John Duisberg sits down with Scott McMichael, Managing Director of U.S. and Canada at Improving. Improving is a technology management and consulting firm that provides technology transformation, software product engineering, and systems engineering, as well as the coaching and training to support those services.

Scott and John talk about the importance of engaging team members in a variety of ways, why salary can’t be your only driver in keeping great people at your company, and why culture, retention, and engagement are the business.

More About Scott McMichael

Scott McMichael serves as Managing Director of US and Canada at Improving, supporting the executive leadership in the Atlanta, Dallas, and Houston enterprises, and including oversight of our strategic training service offerings, national partnerships, and our signature community marketing initiative, “CodeLaunch.” His primary focus is growing and positioning Improving for greater impact across North America and to change the perception of the IT profession. This includes business development, delivery excellence, plus attracting and growing technology professionals by creating a great work culture.

Prior to working with Improving, Scott held multiple leadership positions for consulting organizations – President and COO at Innovative Architects, which was acquired by Improving in 2018; VP of Operations & Delivery at American System Corporation / Thoughtmill. As an energetic technology leader, Scott is passionate about assembling dynamic teams that deliver innovative solutions on enterprise platforms. He is a Georgia native, having served the client and his community of North Metro Atlanta for his entire career. He serves on the Alpharetta Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, and is an active member of Conscious Capitalism’s Senior Leader Network. Scott is a graduate of Southern Polytechnic State University and resides in Milton, Georgia with his wife and four kids.

RESOURCES RELATED TO THIS EPISODE

• Visit https://improving.com/
• Follow Scott McMichael on LinkedIn

CREDITS

• Theme Music 🎵DPMusic from Pond5.com
• Produced by ChatWithLeadersMedia.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

John Duisberg sits down with Mike Gustafson, President of Search Discovery, the organization enabling clients to use data with purpose, resulting in clear and measurable improvements to revenue, operating costs, and customer experience. Search Discovery helps their colleagues, customers, partners, and the industry find what they need, all while teaching, encouraging, and enabling them to find something they didn’t know they needed.

Mike and John talk about the challenges of maintaining a people-first culture in a growing company, helping people feel connected in a remote workforce, and how cultivating culture is like a garden.

More about Mike Gustafson

Mike Gustafson is the President of Search Discovery, a data transformation company that believes great things happen when companies use their data and purpose to drive measurable business impact.

Over his nearly 9-year tenure with the business, Mike has grown in his leadership from VP of Operations to COO to his current role as President in which he's passionate about building an environment and culture where incredible work is being done to make a difference for their clients’ businesses.

Mike was previously a Partner at Rosetta where he most recently led the Technology Business Unit. In his thirteen-year tenure, Mike was responsible for a wide variety of roles including leading client engagements, designing and developing technology service offerings, managing the Paid, Owned, and Earned Media team, and leading people and culture efforts for the Cleveland Office.

Mike is actively engaged in his community where he has been a board member and volunteered for various organizations.

More about Search Discovery

Executives, marketers, and sales leaders understand that data is transformational to how they engage and serve their customers. That’s why global industry leaders and up-and-coming disruptors alike turn to Search Discovery. We enable clients to use data with purpose, resulting in clear and measurable improvements to revenue, operating costs, and customer experience.

Search Discovery helps companies use data to find answers to questions about their business and discover new insights and approaches to driving business impact. We help our colleagues, customers, partners, and the industry find what they need, all while teaching, encouraging, and enabling them to find something they didn’t know they needed.

RESOURCES RELATED TO THIS EPISODE

• Follow Mike Gustafson on LinkedIn
• Visit https://www.searchdiscovery.com/

CREDITS

• Theme Music 🎵DPMusic from Pond5.com
• Produced by ChatWithLeadersMedia.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In today’s episode, John Duisberg chats with Sangram Vajre. Sangram is a Partner at GTM Partners, the consulting firm making go-to-market simple for CEOs and revenue executives, as well as co-founder of Terminus, the account-based engagement platform helping companies build pipeline and revenue. He is recognized as a marketing strategy expert and one of the top B2B influencers in the world.

Sangram Vajre sits down with John to discuss creating a winning culture, empowering local leaders in a dispersed workforce, and putting the right people in the right roles for success.

RESOURCES RELATED TO THIS EPISODE

• Visit Terminus.com
• Follow Sangram Vajre on LinkedIn

CREDITS

• Theme Music 🎵DPMusic from Pond5.com
• Produced by ChatWithLeadersMedia.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Cass Gilmore, CEO of FluentStream, sits down with John Duisberg to share their story of driving 6x revenue growth through their acquisition program, shifting to a fully remote workforce during the pandemic, and how they’ve set their intentions on continuing to build and redefine a positive work culture that keeps their people connected.

More About FluentStreamFluentStream was recently named to the Inc. 5000 list for the fourth year in a row as one of America’s fastest-growing technology companies.

Its mission is to provide the best possible communications service and support for small businesses across the country. They accomplish that with a unified suite of cloud-based software that powers, manages, and improves live communications.

Founded in the artistic heart of downtown Denver, they’ve carried that spirit into their new fully-remote workplace. From coast to coast, Streamers enjoy a creative, community-focused environment where hard work is actually fun!

More About Cass Gilmore

Cass Gilmore is Chief Executive Officer at FluentStream, responsible for the company’s performance, strategy, and operations. Since joining FluentStream in 2018, Cass founded the company’s Strategic Partner (acquisition) program and has helped drive over 6x revenue growth. Cass was previously a Principal at growth equity firm, ABS Capital, where he drove investments and key growth initiatives for software companies with $10 to $100+ million in revenues, including  INTTRA, Izotope, Accurate Group, and Rosetta Stone. Earlier in his career, Cass worked in product management at Zuora and technology investment banking at GCA Global. Cass earned his BS from UC Berkeley and MBA from Harvard Business School.

RESOURCES RELATED TO THIS EPISODE

• Visit FluentStream.com
• Follow Cass Gilmore on LinkedIn
• Follow FluentStream on Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | YouTube 

 

CREDITS

• Theme Music 🎵DPMusic from Pond5.com
• Produced by ChatWithLeadersMedia.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In today’s episode, John sits down with Nigel Zelcer, Co-Founder & Managing Partner at Jabian Consulting,  to learn how the firm persevered through the pandemic era with no layoffs and maintained and world-class culture as a Conscious Capitalist organization.

More about Nigel Zelcer

Nigel Zelcer co-founded Jabian Consulting in 2006 with the vision of creating a company that could provide amazing client service, a place for employees to pursue their passions, and a commitment to be an integrated partner in the communities it serves. This is accomplished partly by Jabian’s unique no-travel consulting model, allowing employees the best opportunity to become ingrained in their communities and have more time for their passions and client relationships. Through his leadership, Jabian has grown into one of the most respected management consulting firms in the country and has consistently been recognized as a best place to work and a charitable community leader.

Nigel has held numerous leadership positions within the Atlanta community and is currently on the Board of Directors for the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG). As an active member of TAG, Nigel leads Board Development and is a member of the Executive and Strategy committees. Outside of the technology community, Nigel is an active fundraiser with the Winship Cancer Institute, a founding member of the Atlanta chapter of Conscious Capitalism, and supports Jabian’s employee-led 501(c)3, Jabian Cares, through matching donations.

Nigel and his wife, Randi, reside in Atlanta, GA

RESOURCES RELATED TO THIS EPISODE

• Visit Jabian.com
• Subscribe to The Jabian Journal, an award-winning business publication that covers topics related to strategy, customers, product, people, and operations.
• Follow Nigel at Linkedin.com/in/nigelzelcer

CREDITS

• Theme Music 🎵DPMusic from Pond5.com
• Produced by ChatWithLeadersMedia.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In today’s episode, John Duisberg sits down with the Chief People Officer of Greenhouse Software to talk about how their commitments to diversity, equity, inclusion, and allyship are creating a greater sense of belonging across their distributed, global workforce and serving as a driving force for growth.

More About Donald
Greenhouse Software, is the hiring software company on a mission to help every company become great at hiring.  As their Chief People Officer, Donald Knight leads with a people-first mentality hoping to unlock the potential of Greenhouse talent globally. With a laser focus on the connection between people and the processes that serve them, Donald and his team create proximity by building bridges focusing on enhanced experiences that nurture culture and develop people.

In his role leading the People team, Donald works to help Greenhouse create an environment for people to do the best work of their lives. He is responsible for providing global strategy and leadership in developing, overseeing, and administering people programs. With expansion top of mind, the team delivers a scalable people strategy that enables the organization to expand globally. Before Greenhouse, Donald served as Senior Vice President of Global Talent for Edelman. He helped shape the HR brand as a proactive, insightful, and collaborative solution provider in this role. Donald has held numerous senior leadership roles for Southern Company Gas, a subsidiary of Southern Company (NYSE: SO), and the Defense Commissary Agency. 

A native of Virginia, Donald holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Virginia Commonwealth University and a master’s degree in human resource management from the University of Richmond. Donald is also a graduate of the project leadership program at the engineering school of Cornell University for business executives. He and his family reside in the Greater Atlanta area.

RESOURCES RELATED TO THIS EPISODE

• Visit Greenhouse.io
• Follow Donald at https://www.linkedin.com/in/donaldknight2/ 

CREDITS

• Theme Music 🎵DPMusic from Pond5.com
• Produced by ChatWithLeadersMedia.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In today’s episode, John Duisberg chats with Christy Walsh, COO of the Georgia-based law firm Drew Eckl & Farnham with 250+ total employees, 120+ attorneys, and 4 offices across their state.

You’ll hear how their firm was impacted by a sudden shift to remote working, the investments they’re making to preserve their values around teamwork and employee engagement, and the ways they’re competing to win top talent over larger law firms in a highly competitive space.

More about Christy Walsh

As Chief Operating Officer for Drew Eckl & Farnham, Christy Walsh is responsible for analyzing the core business functions for the firm and aligning the law firm’s people and processes with its strategy. This includes overseeing the firm's growth, elevating the internal culture of the firm, and reviewing existing processes to identify areas for improvement.  She has 20 years of experience as a business professional in a variety of industries including hospitality and construction and started working in the legal industry almost 15 years ago. Christy takes pride in her ability to analyze and provide solutions to complex problems and has applied that ability to her current role as COO.

RESOURCES RELATED TO THIS EPISODE

• Visit https://www.deflaw.com/
• Follow DEF at https://www.linkedin.com/company/drew-eckl-&-farnham/
• Follow Christy at https://www.linkedin.com/in/christybwalsh/ 

CREDITS

• Theme Music 🎵DPMusic from Pond5.com
• Produced by ChatWithLeadersMedia.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mike Nolte serves as the CEO of Uprise Health, a leader in Digital Mental Health technology and services for employers. He’s a veteran industry leader in healthcare software and services, with a 30-year career spanning marketing, product, and business leadership across several healthcare industry segments.

John Duisberg sits down with Mike to help us learn more about…

• how employee assistance programs (aka EAP) traditionally have worked and how Uprise Health has leveraged innovative technology to make it better to meet the rising concerns around mental health in the workplace
• the way in which Uprise Health has grown its distributed team through the pandemic and built its culture around a purposeful engagement and a unified purpose
• and some fundamental lessons learned that will equip us to be better leaders that communicate with clarity and motivate our team members around their unique passions and a central mission as a force multiplier

RESOURCES RELATED TO THIS EPISODE

• Visit uprisehealth.com
• Follow Mike at https://www.linkedin.com/in/consumerexperience/ 

CREDITS

• Theme Music 🎵DPMusic from Pond5.com
• Produced by ChatWithLeadersMedia.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In today’s episode, John Duisberg sits down with René Henderson, EVP of Operations & Business Development at American Auto Shield to unpack their rapid growth of nearly 500 new positions added over the past 5 years across 11 states as well as their transformational journey of focusing more intentionally on employee engagement amid the impacts felt around The Great Resignation.

You’ll learn about the significant challenges they’ve been overcoming with employee retention and the impetus of AAS hiring a full-time leader, solely dedicated to employee engagement and a huge investment in creating a great place to work where employees are highly valued and given the intentional support to grow in their careers.

RESOURCES RELATED TO THIS EPISODE

• Visit https://americanautoshield.com/
• Follow René Henderson at https://www.linkedin.com/in/rene-henderson-cpcu-b3718a24/ 
• Follow American Auto Shield on Social Media
• https://www.linkedin.com/company/american-auto-shield-llc/
• https://www.facebook.com/AmericanAutoShield
• https://twitter.com/aasllc 

CREDITS

• Theme Music 🎵DPMusic from Pond5.com
• Produced by ChatWithLeadersMedia.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In today’s episode, John Duisberg sits down with Mark Gannon, Executive Vice President of Talent Management and Recruiting Services at TekStream Solutions. Mark helped start TekStream in 2011 to combine recruiting and talent management … with consulting services expertise in AWS, Splunk and Oracle technologies.

They call Atlanta “home base” and have offices in Washington, D.C. and Canada. TekStream has made the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in America seven years in a row and boasts a 97% Customer Retention Rate. 

Mark shares thoughts on being competitive during “The Great Resignation”,  how, at TekStream, culture extends beyond individual employees, and more.

RESOURCES RELATED TO THIS EPISODE

• Learn more about TekStream at https://www.tekstream.com/recruiting-solutions-3/our-management-team/ 
• Follow Mark on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/gannonmark/ 

CREDITS

• Theme Music 🎵DPMusic from Pond5.com
• Produced by ChatWithLeadersMedia.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.