Leadership Beyond Borders

People very often compare success in sports to success in business and management. This is because we can learn a lot from how athletes train and focus. When you look at high performers across all fields, whether it is a CEO or a Super Bowl quarterback these people do tend to have some common professional characteristics, personality traits, habits, lifestyles, and verbiage. But what we do not see is the mental and physical struggle that goes on and teaches high performers the disciplines that make them succeed. This is the work that goes on behind the scenes and is often a little more transparent in high performing athletes when they're tired, injured, underperform and then recover, improve, and win. Because it is more transparent in sports, than in the Board room, you can really see the traits that make successful athletes perform and learn from them. This episode looks at what managers can learn from sports in an interview with a top athlete

It used to be the only way to recognize a good leader was through their executive abilities or management qualities. When developing leaders, if something was lacking, then we would send that leader into leadership training. Today neuroscience has entered the world of leadership training. Today we are looking at the brain and its relation to leadership behaviors. The brain is very much a social organ and the impact of different types of tasks on the brain can result in different behaviors that may impact productivity, thoughts and emotions. As leadership styles change from the old fashion command and control leadership model, with its focus on process, targets and top-down directives, the brain is becoming more important because of its emphasis on interconnectivity and sustainability. In this episode, we to talk to a brain researcher and scientist who is an expert on learning and development. We talk about how we can improve our brains and be better leaders.

In this episode, we have turned the table on Kimberli J. Lewis as she is interviewed by professional writer and editor, Thornton Sully, Editor-in-Chief at A Word with You Press. Thorn talks to Kimberli about her thoughts on diversity, gender roles, life's importance and many other subjects that are both about business and some that are very personal in nature. It is a fun episode that helps you get to know the host of Leadership Beyond Borders, at a very different level while making the listener reflect on their own thoughts and opinions.

Today is the first time we are working with four generations in the same workforce and by 2020 we will have five. We as leaders must address generational differences and most recently the hot topic was “how to manage millennials in the workforce”, but this topic is now obsolete. As the next generation begins to enter the workforce, everything will change. From a traditional view the new Generation Z was born between the mid-1990s to early 2000s. They are now entering the workforce, but their behaviors are stemming from forces that influence all of us, not just their age group. These forces are breaking down the traditional generational barriers propelling all of us into Generation Z. Generation Z is no longer about age, it is about behaviors. As leaders we have to understand the forces that are changing this traditional generational view, and if we want to keep pace with business and competition we need to become part of Generation Z. This episode looks at the Gen Z effect

The advertising and media industries have always fascinated us. As far back as 1961, Rock Hudson, Doris Day and Tony Randall teamed up in a comedy called Lover Come Back. It was about a cocky advertising exec who inadvertently pitches a campaign for a product that doesn't exist. This movie gave us some surprising insights into the creativity that goes into advertising campaigns, and the behaviors they drive. But the advertising and media industry has changed since 1961, and so have the consumers. The one thing that does remain is that creativity is still at the heart and soul of these industries. But how important is creativity today with the overload of stimulus we receive as consumers? Does it take the unusual or the personal aspect that gets our attention? At the same time, changes in technology have these industries heading in new directions that are hard to keep up with. In this episode, we talk to an expert who understands the dynamics behind advertising and media.

Technology start-ups are like mushrooms in the forest, and unfortunately, 90 percentage of them fail but from the ones that succeed we can learn valuable business lessons. And the lessons that can be learned are not only for other technology companies but also for small and medium businesses. There are 125 million formal micro, small and midsize businesses in the world, including 89 million in emerging markets and they are just as important to the economy as technology start-ups. When you take a successful technology start-up that actually helps businesses succeed you have a win-win combination. This episode talks with a technology start-up that has been successful by finding the right products and the most exciting aspect of this company is their products help SME/SMB s succeed by helping them be found by their customers.

Gone are the days when executives are just executives and managers are only managers. Leaders are encouraged, even expected, to develop themselves and to more effectively manage their teams and companies. Workers today put in 50 or more hours per week in their job. Managers and executives tend to make about 400 million business trips in a year resulting in the fact that our lives are consumed by our jobs. In todays fiercely competitive business world we are working longer hours, more than many years ago and we are expected to do more with ever fewer support networks. On top of all this, we encounter endless business issues… making it difficult to keep the focus on the strategic direction of the organization, the management of every individual employee and our own careers. Sometimes we just need support. Coaches today are no longer performance correctors, but performance enhancers. In this episode, we talk about why coaching is essential and what it can do for you and your career.

The numerous articles and blogs we read about data and technological inductions show that we are still in a transition and adjustment phase when it comes to the tools we use to search, and one of those tools that is rapidly emerging is voice search. So, are we ready for this? As users we are slowly migrating to voice search while most small and medium businesses are still struggling to optimize their online presence and not even thinking about voice search. Studies show that enterprise companies and brands are also not optimized for voice search. The biggest question is what kind of impact will these new user search preferences have on businesses. Will businesses be able to ride the wave, or will they always be playing catch-up? This episode explores online user presences and how consumer behaviour is changing and the impact on how business are being found today in our new emerging economy of choice.

Fashion has always been an important part of how people define themselves and others. It's a powerful tool of influence. First impressions are very often formed because of fashion and we are more likely to trust and even obey orders from people dressed in styles which dictate control, such as uniforms or the power suit. It has to be one of the most influential industries with secure business practices that make us follow trends, follow people, and drive us to confident choices that then define who we are. It is an industry that has taken a functional product, and made into a reflection of style, wealth, desire, and expression. It is an industry that we can learn from. Regardless if it is market segmentation, branding or logistics the fashion industry gives us lessons that we can apply to almost every other industry. This episode explores not only what business lessons we can learn from the fashion industry but we also take a look at the up and coming trends.

A Supplier Gender Diversity program is a proactive business program which encourages the use of gender neutral supply chain selection and promotes women owned businesses.

This is important because women-owned business enterprises are among the fastest-growing segments in the world-wide economy.

But one of the most interesting observations about the status and progress of women business ownership is that it is not always correlated to the wealth and level of development of an economy, there is a lot more to it than that and many Africa Countries are leading the way, according to the MasterCard Index of Women Entrepreneurship.

But even with the growth in WOB, these businesses are having difficulty competing for corporate and government contracts and earning less than 1% of the money spent by these organizations worldwide.

This episode takes a look at what women owned businesses in Africa are doing to get their piece of the pie and give some tips to women owned businesses