It's DO-BE Time

As entrepreneurs, it can sometimes feel like it’s us against the world or “if I let others in on my idea they’re going to steal it.” When imaware co-founder Jani Tuomi was ready to enter the world of at-home health testing, he knew he was challenging healthcare norms. After all, testing was used to confirm doctors’ diagnoses, not to provide an early warning to patients. In this revealing conversation with Tony and Brian, Jani describes his initial efforts to be a disruptor in the multi-billion dollar healthcare industry, and how he learned to achieve success instead by recruiting an army of people that shared his passion, and then letting go.

Running a business is not the same as leading it. In this episode, Tony and Brian reflect on the lessons that Theresa Moulton (Editor-in-Chief of Change Management Review), Scott Mason (Principal of Scott Mason, LLC), TJ Chernick (Executive Director, National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, New York chapter), and Andy Presti (Managing Partner of Presti & Naegele, CPA) shared about their growth into truly being leaders of their organizations. As different as each of their businesses is, growing it and successfully moving it forward has required not “managing the business” but “leading the business.” The lessons in becoming a leader that are shared here are universal.

Andy Presti, Managing Partner of Presti & Naegele, began his career in a two-person accounting firm and has grown it to a 40-employee business. In this episode of “it’s DO-BE time,” Andy, Tony and Brian discuss what it takes to successfully achieve such growth. As Andy put it, “just because you know your profession well, it doesn’t mean you can run your business well.” He shares his own trajectory from Certified Professional Accountant to business leader and the critical lessons he learned along the way about himself, his employees, and business success.

It’s important for your employees to know your vision for your business. It helps them to understand why you work the way you do and why you expect what you do from them. If you’re like most business owners, you proudly talk about your plans, hopes, dreams for the future. And, if you’re like most business owners, you have no idea about the plans, hopes, dreams of your employees. In this replay of one of our most liked podcasts, Tony and Brian invite you to ask your employees what brings them to work every day, and to invest in helping to make their work more fulfilling. Echoing and building on the voices of luminaries such as Simon Sinek, Bob Chapman (CEO, Barry Wehmiller), and Dan Price (CEO, Gravity Payments), we explain why doing so is a bottom line investment.

Working in international human rights,  TJ Chernick’ s career took him from Morocco to Finland, but it didn’t prepare him for his role as Executive Director of the New York chapter of the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. While the move from human rights to his first Chamber position in membership was challenging, even more difficult was the move from manager to his current leadership role. In this episode, TJ discusses the part those you serve can play in your professional growth when you have the courage to ask, and to listen.

When Scott Mason lost his job in what he now recognizes was a “finger-pointing, cover your rear end” government agency, he never expected he would find himself on the mat of a martial arts studio. But that is where he found himself, both literally and authentically. In this riveting episode, Scott, Tony, and Brian discuss the relationship between doing and being in finding and living into your true purpose.

Theresa Moulton, Editor-In-Chief of Change Management Review, is a serial entrepreneur. She has a seemingly unending stream of great ideas that become new strategies, or even new businesses. The challenge is that being an entrepreneur is not the same as being a business leader. In this episode, Theresa talks with Tony and Brian about what she had to do and who she had to become in order to be successful as an entrepreneurial leader.

In 1976, Elaine Koyama, a third-generation Japanese American woman, became an animal feed salesman for Cargill in rural Iowa. She had a Stanford degree, sales training, all the animal feed knowledge her employer could provide, they Chevy four-door sedan, and her own experience growing up on a farm in rural Montana. But that wasn’t enough to make the sale. In this insightful discussion with Tony and Brian, Elaine reveals that the key to your success may not have anything to do with your job title or position description.

When Quantuvos Founder and CEO Gregg Bedol’s dream job turned into a nightmare, he kept at it. He was there for his team, for his customers, and for his employer, continuing to be the leader he has always been and doing the things he thought he should be doing. Only in retrospect did Gregg realize that the leader he was serving was a different type of leader, one whom Gregg doesn’t serve well. In this podcast, Gregg shares this experience with Tony and Brian, passing on the lessons that it taught him about leadership styles and alignment.

Almost nothing in life drains our physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual energy in a sustained way as the events of the past nine months have done. The impact of COVID-19, #BlackLivesMatter, and demands for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion surround us as we try to juggle work, family, home schooling, caring for aging parents, and more. Even if you had achieved work/life balance prior to all of this, it is likely to have been lost again. How far out of balance are you? In this episode, Tony and Brian introduce some of the keys of DOing and BEing required to achieve your version of the 4-day work week. In the coming months we will be expanding on these both in this podcast and in other offerings ranging from DIY guidance to hands-on support. “When times are tough in business, it’s DO-BE time!”