Decision making is an integral part of effective management. The process of consistently making sound decisions, however, is not intuitive. As human beings, we are subject to many biases that can cause us to mislabel problems, fail to fully identify all relevant information, and ultimately draw misinformed conclusions.

In this conversation Rick and fellow podcaster, Brandon Laws of the HR for Small Business Podcast interview Pat McCauley, Owner and President of Bridgewell Agribusiness LLC (BWAB). Prior to BWAB, Pat spent 22 years at Susquehanna International Group (SIG), a global quantitative financial trading firm based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At SIG, Pat held a number of key positions including COO, Head of Business Development, Head of Equity Trading and Head of Trader Development and Education. He developed much of his material for Decision Science at Susquehanna and has applied it successfully since then, both in his businesses and for business audiences in seminars and workshops.

This engaging conversation covers some of the framework he has developed to help managers make better decisions, as well as generate awareness and strategies to avoid some very common traps and biases that cloud effective thinking.

Following January's podcast on FoMo and why strategy often fails, Rick interviews Adi Klevit with Business Success Consulting on the other major cause for failing strategies...the lack of tactical execution and how she helps businesses get their arms around the fundamental blocking and tackling necessary to execute strategy.

Most companies focus on the wrong thing in developing their strategy and more often than not, it's too many of the wrong things. Fear of missing out (FoMO) and the inability to say no will doom a strategy before it's ever had a chance to succeed. Rick reflects on the fourth quarter of 2017 where he was involved in a number of strategy facilitations and shares how leaders can focus their efforts and engage the organizational leadership to develop effective strategy.

In this special guest interview, Donn Dimond, co-founder of The KOR Physical Therapy in Portland, OR describes his journey and key learning moments in going from startup to a sophisticated medical practice, to successful exit and why evolving and growing the business in intervals is vital to sustaining a viable business model.

One of the most difficult concepts to internalize as a business owner is the role of failure as a necessary part of success. In the following podcast recording, Rick and Nick discuss the inherent paradox of this truism and what you, the post startup entrepreneur can do to build sustainable leadership and business practice that can survive the necessary failures along the way to your success.

Music by Mironov Sound

We discuss the importance of company culture, nested hierarchies, and what it takes to create and sustain a viable company culture with special guest Jason Graham-Nye, co-founder and CEO of gDiapers, a US-based eco-friendly baby diaper company.

Resources discussed:

Reinventing Organizations by Frederic Laloux: www.amazon.com/Reinventing-Organ…oux/dp/2960133501

Spiral Dynamics: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Edward_Beck

To connect with Jason Graham-Nye, you can find him on LinkedIn or email him at [email protected].

Music by Mironov Sound