The Game Changer Network

One woman's incredible journey to survive foster care and discover her true identity. This is a complex, intriguing story filled with twists and turns as Liz unravels her complicated past. Part memoir, part guidebook, this book offers support and resources for agencies, foster youth and foster parents.

This candid interview with Liz Sutherland is done in partnership with NowSCPress. It is a part of our Game Changing Legacy series.

Liz Sutherland grew up with no identity.

She has no memory of the first few years of her life, outside of being dropped off at a stranger's house when she was a child. Liz and her siblings lived in an abusive home with a woman they were told was their grandmother, until Liz gathered the courage to call social services and rescue herself and her siblings.

Thrust into the foster care system, she learned to survive but never gave up hope that she might someday be reunited with her brother and sister and discover the truth about her identity.

Demonstrating remarkable resilience, she graduated from Western Carolina University with degrees in Computer Information Systems & Criminal Justice. She now works in Tampa and has her own blog, talking about her search for her family. She was featured in the book Growing Up In The Care of Strangers and is the author of No Ordinary Liz, a book chronicling her incredible life story. She is a frequent speaker for organizations such as the Women of Compassion Forum, 4Kids, and the Junior League of Tampa Bay.

In this thoughtful and inspiring portrait of a man devoted to serving others, Marti shares how she lost her way when she left her mentor’s side — and how the ageless wisdom of his spiritual and professional teachings gave her a second chance to maneuver the busyness of life.

In returning to his guidance on how to live after her life imploded from a cardiac virus, she walks a path of self discovery that brings healing. Walking this path with Marti and her mentor will infuse your life with new meaning…and very well may forever change how you live.

An emotionally rich recount of Judge Rosenn’s unique philosophy, Walking with Justice is a spiritually nourishing testament to living intentionally.

Mollie Marti is a wife, mom, resilience researcher, educator, psychologist, lawyer, author, and speaker passionate about living full out and sharing the journey in community with others.

Join her for weekly musings on this grand experiment at www.DrMollie.com

To read more about Dr. Mollie go to http://www.walkingwithjustice.com/author/

Robert Sher-Mighty Midsized Companies: How Leaders Overcome 7 Silent Growth Killers Because business consultants focus on big companies that can afford big consulting fees, and because the problems of the Fortune 500 are very different than those of midsized businesses, there have been very few books that provide relevant growth advice for midsized company leaders, or can point out where the growth-killing potholes hide. But not anymore. Robert Sher focuses exclusively on midsized companies. His new book Mighty Midsized Companies: How Leaders Overcome 7 Silent Growth Killers gives readers the inside story on many highly-successful midsized companies and describes the critical factors that have powered their success. Forbes.com columnist, author and CEO coach Robert Sher delivers keynotes and workshops, including combining content with facilitation of peer discussions on business topics. Robert Sher is founding principal of CEO to CEO, a consulting firm of former chief executives that improves the leadership infrastructure of midsized companies seeking to accelerate their performance.

BEST OF THE GAME CHANGER

Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist

Get the inside scoop on what venture capitalists want to see in your startup.

Venture Deals provides entrepreneurs and startup owners with a definitive reference for understanding venture capital funding. More than an overview of the process, this book delves into the details of the term sheet, the players, the negotiations, the legalities, and more, including what not to do. This new third edition has been updated to reflect the new realities of today’s intricate startup environment: you’ll learn how the decisions are made, what every item on the term sheet means, what’s up for negotiation, and what’s not. You’ll discover the secrets to expanding your prospects, negotiating the right deal for your company, and figuring out the right balance of funding versus control.

You’ll see the process through the eyes of the venture capitalist, the angel investor, the syndicate, and the lawyer, and develop a strategy that makes funding your company a win for all parties involved.

Brad Feld has been an early stage investor and entrepreneur since 1987. Prior to co-founding Foundry Group, he co-founded Mobius Venture Capital and, prior to that, founded Intensity Ventures. Brad is also a co-founder of Techstars.

Pedro Ceron is a travel industry veteran and is joined by Game Changer host Chicke Fitzgerald. The two are the co-founders of the Tampa Bay chapter of Travel Massive. Between them they have nearly 50 years in the travel industry, primarily in the tech side of things.

This show is the introduction to the pair's view on what is possible if the members of the travel, events and arts communities come together in Tampa, St. Pete, Clearwater and surrounding areas to change the game for the area.

To join, go to https://travelmassive.com/chapters/tampa-bay

Remarkable Things Happen When You Dare to Dream

Whitney Johnson, popular Harvard Business Review blogger, has a goal: to help us identify and achieve our dreams. Her belief is that we can each achieve greater happiness when focusing both on our dreams and on other people in our lives. In this inspiring book, Johnson directs her attention to teaching women, in particular, a three-step model for personal advancement and happiness. She first encourages us to DARE to boldly step out, to consider disrupting life as we know it. Then she teaches us how to DREAM, to give life to the many possibilities available, whether to start a business, run a marathon, or travel the world. She shows us how to "date" our dreams (no need to commit!) and how to make space for dreams. Finally, Whitney's model brings out the businesswoman in her; she teaches us to DO, to execute our dreams. She showcases the importance of sharing dreams with others to give them life, creating your own "dream team." Rich with real stories of women who have dared to dream, DARE, DREAM, DO offers a practical framework to realize one's true potential.

In her mid-twenties, Whitney found herself in New York, where she landed a secretarial job on Wall Street. With no relevant experience, and a bit shy on confidence, she contemplated her future and her dreams. Through determination and hard work, Whitney became an investment banker, moving to the analyst side of the business, executing the plans she'd laid out for herself. Naively, she thought most women were following similar paths until she started talking and found that many women were not daring to dream at all. It was because of these conversations that she started a blog in 2006, which became the inspiration for this book. DARE, DREAM, DO is full of remarkable stories of women, which will no doubt inspire others to follow suit. Although Whitney focuses on the stories of women, her blog is popular with men as well, and her advice speaks to either gender.

Master Relentless Change and Speed Up Your Learning Curve

Startups, growth-stage companies, and private equity–backed companies all have one thing in common: They need high-growth individuals to execute high-growth plans. As a leader trying to achieve ambitious organizational goals, you need people who can do more than just keep up; you need people who can set the pace. You need high-growth individuals.

Disrupt Yourself helps high-growth individuals--and those trying to attain this status--learn the tools and frameworks necessary to make changes that matter. This book helps you understand how these frameworks of disruptive innovation can apply to your particular path, whether you are:

A self-starter ready to make a disruptive pivot in your business

A high-potential individual charting your career trajectory

A manager looking to instill innovative thinking within your team

A leader facing industry changes that make for an uncertain future

Whitney Johnson used the theory of disruptive innovation to invest in publicly traded stocks and early-stage private companies, and now she applies the framework to the personal and professional growth of individuals. We are living in an era of accelerating disruption, and no one is immune. Johnson makes the compelling case that managing the S-curve waves of learning and mastery is a requisite skill for the future. If you want to be successful in unexpected ways and achieve your wildest goals, follow your own disruptive path. Dare to innovate. Do something astonishing. Disrupt yourself.

How We Built a Workplace People Love

The moment you walk into Menlo Innovations, you can sense the atmosphere full of energy, playfulness, enthusiasm, and maybe even . . . joy. As a package-delivery person once remarked, “I don’t know what you do, but whatever it is, I want to work here.”

Every year, thousands of visitors come from around the world to visit Menlo Innovations, a small software company in Ann Arbor, Michigan. They make the trek not to learn about technology but to witness a radically different approach to company culture.

CEO and “Chief Storyteller” Rich Sheridan removed the fear and ambiguity that typically make a workplace miserable. His own experience in the software industry taught him that, for many, work was marked by long hours and mismanaged projects with low-quality results. There had to be a better way.

With joy as the explicit goal, Sheridan and his team changed everything about how the company was run. They established a shared belief system that supports working in pairs and embraces making mistakes, all while fostering dignity for the team.

The results blew away all expectations. Menlo has won numerous growth awards and was named an Inc. magazine “audacious small company.” It has tripled its physical office three times and produced products that dominate markets for its clients.

Joy, Inc. offers an inside look at how Sheridan and Menlo created a joyful culture, and shows how any organization can follow their methods for a more passionate team and sustainable, profitable results. Sheridan also shows how to run smarter meetings and build cultural training into your hiring process.

Joy, Inc. offers an inspirational blueprint for readers in any field who want a committed, energizing atmosphere at work—leading to sustainable business results.

Defy Gravity by Rebel Brown

Original interview from 2010 with Chicke Fitzgerald

Defy Gravity is a guide to cutting through status quo corporate behaviors with practical, no-nonsense advice for avoiding crash and burn strategies. Defy Gravity blends conceptual fundamentals, real-world applications of those concepts, case studies, questions and exercises to help entrepreneurs and corporate executives alike power sustainable business growth.

Defy Gravity was recently named one of the Top 10 Books for Small Business

Using Great Service to Create Rabid Fans