Michigan Business Network

If you pull your team together for a meeting to discuss an important initiative, policy, or customer issue, do you ever feel like you haven’t made as big of an impact as you would like? After the next weekend, does it seem your employees may not have been in that same meeting? Attention spans these days seem to be shorter and shorter - as we’re constantly bombarded with distractions coming from texts, tweets, emails, on-line videos, and other sources. So as a leader, how do we stand out from all the noise and help our employees focus their attention on the most important work within our organization? When you speak to your team, your message needs to be simple and clear - no more than 1 or 2 items on the agenda. You need to make your presentation entertaining. And there are four key ways that our memories work, so if you tap into those, you give yourself the best chance of creating a memorable experience for those involved.

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As a media consultant, Ross Woodstock provides a variety of services to the firm’s numerous clients, including public relations consulting, business and marketing plan development, advertising placement and production, and media training.

In this interview Ross expresses gratitude for those leaders that took the risk and hired him in his early years. He has learned many valuable lessons and loves to point out, as a leader "Its not all about you, its about your team and getting their best performance in pursuit of the goals".

Ross has a lot to offer, grab a pen and get ready to take some notes!

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Amy Clickner, Chief Executive Officer of the Lake Superior Community Partnership in Marquette, MI talks with Chris Holman on the Michigan Business Network. She updates MBN on how the second half of 2018 has gone in the Upper Peninsula, the recent election might change somethings, a periodic, and the December 7th Michigan Economic Forecast stop.

The Michigan Economic Forecast Series is an annual occurrence for the Michigan Business Network. The series covers six stops across the state of Michigan and each including a panel of industry experts who discuss the region’s economic, business, international business, tourism, year in review and look ahead.

One highlight of the series is the results of the most recent Michigan Future Business Index Survey. Since 2006, the Michigan Business Network, the Accident Fund Insurance Company of America and Paul King owner of ROI Insight have been surveying business leaders and analyzing and reporting trends in the state’s small to mid-sized business economy.

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Shari Montgomery, Founder/CEO of House of Promise has been chosen by LAFCU for being a Most Valuable Partner of the month.

The House of Promise was founded by Shari Montgomery, former owner of the Pollack Glass Company. From her vision Shari developed a plan to help survivors of human sex trafficking, into a team aimed at raising awareness about human sex trafficking, and restoring the quality of life for young women and girls leaving the system. Starting out as just an idea, we are now an established nonprofit engaged in community outreach and engagement. Our success is propelled largely by the kind individuals and organizations who have chosen to help in our fight against human sex trafficking.

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Shelley Davis Boyd, Corporate Marketing Strategist of LAFCU joins the Michigan Business Network to discuss how LAFCU is supporting resource vitality and economic success. In this interview she stresses that individual financial success contributes to the community success. LAFCU's mission is to provide capacity building products and services to the unbanked and underserved in the communities we serve to help them obtain personal financial security through a four-pillared approach

of loans, savings, education, and benefits of membership.

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Jeremy Sampson, Vice President/GM and Nick Grueser, President Lansing Ignite join Chris Holman to talk about the business behind Lansing’s new professional Soccer team.

Lansing Ignite is Michigan’s only professional soccer team and founding member of USL League, and will kick off in the spring of 2019. Being first involves risk and team Ignite president Nick Grueser is confident, “Soccer is the fasting growing sport in America” Grueser notes, “It’s a very sport passionate fan base, and every new venture’s risky.” Lansing Ignite will play around 17 games this coming season at Cooley Law School Stadium, transforming the baseball diamond into a soccer pitch (field).

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Chris Holman welcomes Scott Norman Vice President of Business Development at Physicians Health Plan on the Michigan Business Network. Sparrow PHP’s open enrollment period for individuals and small business owners is open and now is the time for people to shop and

select their plans for 2019. Individuals selecting coverage options in the 2019 should see mild premium increases and that the average increase for most health plans has been very low single digit increases with some plans actually decreasing in costs. It is still important to shop and review options and that coverages change from year to year due to federal regulations so to make sure you know what your coverage is now so you can make decisions about what you’d like to purchase in 2019.

Helpful tips for individuals or small business owners.

• Shop early: This is very busy time of year with the individual open enrollment period and about 60% of employers renewing coverage. Don’t wait till the last minute – health plans get very busy and you don’t want to miss a deadline or feel rushed to make a decision. The open enrollment period ends Dec 15th which is only a few short weeks ahead.

• Do your homework: The best thing to do is talk with a local independent agent – they can help you shop, explain different coverage options and help you make an informed decision. They can also help you make sure your doctor participates with a health plan you may be considering. It doesn’t cost you any more to use an agent and they can be big help.

• Price isn’t the only thing: A lot of plans offer unique benefits and options that goes beyond the price. In 2019, all of the PHP individual and small group plans offer a low $5 copay of telehealth services and we added an new wellness application to help people manage their health. Great convenient options that don’t always show up when your shopping for premium.

• Service matters: The last thing to consider is the service you get from your health plan.

Sparrow PHP has been the top rated plan in Michigan for a number of years and we make sure we take a personal approach to providing each of our members with the service they expect.

So…shop early, use a local agent or, if your in the Mid-Michigan area, contact PHP direct at 517-364-8484

Cinnaire has recently been recognized by the Lansing Regional Chamber Economic Club as one of 4 companies that have had exceptional growth. President & CEO of Cinnaire Mark McDaniel joins Chris Holman to talk about Cinnaire's success in 2018 along with a period update.

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November is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month and MBN’s Chris Holman welcomes Dr. Richard Sarle., M.D., Urologist, SMG Urology, Sparrow Health System to talk about the key things we need to know and about prostate cancer.

Sparrow Health System has identified a growing need for urological care in mid-Michigan. In the U.S., some 15,000 people turn 65 every day, and they have numerous urology problems. One of the ways Sparrow is addressing this need was the development of a new Sparrow Practice, Sparrow Medical Group Urology.

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Edge and Publicom have joined forces to create an agency unlike any others in the market, representing more than 50 years of experience in results-driven marketing, public relations, design and digital strategy. The agency will operate under the name of Edge Publicom with offices located in downtown Lansing at 117 E. Kalamazoo St.