’t get. The entrepreneur creates electric cars and spaceships and wants to put tunnels under Los Angeles, and all these scream wacky.

Of course not everything that he does should be condoned. But Elon isn’t a button-down CEO. He is someone who exponentially moves the world forward, not incrementally running a company to squeeze out an extra penny of earnings next quarter.

Every Legend Gets Criticized

We must also note that legendary creators and innovators always get criticized in one way or another. One day people said Thomas Edison was a fake and a killer. They didn't spare Benjamin Franklin and Steve Jobs.

Nobody is perfect. But these geniuses are, by definition, different.

Links:

Was Thomas Edison a hack? Historians take on claims in The Oatmeal

Genius or manchild? Reconsidering Steve Jobs after his daughter's book

Genius in Madness? 72% of Entrepreneurs Affected by Mental Health Conditions

Are Entrepreneurs “Touched with Fire”?

Legends and Losers 072: Cameron Herold On Great COO’s & How To Reverse Engineer Your Vivid Vision

We hope you enjoyed Elon Musk What The Mainstream Business Press Doesn't Get! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!

Where do you draw the line between planning to ensure smooth sailing and just getting on with an endeavor that ultimately ends up in learning? On today’s episode, serial entrepreneur, podcast host and author Daniel Gefen talks about the value of authenticity and spontaneity over polished scripts, the beauty of just doing, and how to gain self-respect.

“Self-respect comes from doing hard work and achieving things.” - Daniel Gefen

Three Things We Learned

People fall prey to procrastination to achieve perfection

We don’t consume things far removed from our realities, and we don’t appreciate anything that is deceptively picture-perfect either. But we are also susceptible to putting off what we must do in hopes of achieving perfection. What it ultimately boils down to, however, is the fear of actually taking action.

How we know it is time to quit working on ourselves

Self-improvement is important, but there comes a point when we need to stop learning and start doing instead. This applies to a lot of things, from feeling that you lack enough information to start writing the book you want to write about or planning the architecture of a house that won’t build itself. A lot of successful people don’t stall; they just do.

We have way too much time on our hands

Because it is such a luxury nowadays, people have way too much time to spare thinking too deeply into things. A certain kind of unease usually follows this, and no self-respecting human should subject themselves to such quandaries. But we earn self-respect not through stalling but through hard work and achieving.

There is a fine line between learning to gain self-improvement and doing to learn. With life so unpredictable that we don’t ever truly become ready for it, which of the two is the way to go?

Bio:

Daniel Gefen is a serial entrepreneur and founder of Gefen Media Group - a podcast production and booking agency helping clients build a loyal following through the power of podcasting.

He is also the host of the top-rated podcast show called ‘Can I Pick Your Brain?’ which has exceeded over 150,000 downloads and was named top 26 podcasts to listen to by CIO Magazine.

He has interviewed over 100 thought leaders, billionaires and celebrities.

In 2017, he was named one of the top 25 most influential influencers and has been featured in dozens of media publications including Forbes, INC, CIO, Influencive, Success Radio and over 70 leading podcasts.

Daniel lives with his wife Lorren and 4 children in the hills of Bet Shemesh, Israel.

You can listen to his show by searching for 'Can I Pick Your Brain?' on iTunes or other podcast platforms.

Links:

http://www.danielgefen.com

www.TheSelfHelpAddict.com

https://twitter.com/ipickbrains

We hope you enjoyed Daniel Gefen on this episode of Legends and Losers! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!

Why is the "gig economy" more than what its moniker entails? What kind of thoughts does a young woman looking for her first job out of college have? On today's episode, Leah Busque, founder of TaskRabbit and venture capitalist at Fuel Capital, shares her journey.

"Flexibility in the future work is one big pillar, one big category... Over the course of the last decade, we've just seen that pillar, that value explode across all these different companies and all these new ways of working." - Leah Busque

Three Things We Learned

Flexibility in new ways of working

Leah founded TaskRabbit in 2008 because of the financial crisis that hit the US in September that year. With the catalyst that began the shift and change around how people perceived the future of work, she thought it was an incredible time to start a company based around new ways of working. With the instability of the financial markets also came the emergence of flexible ways of working which more and more people loved and appreciated as the years went by.

Trade-offs of choosing flexibility

The "gig economy" is a term that usually would feel demeaning for freelancers who choose to manage their own schedule and choose to work with people they want. But even the traditional benefits that come with secure jobs will have to marry this flexibility-driven economy in the future. All it's going to take is the consistent push of companies and workers for this to happen.

Long-term jobs are now growing less possible and desirable

The workforce is changing and companies are undergoing the same changes to meet the rapidly evolving demands and expectations of the next generation of workers. The past generations would commit to jobs for decades and then retire. But at present time, companies will be hard pressed to find a 22-year-old with a set goal of staying with them forever.

Leah herself had her parents as her models when she was still starting out as part of the workforce. With IBM being one of the most nurturing companies for female employees, she had in her head to climb up the ladder and build her dream career within it. But long story short, that didn't stay true.

Bio / Story:

Leah Busque is an engineer turned entrepreneur turned venture capitalist at Fuel Capital. She founded TaskRabbit in 2008, which was then later acquired by IKEA in 2017.

Links:

https://www.fuelcapital.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/labusque/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leah_Busque

https://twitter.com/labunleashed

https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/28/ikea-buys-taskrabbit/

We hope you enjoyed Leah Busque on this episode of Legends and Losers! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!

On Episode 183, multi-time Silicon Valley CEO Jay Larson joined Christopher Lochhead in a dialogue that left many impressions. An executive admired by a lot of people in the marketing sphere, he said some amazing tidbits that until now Christopher looks back on. Today, the host mulls over some of the most resounding words left by the CEO of red-hot company Optimizely—to go ugly early.

"In the sage words of Jay Larson, when you have bad news, go ugly early." - Christopher Lochhead

Jay Larson - Getting to the Ugly Early

This advice is exactly the opposite of what most people would think when they have bad news waiting to be unveiled. Anyone can be guilty of delaying the inevitable, be it a CEO or a politician.

When there's bad news and they have to go on TV, they would most probably go on about things that may not be relevant to the real issue. They meander around and try to remind people about how great they are before dropping the bomb.

Undermining Yourself

When you fall prey to the bad news and don't put it right on the table, you communicate to everybody that you're not on top of it. You fail to be professional, unable to show that you have a grasp of the facts.

It doesn't matter whether you are an entrepreneur, a CEO of a company or a leader of any kind. Not dealing with and resolving a bad news upfront mean undercutting your power.

Facing the Ugly Head-on

Dishing out the good news before the bad is a disservice to both you and your constituents. This doesn’t help address the problem at all, and it reflects badly on your leadership skills and ability to manage a business situation.

By being honest with the status of your business, you will be braver in fixing the problem, and so will everyone around you. So go ugly early.

Listen and download to the episode now!

Bio / Links:

Jay Larson started in sales in Oracle and Siebel. He became Head of WW Field ops at Mercury Interactive, Head of Sales at SuccessFactors, President of Jive, CEO of Birst. And now, the CEO of red-hot Optimizely.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/larsonjay/

https://www.optimizely.com

We hope you enjoyed this episode of  Legends and Losers Unlocked Go Ugly Early! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!

On today's episode of Legends and Losers, Christopher talks to Dr. Jacob Towery about raising mentally strong kids and what to do if someone is having a mental health problem and how to handle it if someone in your life might be suicidal. All this including why it's cool for a doc to rock a mohawk on Dr. Jacob Towery: Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

Before throwing 100% of your energy into getting your child help, it's worth pausing and see if you...have any issues... - Dr. Jacob Towery



Three Things We Learned

Communication is Critical

To say to a parent, "If your kid is acting whacky, have you considered it might be you?" is a tough thing to say to a parent in today's society.  But direct communication is crucial and effective if done correctly. Dr. Towery is incredibly direct to everyone in his life but is also very thoughtful in his approach.  He's not afraid to address the elephant in the room yet does so deftly and without talking down or being disrespectful.

What the F*ck is Wrong with Men?

Like most men, Christopher and Dr. Towery were shocked and embarrassed when the "Me Too' movement started. To discover that men had been such assholes throughout time. It's now men's responsibility to better through future generations of boys and men. Dr. Towery isn't an expert in this area but believes that testosterone when unchecked in the absence of role models of how to use strength and power responsibly, can lead to violent episodes. Masculinity is great but not toxic masculinity.

A Good Place to Start

Pediatricians are a great resource if you have questions about your child's mental well-being. Always start with an assessment. Someone that is reliable, responsible and that is not just desperate for getting the most clients. A great place to start is just to find out what's going on with a neuropsychological assessment or evaluation and gathering more data before doing anything drastic.

To hear the rest of the conversation, download and listen to the entire episode!

Bio:

Jacob Towery, MD, is an adolescent and adult psychiatrist in private practice in Palo Alto, California.

He attended Duke University for his undergraduate studies, the University of Virginia for medical school, and Stanford for his residency in adult psychiatry and fellowship in adolescent psychiatry.

Dr. Towery currently serves on the Adjunct Faculty at Stanford University School of Medicine.

He is the author of The Anti-Depressant Book: A Practical Guide for Teens and Young Adults to Overcome Depression and Stay Healthy and narrated the Audiobook for it in 2018.

Dr. Jacob Towery enjoys seeing patients, teaching, snowboarding, scuba diving, traveling, reading, meditating, spending quality time with other humans, making long lists, Oxford commas, and writing about himself in the third person.

More information can be found at jacobtowerymd.com

We hope you enjoyed Dr. Jacob Towery on this episode of Legends and Losers! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on

Legends and Losers has always aspired to capture lightning in a bottle and be a podcast unlike any other while adding value to people's lives. But this show is as silly as it is plentiful of knowledge. On this 200th episode, Christopher Lochhead and Jaime Jay trade stories both ridiculous and legendary.

"Get out and experience life a little bit." - Jaime Jay

Jaime Jay - Crazy Airplane Tales

Some airline has finally come up with an addition to their business class seats that passengers wouldn't want to miss—pillow menus. This successfully reinvents the word, "chillax". People can now pick their preferred travel companion from a wide array of pillows and cases.

In the true spirit of airplane anecdotes, Jaime also shares an oily plane story involving a woman with a bouffant do and the greasy spot unfortunately branded on a plane seat.

Befriending Your UNI

When it gets lonely, people can turn to UNI. A magic AI friend, UNI can be your companion one tap away. UNI can do anything from chatting to dancing, and while it's terrible, the UNI phenomenon is something we can all learn from.

Business Buzzwords to Kill

Some business buzzwords deserve to die in 2018. While they have revolutionized the sphere, some have become obsolete. This not only springs from a creative standpoint, but also from the fact that language constantly evolves.

Solution, for example, is a word everybody uses but is hardly ever meaningful anymore.

“Solution—I hate that word… Whenever I think to say 'solution', I check myself and I try to think about another word that I can use that’s more meaningful and identifies whatever it is I’m talking about rather than just vague, old ‘solution’.” - Jaime Jay

To hear more incredulous stories and why words like ‘disrupt’ and ‘solution’ should be considered throwaways from Jaime Jay and Christopher Lochhead, download and listen to the episode!

Bio:

Jaime Jay (twitter: @heyjaimejay)

Jaime Jay is the Managing Director of Bottleneck Virtual Assistants, a Life & Business Coach, host of the popular Stop Riding The Pine Podcast, and co-producer of “dialogue podcast” “Legends & Losers”.

In this first episode of Questions and Cocktails 1, Christopher Lochhead answers questions from his legendary listeners. People from different walks of life send in their emails, and Christopher dishes out some unfiltered pieces of advice.

“Like in anything, most people quit. And if you wanna be successful, you gotta stick to it.” - Christopher Lochhead on staying true to your podcast's brand



Young Professionals in an Aging World

Aaron, a Doctorate of Pharmacy and MBA student shares how listening to a tech industry podcast has offered him a different perspective of his own niche. Bloated with inefficiencies, his industry has seen zero progress in innovations. In a field where earning tenure means respect, he and other young professionals struggle to be taken seriously.

How can young professionals with an entrepreneurial spirit gather the respect to have the real conversations and cause change in an industry run by older people?

"Don't let anyone stop you from bringing your ideas forward. There are some older people in business who do stay curious. They are open, they will be your allies." - Christopher Lochhead

Starting a Podcast

An anonymous listener who once heard Christopher guest in Jordan Harbinger’s show seeks advice on how to start their own podcast. After years of being a chef and handling different food establishments and services, they are now ready to express themselves in some other way. They hope to bring more light to what they do beyond glorified social media posts on success.

Christopher gives a couple of tips on how to launch a successful podcast. He suggests getting a producer and editor to deal with the technical aspect of podcasting and building a brand that reflects both the personality of the host and their vision.

To learn more from Christopher in this edition of Questions and Cocktails 1, listen to the episode now!

Links:

https://blog.bufferapp.com/podcasting-for-beginners

https://lifehacker.com/how-to-start-your-own-podcast-1709798447https://sumo.com/stories/how-to-launch-a-successful-podcast

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/starting-podcast-christopher-lochhead/

We hope you enjoyed Questions and Cocktails 1.  Remember, Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe to Legends and Losers on iTunes!

David Cancel is the co-founder and CEO of Drift, one of the fastest growing companies in the marketing space. A former engineer, he's also a podcaster and author. Today he joins Christopher Lochhead to talk about building massive technological startups, sabbaticals, books, and why conversational marketing is the future.

"For me myself, engineer to tech to product to now, CEO... they're kinda like a progression of the same thing... It's like I'm trying to create our own world." - David Cancel



Three Things We Learned

* Anxiety-ridden break

When they first put up Drift, David and his team figured to create a tradition of taking a sabbatical every three years. But his turn to take a temporary leave from work came with the worst possible timing. His wife pointed out the fact that if he didn't do it now, no one in the company was going to follow through, and so with tons of anxiety, he cashed in on the leave.

* Pulling off a sabbatical with a great team

While his learning sabbatical offered lots of time to meditate and examine his life and willingly be at the beck and call of his daughter, some things broke. They were nothing he couldn't fix though. He had his management team whom he could lean on while he set an example for all of Drift's 190 and some employees to thank for that.

* A startup faster than a rocket ship

Prior to Drift, David was the Chief Products Officer at Hubspot, another hugely successful company. The culmination of his experience from being part of large-scale bodies aided in growing Drift. And now his business is doing amazing, faster than any other company within and without their category.

Building a startup is one tough endeavor. Growing one is even more difficult because then you will have to learn how to brake and not implode. But with a team behind him willing to stay true to their visions from the get-go—sabbaticals included—, David thinks they can do it all.

Bio:

David Cancel is a serial entrepreneur, podcast host (Seeking Wisdom) and angel investor/advisor.

Best known for creating hypergrowth companies, products and product teams at companies such as Drift.com, HubSpot, Performable, Ghostery and Compete.

David has been featured by media outlets such as The New York Times, Forbes, Fortune, Wired and Fast Company. David has guest lectured on entrepreneurship at Harvard, Harvard Business School, MIT, MIT's Sloan School of Management, Bentley and other Universities.

His popular blog davidcancel.com has been read by 1M+ entrepreneurs, and his Twitter account @dcancel has 180k followers and is considered a "Must-Follow" account for entrepreneurs, executives and product people.

Links:

https://twitter.com/dcancel

https://www.drift.com

https://www.drift.com/seeking-wisdom/

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/seeking-wisdom/id1072506427?mt=2