Strategic Momentum

Dana Cavalea spent 12 years with the New York Yankees Organization, including many years as the Director of Strength and Conditioning and Performance Enhancement. He had the opportunity to train greats such as Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte, and Justin Verlander.

Today, Dana brings those same performance optimization techniques to business leaders, entrepreneurs, and pro athletes around the world. We discuss the challenges and struggles business leaders face today, the parallels that exist between sports and business, the common challenges problems Dana sees with his executive coaching clients, and the strategies you can apply to how you can optimize your own performance.

Learn more, and find the complete show notes, at flywheelassociates.com/podcast.

Resources:

• Learn more at DanaCavalea.com
• Connect with Dana: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube

Subscribe to the Strategic Momentum podcast:

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• On Stitcher Radio
• On Spotify

Strategic Momentum is produced by Podcast Masters

Recruiting the right talent can be a challenging process – and for leaders looking for their next opportunity, finding that perfect position for your particular talents isn’t easy either.

But whether you’re looking for a job or trying to hire someone, taking a strategic approach to your search can help you overcome the challenges to finding that perfect fit.

Our guest today, Dan Yu, is the Founder of FastBook Advisors, a new kind of talent agency that focuses on strategic consultation in sales and marketing, organizational structure and design, talent acquisition, and human capital management.

We discuss the biggest challenges faced by both hiring managers and job hunters, and how both can more effectively navigate their way through this process by having a clear a strategy. 

Learn more, and find the complete show notes, at flywheelassociates.com/podcast.

Resources:

• Learn more at fastbookadvisors.com
• Connect with Dan on LinkedIn

Subscribe to the Strategic Momentum podcast:

• On iTunes
• On the Google Play Store
• On Stitcher Radio
• On Spotify

Strategic Momentum is produced by Podcast Masters

WGN Morning News is the #1 morning news show in Chicago. As a station that has been around for 70 years, they have a unique brand that people trust – a brand that today’s guest, Executive Producer Aline Cox, strives to maintain.

It’s not necessarily easy separating opinion from fact to deliver real news today. It can be an ongoing challenge in retaining an audience because the battle for their time and attention is even more intense.

Today, Aline shares how the WGN Morning News team continues to evolve, every day, testing and learning to determine what makes good TV, while staying true to their brand.

Learn more, and find the complete show notes, at flywheelassociates.com/podcast/22.

Resources:

• Check out the WGN Morning News: wgntv.com/category/morning-news/
• Connect with Aline: acox [at] wgntv.com

Strategic Momentum is produced by Podcast Masters

Technology is giving consumers more options and power than ever before – and as a result, businesses need to stay on top of what they want, need and how they behave in order to create those experiences that align to their needs.

If you don’t, they’ll move on to another company that can keep up and offer something they DO want.

Stephanie Balderrama, President of Consumer Insights Group, has been on the forefront of understanding technology’s impact on consumer behavior since the early days of the internet. And she’s seen the need to evolve traditional research approaches to adapt to these rapidly changing behaviors.

She shares how businesses are still struggling with research today, especially large brands, and what your organization can do to get a better understanding of your customers, particularly in today’s agile environments.

Learn more, and find the complete show notes, at flywheelassociates.com/podcast.

Resources:

• Learn more about Consumer Insights Group at CIGresearch.com
• Connect with Stephanie on LinkedIn

Strategic Momentum is produced by Podcast Masters

What does it take to implement artificial intelligence to create business momentum? Steve Brown, Director of Einstein Analytics Specialists at Salesforce, says being agile is the key.

With experience in startups as well as F100 companies, Steve has been on the forefront of operationalizing new technologies to help build and grow businesses for much of his career. Now at Salesforce, he’s at the tip of spear of not only bringing their technology to market but also helping to socialize and evangelize the the benefits of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Learn more, and find the complete show notes, at flywheelassociates.com/podcast.

Resources:

• Learn more about Einstein Analytics at: https://www.salesforce.com/products/einstein-analytics/overview/
• Check out Einstein Trailhead: https://trailhead.salesforce.com/en/home
• Contact Steve at steve.brown(at)salesforce.com
• Connect with Steven on LinkedIn

Strategic Momentum is produced by Podcast Masters

Beth Freedman is the managing director of gyro:UK, a leading global B2B creative agency, and has spent her career working for some of the biggest agencies in the world, including Saatchi & Saatchi and Fallon.

Beth believes real business momentum happens when service-based businesses invest in the growth and development of their people. It’s the human part that agencies often forget.  She attributes her own upward mobility to those who nurtured her talents and bolstered her potential throughout her career. And as a result, it is an imperative that she is championing in her leadership role today.

Learn more, and find the complete show notes, at flywheelassociates.com/podcast/19

Resources:

• Connect with Beth at bethfreedman.com
• Check out www.gyro.com

Strategic Momentum is produced by Podcast Masters

In this interview, Dr. Zimbardo, a renowned social psychologist, gives us a look into the foundation and purpose of his latest initiative, The Heroic Imagination Project. The project explores everyday heroism and how to train “ordinary”people to be heroes, with the rallying cry: “Stand Up, Speak Out, Take Action Against Injustice.”

He takes the concept into the workforce and explains how anyone can be a “hero” at anytime if they have the mindset to challenge the evil around them (prejudice, harassment, inequality, thievery). “The idea is heroism really starts in the mind, in the imagination, and the first thing I did was I said we have to change the usual conception of a hero….Anyone can be a hero. It's not the person. It's the action.”

Learn more, and find the complete show notes, at flywheelassociates.com/podcast.

Note to listeners in the San Francisco area:

The Heroic Imagination Project is hosting a Hero Roundtable on Saturday, April 21 and Sunday, April 22 at the Marine Memorial Theater. It will be a gathering of “two dozen extraordinary heroes, everyday heroes, superheroes, people have done research on heroism, people have written comic books." For event information, visit www.heroroundtable.com/sf.

Resources:

• Learn more about The Heroic Imagination Project at www.heroicimagination.org
• Learn more about Dr. Zimbardo: zimbardo.socialpsychology.org
• Connect with Dr. Zimbardo on Twitter

Production & Development for Strategic Momentum by Podcast Masters

Joanie Rufo, Founder of Initiate Consulting, is a Certified Leadership Coach with nearly 25 years of experience helping leaders be more purposeful and effective. In that time, she’s found that the key to effectively leading others is, first, learning to effectively lead yourself – a concept she calls Leading Self.

Leaders are always under a spotlight – every action, every word, and every behavior is constantly being evaluated. As a result, leaders have to overcome the challenge of Leading Self before they can lead others; you have to understand your own patterns of behavior, what your triggers are, and other people's experience of you.

But for many leaders, this can be a dramatic mindset shift. There’s a lot on their plate, so time to reflect feels like a luxury they don’t have – but if you don’t make the time, you’ll probably never lead effectively.

In this episode, Joanie dives deeper into the challenges that prevent us from effectively leading ourselves and the solutions to help us breakthrough that inertia.

Learn more, and find the complete show notes, at flywheelassociates.com/podcast.

Resources:

• Learn more at InitiateConsulting.com
• Connect with Joanie: LinkedIn | Twitter

Production & Development for Strategic Momentum by Podcast Masters

In today’s world of shrinking attention spans and decentralized work forces, Scott DiGiammarino, CEO of MovieComm, believes that how you communicate your message makes all the difference in the world.

In the last episode, Scott shared his story of how he transformed one of the worst-performing offices at American Express into the best-performing office by applying a creative solution to motivate and engage a geographically distributed, expanding, and increasingly younger workforce.

A core component of Scott’s secret sauce was his use of movie clips to build a positive and productive work culture. This proven success at AMEX, coupled with a desire to impact not just thousands of people but millions and millions of people, is what drove him to ultimately start MovieComm, a technology company that helps leaders harness the power of Hollywood movie clips to communicate, engage, and inspire their organizations more effectively.

Today we explore the challenges that Scott faced when transitioning from leading a large organization to launching his solo venture, how he persevered to break through the business inertia, and how he identified the ideal audience, positioning, product experience, and pricing that led MovieComm to where he is today.

Resources:

• Check out MovieComm.com
• Connect with Scott on LinkedIn

Production & Development for Strategic Momentum by Podcast Masters

Scott DiGiammarino is the CEO of MovieComm, a technology company that helps leaders lead through the power of movie clips.

Prior to MovieComm, Scott was a senior executive at American Express. During his tenure, he turned around one of the worst performing offices and achieved the top ranked spot in a year, then held that spot for 20 years.

In this episode, we discuss the challenges Scott faced at American Express, how he grew the business significantly, and the creative solutions he implemented to motivate and engage a geographically distributed, expanding, and increasingly younger workforce.

Resources:

• Check out MovieComm.com
• Connect with Scott on LinkedIn

Production & Development for Strategic Momentum by Podcast Masters