Mike Carden chats with April Dunford, a leading expert on product positioning in the B2B tech industry. April shares her journey from aspiring doctor to becoming a renowned marketer and author of two seminal books, 'Obviously Awesome' and 'Sales Pitch'.

April dives into aspects of competitive positioning, the difference between positioning and messaging, and the strategic use of storytelling in sales. April also covers the importance of engaging internal teams in the positioning process and sheds light on the impact of trends like AI on market positioning.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/aprildunford/

https://www.aprildunford.com/

Key moments:

(00:00) Introduction and Guest Welcome

Mike chats to Rob Markey, the acclaimed co-author of 'The Ultimate Question', a key developer of the Net Promoter System (NPS) and "The Vince Lombardi of Customer Experience".

Discover insights into customer loyalty, the origins and evolution of NPS, and the pivotal role of simplicity and actionable feedback in transforming customer experience. Rob shares personal stories, his thoughts on common mistakes in customer feedback strategies, and his vision for the future of customer and employee experience in a tech-driven world.

(00:37) Introducing Rob Markey: The Vince Lombardi of Customer Loyalty

Vince Pizzica, a former executive at Technicolor, shares personal stories of navigating change and envisioning the future in the fast-evolving media landscape. Learn more about the inside history of Technicolor and its role in the industry, as well as the constant flux and disruption in the entertainment industry.

Discover how Vince's strategic thinking and innovative approaches helped navigate Technicolor through industry upheavals, and what he predicts for the intersection of AI, content creation, and audience engagement.

“Sometimes, transformation is as simple as understanding the technology disruptions that are going to occur, and anticipating how you can ride that curve.”

About Vince Pizzica:

Vince has 30 years of versatile senior leadership experience spanning corporate development, operations and technology. His background includes recent success in strategy consulting as well as C-suite roles at multibillion-euro global corporation, Technicolor SA (formerly Thomson SA).

Key moments:

(00:00) Introduction and Background

(01:20) Technicolor and the Media Industry

(05:14) Vince's Career Journey

(09:32) Transformation in the Media Industry

(11:30) Constant Flux in the Entertainment Industry

(17:47) Vision for the Future of Media

(20:07) Historical Perspective on Media Industry Decline

(22:17) Current Inflection Point in the Industry

(24:54) Monetizing Content in the Digital Age

(28:54) Impact of Actors' Strike on Content Production

(30:47) Changing Consumer Behavior in the Entertainment Industry

(32:37) The Role of AI in Content Production

(35:40) Likeness Licensing and the Impact of AI on Content

(38:38) Summary and Conclusion

Mike talks to Gary Hamel about reimagining organizations by unlocking frontline expertise, developing leaders at all levels, overcoming bureaucracy through new models, and harnessing collective insights in strategy and innovation.

Fortune magazine describes Gary as “the world’s leading expert on business strategy”. He is ranked by The Wall Street Journal as the world’s most influential business thinker and is a fellow of the World Economic Forum. He is on the faculty of the London Business School and the author of several books including Humanocracy.

In this episode Mike talks to Nate Edwards about his unexpected career path from English teacher to telecommunication industry EVP. They discuss how Nate’s background in the field - including time up a pole - has been pivotal in connecting with front-line workers and addressing their challenges with empathy. Nate also shares how his experience using Joyous at various companies to gather ideas has improved processes, made feedback more proactive and predictive, and helped front-line workers feel more valued.

About Nate Edwards

Nate is the EVP of Field Operations at Altice USA. He has over 20 years of experience in the telecommunications industry, holding roles in field operations, service delivery, enterprise customer support, and transformation.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nate-edwards-71018216/

Key moments

Alex Badenoch talks to Mike Carden about transforming Telstra through taking a holistic approach, disrupting the existing culture, and how empowering employees by removing obstacles drives large-scale, lasting change.

“The heart of the change is going to be the organisation, its people, its culture, its leadership. ”

Alex was most recently Group Executive – Transformation, Communication and People for Telstra. She led the company’s transformation strategy on behalf of the CEO and Board which involved developing the transformation roadmap, measures & metrics and the governance approach to ensure successful delivery over a multi-year program.

Kim Scott (Radical Candor) talks to Mike Carden about importance of being honest and direct with compassion, the challenges of communicating across privilege and bias, and the role of work in creating joy and meaning in life.

“Work and life are not in competition; work can add joy to life. Expressing our best selves in any situation, no matter the circumstances, is valuable.”

About Kim

Kim Scott is the author of Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity and Just Work: How To Root Out Bias, Prejudice, and Bullying to Create a Kick-Ass Culture of Inclusivity and co-founder of Radical Candor, a company that helps people put the ideas in her books into practice.

https://kimmalonescott.com/

https://twitter.com/kimballscott/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimm4/

Key moments

Amy Edmondson (Harvard Business School) talks to Mike Carden about the importance of psychological safety, the difference between failure that’s worth learning and failure that should be avoided, and the role of failure in innovation and progress.

“When we fail together, we’re disappointed together. So we roll up our sleeves and figure out what happens next, together.”

About Amy

Amy is a pioneer of Psychological Safety, and ranked #1 on the Thinkers50 ranking of the world’s most influential management thinkers. She is the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at the Harvard Business School, and the author of eight books including Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well.

https://amycedmondson.com/

https://twitter.com/AmyCEdmondson

https://www.linkedin.com/in/amycedmondson/

Key moments

Marcus Weldon (13th President of Bell Labs, ex-Nokia) talks to Mike Carden about the impact of generative AI, the opportunities and challenges of LLM, how AI will augment human productivity, not replace it - and the potential of AI to lead to a more equitable world.

“Generative AI is not a portent of doom, it’s the portent of equality and equanimity that the world has been waiting for.”

About Marcus

Former Corporate CTO of Alcatel-Lucent. 13th President of Bell Labs. Corporate Chief Technology Officer of Nokia. Global Telecoms Business Power 100 2014. Global Telecoms Business 50 CTOs to watch 2014. Awarded the New Jersey Medal for Science and Technology 2016.

https://www.nokia.com/blog/author/marcus-weldon/

https://twitter.com/MarcusWeldon

https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcus-weldon-1266497/

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