Leadership Beyond Borders

For the first time in history, we are working with six generations in one workforce but whether this multi-generational workforce is collaborative and productive, or challenging and stressful, is up to how we manage. Over the past months we have experienced a crisis making it more complicated to do business-as-usual. Remote teams and lockdown policies have changed how we communicate. Different people react to these changes in different ways, but are different generations reacting to these new challenges in different ways? Some generations have been through recessions or pandemics, and others are just experiencing them for the first time, so what kind of impact is this having in our companies? How should leaders relate to employees of different age groups? What can you do to encourage employees of different generations to share their knowledge and work together in regular times, and does it differ in a crisis? This episode explores those questions and many more.

Local Search is about 'near me' searches that were incredibly popular and based on intent, proximity, location optimization and relevance, the searcher was getting what they wanted in a very local sense. Given the recent restriction of offline movement, one could ask how this has affected Local Search? It would be natural to assume that it has dramatically fallen or even evaporated. Yet that's not the case. As footfall has declined for most local retailers and other merchants, online visits and calls have grown. In other words, local search behaviour has shifted from generating driving directions to more website traffic and higher call volumes. At least that is what the data shows from a recent analysis done by the company Uberall locate in Berlin. In this episode, we explore what has happened to the "near me" experience and what it means for the future of Search.

Marketing practices are adapting to the corona crisis in both the B2B and B2C sectors. E-commerce is surging among SMBs, while business models are changing. Demands are shifting in online product orders. High-demand for new products and services in a world where everyone is shopping online creates new competition and makes channels such as affiliate marketing a logical choice. In this episode we take a look at the affiliate marketing channel, how it works and why it can be a reliable marketing channel for not only brands but the local B2C businesses as they change their product portfolios. We examine the B2B sector as trade fairs, and other B2B channels are not possible at this time, we explore how affiliate marketing can bring new opportunities. Listen now, as we speak with one of the original entrepreneurs in the area of affiliate marketing and learn how it started and how it works today.

Sales Operations have shifted. You can no longer look you customer in the eye, so what do you do? In this episode we discuss how businesses are transforming their sales operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic, what we can learn from how remote sales have been done to date. We discover the best practices that are going on and what type of training is needed for salespeople who may be transitioning from field sales to telesales or inside sales. We explore the challenges of how this can be done effectively from home, even with children and pets underfoot and what tools can support the system. We also discuss and what the future of sales might look like after the pandemic, during which certain trends will likely be accelerated.

Start ups are generally known for their agility and quick response, while large organizations are rarely so flexible. Large organizations often resist disseminating plans until they are completely sure, and then they are reluctant to change for fear of creating confusion both within the organization and with customers. But now large organizations are being forced to learn from smaller and medium size organizations as we all fight to keep our heads above water in this unexpected crisis. Time-strapped, and under tremendous pressure we are forced to re-evaluate practices, and we are witnessing great creativity from the agile companies. Quick to respond, they are showing ups some best practices that we can learn from. In this episode we speak with the we its Chief Commercial Officer of a medium size European Company, that was first out the gate with many best practices that are now being adapted by many.

Keeping calm and thinking both strategically and operationally can be challenging when a crisis occurs, and that's what we are in. Facing a massive number of customer requests and questions, some of them desperate and some of them just inquisitive, can be challenging even in the best of times. We as leaders and companies must consistently provide transparent and accurate communication that maintains a trusting relationship with our customers, employees and other stakeholders. What kind of message should we communicate? How do we help our employees deal with customers and learn how to speak with them differently because different times need different approaches? In this episode we discuss what the message should be both internally and externally when speaking with customers in this crisis. We speak with an executive who is doing his best to give support to customers and partners in this time of crisis.

The Importance of Storytelling cannot be underestimated. The world we live in today could not exist without the influence from past generations, the experiences from people across the globe and the experiences from those that surround us. As creatures of habit and tradition we instinctively hand down lessons and share knowledge. We crave communal knowledge, which very often comes from the stories we share. It is one of the most traditional and human processes. Great stories often reflect the world we live in now, combined with the world we do not know or can only imagine. But the world we live in now has changed. Technology is helping us capture what we experience and share it faster than we ever shared before. Our ability to use technology to learn from others, share knowledge to give ourselves an insight into our own problems gives us an advantage that we did not have in the past and helps expand the art storytelling.

It is difficult enough to balance career, family, children and still have time for yourself, and then we suddenly find ourselves in a world health crisis and everything changes. We find ourselves "locked down" with family under foot, trying to build a rountine so that life can somehow go on. In this episode we speak with two female executives on how they are mannaging and organizing their family in these difficult times. We speak about everything from organizational best practices to how to explain to children what is going on in the world today and how to communicate with colleagues and manage a career from home.

Many of us saw the outbreak of SARS or EBOLA, but both of these pandemics were before we had a fully embraced world economy. Today we have a full global and connected economy, one that has spirited our growth but also brings with it certain risks because we are so globally connected. Now we are now living those risks. The pandemic is hitting the entire economy, and maybe the big guys will survive, with government help, but what about the local businesses? They are being hit the most. Local businesses depend on local foot traffic and many are not prepared to do business any other way. In this episode we explore how businesses can help themselves and the support agencies can give to them. With a spirted solidarity, we explore how we can support each other and what we can do for local businesses.

A recent Forbes article published research by the Carnegie Institute of Technology which indicated only 15% of financial success actually comes from knowledge or technical skills. The remaining 85% of success comes from the ability to effectively communicate and negotiate with others, and a lot has to do with body language and habits. We sometimes have habits and act in certain ways that we do not even recognise in ourselves, and these behaviours can have either a positive or a negative effect on the way others see us. It is also easier for us to recognize these certain behaviours in others than in ourselves. Have you ever had a colleague, boss, or co-worker where you said to yourself, "oh I hate when he or she does that" or "here we go again, I knew she/he would react that way". Well people could be reacting to you in the same way and you may not know it. This episode explores behaviours that are often recognizable and can impact our careers.