Fortune's Path Podcast

Shannon Hooper talks about how she stays inspired by looking at what's happening on the bleeding edge of technology, particularly writing about the Metaverse – our shared digital reality. Tom asks Shannon if we behave the same way in virtual worlds as we do in the real world, and Shannon says it depends on generations. Shannon also talks about how virtual reality could be applied to therapies for addiction and PTSD.

Tom and Shannon talk about how to listen to customers and why customers sometimes misrepresent their needs, why healthcare delivery was upended even before COVID-19, and why good marketers need to understand their customer's business model inside and out. Tom and Shannon also talk about scaling a market and do some on-the-fly product development for one of Shannon's favorite products. Shannon tells how the annoying habits of co-workers may be evidence of their superpower, what outcomes marketing can guarantee, and what operational and technical challenges prevent accurate marketing attribution in healthcare. Finally, Shannon tells Tom how her interest in stoicism and religion has influenced her as an executive.

What makes a good leader? Does it change with the size of an organization? How do you find your safe place when you have to make an important presentation? And why did Michael Bloomberg have a hard time connecting with voters when he ran for President? These are some of the questions we ask Church Garcia, professional speaker, executive coach, and bestselling author. Chuck tells what he learned about leadership from Michael Bloomberg, how the rule of three helps with speech writing and picking the successor to a CEO, why having a goal to build long-term value is better than having a specific exit multiple in mind, how command-and-control leadership contrasts with collaborate-and-connect and why we need both styles, why sales is a chess match, why great leaders are more adaptable than the competition, why business should adopt a scientific approach to experimentation where the only failure is bad process, how finding one thing to fix in your presentation leads to everything getting better, why leading with your heart when your customer needs data driven analysis is a mistake, and why you should never underestimate the importance of intuition.

Tom talks with innovation leader and brand builder Gavin Ivester. Gavin is the former Vice President of Design for Bang & Olufsen, the beloved maker of artful audio equipment and televisions. Gavin talks about creating a principle driven design strategy that delivered double-digit growth in a painfully competitive market, how he started at Apple where he was employee number 2,454, and how he made the change from forklift driver to designer of the original PowerBook. Gavin also speaks about the breakthrough design decision of the PowerBook that's impacted every laptop since, the implications of design principles, how "honesty in materials" promotes sustainability and superior customer experience, how great design and great craftsmanship together create longevity and explain why it can be worth paying $20k for a TV. Gavin also discusses what he learned at Puma where his career shifted from design to product as head of the footwear division, and why licensing can be a sinkhole for your brand equity. Tom ends with a discussion of "the shadow" and how it's reflected in industrial design and managing your life as a product, and Gavin takes us home by talking about the implications of having a successful career on raising children, and what products he loves.

Back in November Tom talked with Chris Boyd, start-up advisor, mentor, and one of the wisest people we know working in product management. For over five years Chris has been the head of product for Built Technologies who recently announced a series C round worth $88M.  

Tom and Chris talk about Chris's transition from project manager to product manager and play a game of "spontaneous product development" to create a product to disrupt the U.S. education market. They also talk about the signs of a healthy product and how Built Technology is creating an ecosystem for construction finance and lending by automating manual processes and consolidating data. Finally, Tom and Chris talk about the profession of product management and where it's going, why business savvy is a growing need for the best candidates, and how Chris views getting inspiration from competitors.

Back in September Tom talked with Mohit Pureby, long-time food production executive, entrepreneur, and expert in the Asian market. Mohit is a 24 year veteran of Cargill, a giant in food production, and is now the Director of Distribution and Business Development, Asia at Bunge, an American agribusiness and food company. Tom and Mohit talk about how we can feed 9 billion people, Earth's estimated population before 2050, life in Singapore and how one party rule is like a large corporation, how to manage large organizations, the challenges in going international, why principles are critical for rapid growth, and how collective action can solve the environmental crisis. Tom and Mohit also talk about what technologies can help reserve our consumption trends and preserve the Earth. Mohit believes a combination of economic incentives, regulation, and conscious consumers can save the Earth from bad food production practices. See if you agree with him on this episode of the Fortune's Path podcast.

Tom explains how he wrote his book Fortune's Path: How to Use the Principles of Recovery to Find Fortune and Happiness, why he wrote it, and how he feels now that it's done. Tom also reads the 12 Steps of Product Management (we all have to manage the products that are our lives), the Forward (written by his son Joe Noser, 23) and the Introduction. Fortune's Path: How to Use the Principles of Recovery to Find Fortune and Happiness will be published by Forbes Books in November of 2021 and available for pre-sale beginning September 2.

Dan Hogan, founder of Barrel Stock Trading Company, a fund that invests in Kentucky Bourbon, talks about learning from failure and success and why we shouldn't try to choose between achievement and enjoyment. Dan believes money is the lifeblood for any entrepreneur. Dan's first investor was his father, who bought a 1984 Cadillac Fleetwood with 410,000 miles to support Dan's limousine business. Dan also started with his college roommate an event business, a retail store, and other businesses before Dan went out on his own to purchase a home health agency. Dan's experience in home health led him to found Medalogix, a successful home health data analytics and operations improvement company. Dan worked for ten years in software sales for EMC where he learned the importance of how money moves in the world. Tom and Dan talk about how businesses are like bonds, and how building a business to grow is not the same thing as building a business to sell. Dan explains why he tells young entrepreneurs to raise more money than they think they'll need, and why trying to preserve your equity at the expense of the viability of the business is a mistake. Dan and Tom talk about why seeing things through the eyes of a beginner is essential to creating a new product and to parenting, and how developing a digital voice is more important than having a great personal network, and how bourbon is like bitcoin.

Jonas Fridrichesen, long-time sales leader and Chief Revenue Officer for VerityStream, a healthcare credentialing and verification Software-as-a-Service platform, talks about leading sales teams, rising above the noise in healthcare, and why the challenger sales model appeals to him. Jonas describes how his teams have grow revenue by building awareness before demand, why he prefers sales to marketing after managing both, though he enjoys "the chess match of sales and the creativity of marketing." Tom asks Jonas about his theory that customers are like children, and Jonas talks about why building trust and creating a safe space is so important for parenting, marriage, and sales. Jonas tells how not keeping score helps his marriage even when he's unable to engage and needs to play guitar in his room, and Tom talks about how reasonably demanding customers make our businesses better. Plus, Jonas gives a great definition of emotional intelligence, Margaret makes an appearance, and Tom and Jonas talk about music and competitive intelligence.

What is performance marketing, and how do you incorporate data into your marketing? What are the jobs of marketing and sales? What’s it like to enter the workforce during an economic downturn? These are some of the questions we ask Joshua Oakes, Creator and Founder of the Who First Framework, an audience understanding, product development, and customer acquisition process for executives, investors and entrepreneurs.

Joshua Oakes, twenty years veteran of client services, product management, and marketing talks with Tom about the Who First framework and how it helps businesses create and sell products effectively. Josh believes understanding your customer is always the most important thing. Who First is a structured methodology for getting verifiable data about who your audience is, what they care about, and what they think about you. Josh shows Tom what a customer interview is like using Who First and how he's working to turn his professional service into a more scalable product. Josh also talks about creating business metrics that reflect who your business is trying to serve and why he hates marketing personas. Tom and Josh then go on a run about how getting past personas is like a post-racial world, how the reality of why buyer's make purchases is often different from the demographic theory, and why Simon Sinek's Start with Why might be wrong that having a higher purpose for your business translates into measurable results.