Fearless Growth with Amanda Setili

Seth Kahan is the Founder and CEO of Visionary Leadership. As a leadership and performance improvement authority in the Grand Challenge space, Seth has helped over 100 CEOs and other high-performers achieve large-scale change, innovation, and growth.

Seth defines a “Grand Challenge” as “a big systemic issue that resists superficial solutions. It’s usually hard for a single mind to grasp because it’s systemic.” Climate change and lowering the stigma around mental illness, he says, are two examples of Grand Challenges.

Seth helps organizations define and articulate their intractable problems, thereby giving them the confidence and the resources they need to attack those problems.

When taking on a Grand Challenge, an organization’s first step is to create a Common Agenda or the core, agreed-upon outcome. They must then ask the question, “Who else is invested in that common agenda?” These will be the partners that make up their alliance and, often, these partners are not usually who one would expect them to be.

Seth, for example, worked with the American Nurses Association (ANA), whose Common Agenda is to “measurably improve the health of America's 4 million nurses and, by extension, the country’s.”

The ANA found a valuable partner in the U.S. Army, who see the deterioration of nurses’ health as a national security threat. Harvard Medical School also joined the alliance since they had been conducting the biggest longitudinal study on nurses’ health in the world, and looked to tap into ANA’s 4 million intended participants to supplement their existing 8000.

Once that network has been established, Visionary Leadership holds an event called a Design Studio. Here, the leading thinkers and activists in the industry come together to review and optimize the proposed game plan as well identify key leaders among that group to join the Steering Committee for the Grand Challenge.

From there, working groups are formed to address tactical issues such as metrics, funding, social outreach, coordination, logistics, and other factors specific to that field.

Finally, nine months after the Design Studio comes a Design Summit that brings together hundreds of people from various organizations around the United States focused on addressing the Grand Challenge. The game plan is shared, and everyone is offered a role to participate in the agenda.

Listen in as Seth goes on to share how his upbringing and experience in street theatre cultivated his passion and skills for solving intractable problems.

Finally, he shares his strategies for getting hundreds of people from various organizations engaged and excited to tackle their Grand Challenge while allaying their fears.

Connect with Amanda Setili:

●      www.setili.com

●      LinkedIn

●      Twitter

●      Facebook

Connect with Seth Kahan:

●      www.visionaryleadership.com

●      LinkedIn

Moira Vetter is the Founder and CEO at Modo Modo Agency, a strategic brand engagement firm that accelerates the way billion-dollar companies capture and grow their market. Moira has always been an entrepreneur at heart, having begun her journey working the cash register at her parents’ pharmacy at the ripe young age of 7.

Asked about the human side of B2B marketing, Moira notes that “there is a huge fallacy about B2B in general”—that the entire process is about “computers selling computers, tech selling tech, or an organization selling to an organization.” She reminds us that each company is composed of human beings making individual decisions that they believe is best for the brand.

It’s due to this simple yet overlooked fact that “there are humans hidden behind the numbers.” Modo Modo’s goal, with their clients, is to paint a picture of who those humans are and the realities they live with. The best client interviews, then, are those that are driven by genuine curiosity.

Moira also speaks on the issue of disengaged employees and compares and contrasts the desires of the Gen-X, Gen-Y and Gen-Z workforce. She believes highly in the crossover between work and play and why it is vital that today’s organizations cultivate a culture of service, transparency, and self-leadership.

Finally, Moira gives her thoughts on the post-pandemic workplace and challenges the notion that there is no going back from the new normal that is remote work. In fact, Moira, along with her growing team at Modo Modo, believe that theirs is a belly-to-belly culture that thrives best if everyone is mentally and physically present.

Connect with Amanda Setili:

●     www.setili.com

●     LinkedIn

●     Twitter

●     Facebook

Connect with Moira Vetter:

●     www.modomodoagency.com

●     Linkedin

Greg White is the President & CEO of LEARN, a network of 11 high-performing public charter schools that serve more than 4,400 students in Chicago and Washington D.C.
 
After graduating from Harvard Business School, Greg worked at Salomon Brothers before eventually founding his own venture capital firm. He also taught at the Kellogg School of Management and served at the Chicago Community Trust before becoming CEO of the LEARN Charter School Network. 

Asked why he chose the unique career path that he did, Greg replies that “I've always had a passion for education and a passion for entrepreneurship. This was a very entrepreneurial venture. We grew from 20 employees and 2 million in revenue to 550 employees and 70 million in revenue.” 

Before joining LEARN, Greg says, he worked in a nice office with a beautiful view, and met with nice people all day long. But what he really wanted was to be in the community, on the front lines. “I was well aware of the problems with education. It just wasn't working for many students who looked like me. And I said, What can I do? How can I get involved, not just to set policy or raise money, but to work directly with students?”  

Leading the LEARN organization has been hard, Greg says, but “It's been a joy because when you're all in, it's not exhausting work. It’s actually quite exhilarating.”
 
As to his approach to leadership, Greg brings up his “laser focus on talent”. He believes in hiring great people and encouraging them to embrace their autonomy when it comes time to make decisions for the organization.
 
Speaking on his current role, Greg says that LEARN ensures its students’ success by focusing on the whole child, and not just on their academic prowess. It is all about meeting the social, emotional, psychological, and physical needs of students. He expects LEARN staff to live the organizations values and create a safe and nurturing environment, not just drive great academic outcomes. 
 
This focus on values, behavior, and social-emotional learning (SEL) is motivated by the fact that LEARN is located in some of the most challenged communities in Chicago. Greg says that the network purposely located in neighborhoods that have a great need for stronger education.
 
“If you can view public education as an investment which benefits society over the long term, there will be a substantial return.”

Connect with Amanda Setili:

●      www.setili.com

●      LinkedIn

●      Twitter

●      Facebook

Connect with Greg White:

●      www.learncharter.org

●      Linkedin

Ginger Bowman is the founder of Synergetic Media, a multichannel marketing services provider located in Alpharetta Georgia, offering commercial printing, web design, video marketing, social, and branding services.

She reflects on her journey to success as a business owner in the world of design. It all began after she graduated from university with a fine arts degree. Without the knowledge and the skills to actually monetize her creative ambitions, Ginger found herself waiting tables right out of school.

Later down the road, Ginger was offered a role at Sony Pictures Imageworks, which gave her the opportunity to work in the creative departments (and become an Oscar-winning technical director along the way) of a number of Hollywood blockbusters in the early-to-mid-2000s including Spider-Man, The Chronicles of Narnia, Superman, Stuart Little 1 and 2, the Matrix.

She left Imageworks in 2006 to become a Professor of Visual Effects at Savannah College of Art and Design, where she continued to work for the next nine years.

By the mid-2010s, Ginger had reached the point in her life where she wanted greater control of her financial future and, in 2017, she purchased the marketing company Synergetic Media.

Ginger goes on to share the many challenges she faced as a new business owner. Just as she encourages everyone of any career to adopt a mindset of continuous learning, she says that the key to success, especially for entrepreneurs, is to keep evolving while staying anchored in their company’s vision.

“I believe that there is a sweet spot,” says Ginger, “between what you love to do and what you’re good at. And if you can find that sweet spot, that’s the career zone, not the job zone.”

Connect with Amanda Setili:

●     www.setili.com

●     LinkedIn

●     Twitter

●     Facebook

Connect with Ginger Bowman:

●     www.synergeticmedia.com

●     LinkedIn

Ann Latham is author of The Power of Clarity (Bloomsbury 2021) and The Clarity Papers, two books that have made her the leading expert on clarity—where it is, where it isn’t, how to create it, why it is so uncommon, and its incredible and under-appreciated power.  

Leaders and employees are under relentless pressure to become faster, more efficient, and more adaptable in the face of change.  People are stressed, and organizations aren't performing as well as they could. 

How can we continue to do more with less? How can we possibly work smarter, not harder?

In this conversation, we talk about Latham's new book, The Power of Clarity. In it, Latham points out the distinction between what she calls "cognitive objects," such as ideas, decisions, and plans and "physical objects" such as products and services. 

Latham explains that the vast majority of our improvement efforts over the previous decades have been focused on physical processes that move products and services out the door. Those processes are clearly defined, with clear objectives and priorities. Physical processes and their outcomes are visible and measurable. 

Meanwhile, most knowledge workers, managers, and other non-production people spend their work days trying to move cognitive objects, without the benefit of clearly defined processes and priorities. They are operating in what Ann Latham calls the ‘cognitive zone,’ which is currently the land of ‘disclarity.’

Latham stresses that in the cognitive zone, there are six cognitive objects that represent tangible progress--progress that completes one step and leads to another.  These are:

• A decision
• A list
• A plan
• The solution to a problem
• Confirmation
• Authorization

If you want to make real progress, she says, you had better be clear as to which of those six you are pursuing at any given moment. 

When you have a clear process, you become much more efficient. You involve the right people at the right time, and deal effectively with the emotions that can make decisions difficult.

Latham’s advice also addresses the importance of avoiding ‘shoulds,’ confronting procrastination, and the role of self-awareness. She provides a surprising example of how different people measure their own success differently and often unconsciously, and how bringing this to light can ensure a good match between the boss's/organization's objectives and the employee's objectives. 

Learn more about Latham’s work and how your organization can harness the power of clarity at power-of-clarity.com or connect with her on LinkedIn.

Connect with Amanda Setili:

●        www.setili.com

●        LinkedIn

●        Twitter

●        Facebook

Connect with Ann Latham

●        LinkedIn

●        Twitter

●        https://AnnLatham.com

Robbie Kellman Baxter is author of The Forever Transaction and The Membership Economy, two books which have sealed her place as the number one expert in the world on subscription and membership-based businesses.  

Nearly every company is at least thinking about moving to a subscription model, or incorporating subscription models into their business strategy. The benefits are clear - recurring revenue,  disruption-proofing customer loyalty, and more. But taking the leap can be scary.  How do you move forward quickly but mitigate risk to your core business even as you change, well, everything? 

Baxter stresses the importance of defining an ongoing value proposition – a “forever promise” that provides an ongoing benefit to customers and causes them to use your product as a habit, and something they can’t do without. 

Too many companies offer a one-time benefit that incents people to sign up for their subscription or membership, but pay insufficient attention to providing ongoing, indispensable value to customers. 

You have to earn the customers trust again and again, because every day the customer can cancel.  One way to build trust is to make it easy for customers to cancel their subscriptions. Nothing burns bridges like having a difficult cancellation process – we’ve all experienced that. 

Another mistake companies make is having too many promotions to entice people to subscribe. That just teaches customers to game the system – to wait for a better promotion before joining. 

Organizations know that subscription pricing can yield great benefits but are scared to make the massive change in business strategy it would require. We can look to companies like Adobe as exemplars of how to make the shift effectively. 

”Adobe did a ton of experimentation before they moved to a subscription-based model,” Baxter says, “They really understood and could anticipate what the behavior of their different customer segments was going to be. And they were very clear in communicating to their board, which customers were okay to lose, and which customers were not okay to lose and what they were doing to manage that.”

Learn more about Baxter’s work, and about how your organization can transition to a subscription model, at RobbieKellmanBaxter.com, or connect with her on LinkedIn. 

Connect with Amanda Setili:

●        www.setili.com

●        LinkedIn

●        Twitter

●        Facebook

Connect with Robbie Kellman Baxter

●        LinkedIn

●        Twitter

●        https://robbiekellmanbaxter.com/

Sandra Hughes is the epitome of reinvention. While working as a former Gap, Inc. executive,
building for-profit and nonprofit businesses and juggling her family life, she didn’t have time for
graduate school. Then, she decided to start her own business, earned an MBA from Santa Clara
University and founded Life Reinvented at age 50.

Her Life Reinvented® Solopreneur Accelerator helps people gain traction in their business
through highly effective work and life success strategies. Sandra’s pragmatic approach to
leadership applies to anyone seeking greater personal and financial success. She says when you
live your core values – the intersection of your life and work values – and then unleash your
superpower or differentiator, people see and appreciate your uniqueness.

Sandra emphasizes it’s important to be strategic and intentional about your success. Identify
and connect with your ideal clients through Meetup groups and other networking events.
Perform a customer discovery process for product/market fit by asking the right people the
right questions, analyze the data and finetune your offer.

Remember, a life reinvented means that where you start and where you end up may be
different than you expected. Sandra’s company can help you take control of your own happiness and success. 

Will Bachman is the Co-Founder of Umbrex, the first global community connecting top-tier independent management consultants with one another and matching consultants with clients. Headquartered in New York, the company organizes in-person professional development and social events in major cities as well as an online discussion forum.

Will is the host of the Unleashed podcast, where he explores how to thrive as an independent professional alongside other successful individuals, discussing such topics as raising your visibility, generating and converting leads, building a virtual team, and more.

Prior to establishing Umbrex, Will spent four years as an Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company and, before that, eight years as a Submarine Officer in the U.S. Navy.

Amanda sits down with Will to discuss how independent consultants can help their clients find work that they love—work that is both fun and through which they can make a real impact. Will shares, through his own career experiences, what he learned about making work feel like play.

Will refers to the Seth Godin quote: “Amateurs do what they love. Professionals love what they do.” He speaks on the importance of “diving into the resistance” that is key to making that transition from amateur to professional.

With the gig economy becoming more prevalent in the wider world of work than ever before, Will believes that the best way for the next generation to find professional success is by taking risks and becoming known for the field they are passionate about as early as possible, starting with content creation (for example, podcasts).

“Find things that you’re good enough at that seem fun,” says Will, “that no one else is doing, and that someone is willing to pay for.”

Connect with Amanda Setili:

●     www.setili.com

●     LinkedIn

●     Twitter

●     Facebook

Connect with Will Bachman:

●     www.umbrex.com

●     LinkedIn

●     "Setting Up Your Consulting Practice" Course (Use the code FEARLESS50 to save 50%)

Edy Greenblatt, CEO of Restoration Vacation, was one of the earliest researchers in the area of resilience. She has a PhD in organizational Behavior from Harvard University, and a masters degree in dance ethnology from UCLA. 

Edy’s definition of resilience is the ability to recover from trauma back to normalcy quickly. This means having the physical, emotional and cognitive resources needed, and the psychological, social, and spiritual energy to access to those resources, so that you can do what you want and need to do each day.  To be resilient is to be able to control those resources in order to stay above the burnout line, which is the point below which the normal strategies, the very personal strategies that work for you to be okay, stop working. 

If your parents were traumatized, she says,  you have changed mitochondrial DNA—you  have inherited fear and trauma.

The key is knowing the behaviors and conditions that restore you, and those that deplete you. Then managing those restorers and depleters every hour, every day, every week, just like you manage the food you eat, your sleep, and the water you drink. 

Organizations, she says, need to train employees how to manage what restores and depletes them. Organization leaders need to put in place the policies, practices, norms, and culture, to create an environment where each aspect of the organization supports resilience. Edy’s company is creating an AI enabled app that actually helps people do these assessments and provides individualized recommendations on how to be more resilient.

Mitali Chopra is a veteran of PwC, GE Capital, Microsoft and GoDaddy, where she led a team that supported 17 markets, and spoke 15 languages.  She was named UK Coach of the Year for Best Client Client Results, 2020 and is the founder of a non-profit that builds children’s entrepreneurial skills. 

Mitali shares how her Indian grounding in world abundance and the Karma equation has shaped her life, and why she finds it more rewarding to give money away than to earn money. She also talks about how much visualization helped her when her then-very-young son had a health scare. 

She and her husband moved to the UK in part to immerse themselves in the diverse London culture. At their most recent count, she, her husband and son have friends from 56 countries. 

She describes how the cultures of GE, Microsoft and GoDaddy differed, and what the downsides of each culture were.  

Every successful culture, she says, values treating other humans with respect and care. Coaching and  showing appreciation is key. People want to learn and perform well, so if you simply  match them to the right role, and empower them to be who they are and do what they love doing, you tend to get great results.