Masters Decoded

In today's episode, I had the pleasure to invite Brandon  Rhoten. Rhoten is a marketer who loves building iconic brands, often through modernizing for the digital age. Currently a primary change agent for Potbelly, a publicly-traded sandwich shop with nearly 500 locations and ~$450m in revenue that's been in need of a turn-around for a few years.

Formerly  VP in charge of Advertising, Media, Digital, and Social Media at Wendy's. Developed the holistic marketing strategy for Wendy’s, shifting focus from older and deal-driven to younger, equity-driven with an emphasis on social media and digital marketing. Developed digital and social teams from scratch, including brand voice on social platforms, leading to a top brand position in social media. Responsible for all marketing assets, media, and digital marketing.

The  work Rhoten has lead has been lauded by Forbes, Spin, Fast Company, Ad Age, DigiDay, Wall Street Journal, and Ad Week and has won dozens of awards including Cannes Lions, Clio's, Effie's, One Show, Ad Week Watch, US Hispanic Idea Awards, and Facebook Studio  Awards. Featured speaker at SXSW, SocialMedia.org, the Mobile Marketing Association (where he was a board member), SM2, Ad Week, 4A's, ANA, and WOMMA. Named an AdAge Top Digital Marketer.

Rhoten started in advertising at Gyro, a decorated agency based in London with 15 offices worldwide, as a senior PR consultant and account director working with tech and manufacturing clients, and previous to this worked in media relations for Advantech and The Nederlander  Company.

Rhoten is a proud father of three, an avid outdoorsman, active in his church, and is happily married to his amazingly strong, cancer-surviving high school sweetheart, Lauren.

SP series are individual episodes where

The COVID-19 scenario has challenged the government, societies, organizations and all of us on our thinking. Digital Transformation as an agenda which was a long drawn plan for many has now become a reality in the last two months. Many organizations have struggled to embark on the journey due to many misconceptions or myths surrounding Digital Transformation. In this new special series, post my research I would cover

The intention is to enable organizations with an adequate proof point to executes to draw and embark on their plans.

Some of the references which I have leveraged are from Satya Nadella's book 'Hit Refresh', HBR, CIO.com Articles, and many more.

If you like the special series, then do share your feedback and opinions on what else you would like me to cover in the special series.

In this episode, I invited my good friend Jagdeep Singh Bhatia (JD) for a conversation to decode his career. JD is currently a founder and managing director for Zener Maritime Solutions. From a humble beginning, JD and his family have built Zener to be a truly global company from offices in India, China, Netherlands, Singapore, and the United States of America. JD, in his initial years, has personally rolled up his sleeves to learn and lead the way for his company to be a global giant. JD's leadership and approach to global business are pretty unique. I would welcome each one of you to listen and get dazzled with his journey. 

SP series are individual episodes where:

The COVID-19 scenario has challenged the government, societies, organizations and all of us on our thinking. Digital Transformation as an agenda which was a long drawn plan for many has now become a reality in the last two months. Many organizations have struggled to embark on the journey due to many misconceptions or myths surrounding Digital Transformation. In this new special series, post my research I would like to debunk the twenty myths which I have come across. The intention is to enable organizations with an adequate proof point to executes to draw and embark on their plans. 

Some of the references which I have leveraged are from: Satya Nadella's book 'Hit Refresh', HBR, CIO.com Articles and many more. 

If you like the special series, then do share your feedback and opinions on what else you would like me to cover in the special series.

Website - www.aneesmerchant.com

Chao.

Anees Merchant

Chief Decoder

Masters Decoded

www.aneesmerchant.com

In this episode, I invited Sameer Dhanrajani for a conversation to decode his move from a corporate job to being a CEO. Sameer is currently the CEO of AIQRate and also has started a non-profit EdTech organization 3AI. In his 23 years of work experience, he has set up Global Innovation and Analytics centers for some of the largest companies.  Sameer has authored a book in 2018 - AI AND ANALYTICS – ACCELERATING BUSINESS DECISIONS. He also has led an initiative along with Wiley to bring together authors for two consecutive years to publish a "Black Book of Exponential Technologies".

Sameer has been invited to speak at multiple conferences and his content is published across various platforms. 

In this episode, I had a pleasure to connect and have a conversation with Greg Shepard is a Serial Entrepreneur, Author, Speaker, and Angel Venture Capital Investor with a legacy of building and running sustainable growth businesses. Driven by a transformational leadership style, Greg has spearheaded multiple company exits throughout his career. His former company, AffiliateTraction, was acquired by eBay Enterprise Marketing Solutions in January 2016 as a part of a cross-brand deal totaling $985M.

Greg's website - https://www.gregoryshepard.com

The Boss Framework - https://www.gregoryshepard.com/about-boss

In this episode, I interviewed Ashish Braganza to decode his career journey. Ashish is currently an Executive Vice President at LPL Financial leading the Data, Analytics & Innovation. In his stellar career of 15 years, he has had an opportunity to work and lead Analytics and AI functions at Comcast, Lenovo, and Oppenheimer.  Ashish has been invited by many industry bodies to speak and share his perspective on AI and the influence of technology at the workplace. He has been awarded by Adobe as a Marketer of the Month in 2013. Ashish has completed his Master's from Temple University (Philadelphia).

I have personally known Ashish for the last 15 years from his first job and seen him evolve in his professional career. I had fun in this conversation and I am sure you would gain a lot from it too.

SP series are individual episodes where

In the fourth special episode, I continue from last week's episode of Working from Home. My research has evolved, and from sixteen tips and hacks, it has increased to twenty. I share with you the remaining twelve this week and hope that we come out of the confinement of our homes to back to normal. Or is this the 'New Normal'

Some of the references which I have leveraged are from:

Pat Flynn Youtube video on working from home HBR articles Various LinkedIn posts

If you like the special series, then do share your feedback and opinions on what else you would like me to cover in the special series.

Website - www.aneesmerchant.com

Chao.

Anees Merchant

Chief Decoder

Masters Decoded

www.aneesmerchant.com

In this episode, I invited Steve Hamilton Clark to decode his career journey. Steve is one of the rare individuals who has combined CEO + Coaching expertise that provides him with the unique ability to empathize with many challenges. Provide his clients with practical, proven-in-field coaching expertise to take their leadership to where they want it to be, and staying future-fit as a leader.

He is genuinely embracing technology to coach his customers around the world from Canada, the United States of America, Egypt, England, Greece, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, and Bangladesh. I have personally had a privilege to get on a coaching journey under Steve, and in a word, my experience was ‘Life-Changing.’

In this conversation, I have personally gained a lot of listening to Steve on his life experiences. Tune in and get enthralled with this conversation.

SP series are individual episodes where

I either get interviewed or Focus on topics which are requested by my listeners or Just have fun covering areas which are interesting to me personally

In the third special episode, I have included a problem that is personal to me on "Working from Home." All working professionals globally are compelled to work from home due to the current Pandemic of COVID-19. Working from home for a few days in a year or a week, maybe a regular affair for many hours in the proper period. However, the current scenario is challenging on many fronts, and it brings in its own set of challenges. I had to do my research from various web resources and post that I tried many of them. Post two weeks of trial and error,  I have come up with sixteen tips and hacks. I would cover these in two-part series and glad to announce the first of the two-part. 

Now with a side note, I may add more next week if I come across some other good ones too. So keep a watch and do share if you have as a reference.

Some of the references which I have leveraged are from:

If you like the special series, then do share your feedback and opinions on what else you would like me to cover in the special series. 

Website - www.aneesmerchant.com

Chao. 

Anees Merchant

Chief Decoder

Masters Decoded

www.aneesmerchant.com