The Pivotal Leader

"Creativity is a skill that can be honed by everybody and should be."

- Alexandra Levit

On this episode of The Pivotal Leader, Gina Trimarco interviewed Alexandra Levit, managing partner at PeopleResults and workplace consultant, author and speaker.

A former nationally syndicated columnist for the Wall Street Journal and writer for the New York Times, Fast Company, and Forbes, Alexandra has authored several books, including the international bestseller They Don't Teach Corporate in College and her newest book HUMANITY WORKS: Merging Technologies And People For The Workforce Of The Future, in which she provides a vision of a future where people are free to work wherever and for whomever they choose, machines perform multiple tasks, and virtual teams come together and disband at lightning speed.

She consults and writes on leadership development, human resources, entrepreneurship, career and workplace trends on behalf of numerous Fortune 500 companies including American Express, Canon, Deloitte, DeVry University, Intuit, SilkRoad, and Staples, and has spoken on these topics at hundreds of organizations around the world including Abbott, Aetna, Bank of America, Cardinal Health, Campbell Soup, the Federal Reserve Bank, the Human Capital Institute, McDonalds, Microsoft, PepsiCo, the Society of Human Resource Management, and Whirlpool.

Podcast Topics Include:

• Managing and motivating the rising generations; Gen Y as the new leaders, Gen Z as the new Gen X
• Unconscious bias – things women can do to be part of the solution; negotiation and assertive communications
• Being called the B word; the difference between assertive and aggressive communication
• Transformational leadership: showing people you care
• The 3 Cs of Future Work: Collaboration, Customization & Creativity
• What roles machines and technology should play
• Being able to work cross-functionally and the ability of leaders to structure employee career paths
• Using creativity to have empathy, judgement and proble- solving skills in ways that machines cannot
• Practicing and promoting intrapreneurship
• Seeing the "writing on the wall" with automation threats to stay competitive and marketable, especially for tech employees lacking creativity
• The importance of human skills in all industries
• The importance of sales training for everyone (not just sales people)
• Having the mindset of being able to reinvent yourself
• Her biggest worry – people who won't be able to adapt having to sell themselves all the time; by 2030 half of all workers will be part of the gig economy (contract workers)
• Using gamification and virtual reality simulations for our future avatars to connect interpersonally
• Strategies for businesses BEFORE things become dire

FULL SHOW NOTES

"If you're curious, you're a good sales person."

- Brandon Bruce

On this episode of The Pivotal Leader, Gina Trimarco interviewed Brandon Bruce, COO & Co-Founder of Cirrus Insight, a plugin for Gmail and Outlook salespeople. Bruce grew up in a tiny California town of 800 people where he only had one classmate at a school using outhouses as their bathroom. He went from those humble beginnings to co-founding and growing Cirrus Insight to $12 million in revenue and #41 on the Inc. 500 (after a six-year rollercoaster of success and setbacks).

Podcast Topics Include:

• Brandon's humble beginnings, his "hero story", and how he went from small town kid to entrepreneur and pivotal leader
• The story behind Cirrus Insight startup and taking it from idea to implementation, including Brandon's six-year roller coaster of success and setbacks
• Today's selling environment and using the right communication medium to connect with customers
• Goal setting strategies for attending conferences and maximizing opportunities
• Angel investors: how Cirrus Insight got funded
• On becoming an Inc 5000 Ranked Business
• Why Brandon thinks curiosity is an important trait of a good salesperson
• Using improv to move forward with innovation in technology
• Why competitors can make good mentors and can be great to turn to for support
• Brandon's favorite books

FULL SHOW NOTES

"Prospects have their walls up. We need to bring those walls down before we can have the human to human conversation."

- Hamish Knox

On this episode of The Pivotal Leader Gina Trimaco interviewed Hamish Knox, who plays an important role in Sandler's worldwide organization and is a recognized business development expert specializing in executive sales consulting and sales productivity training. A dynamic, enthusiastic speaker certified in the proprietary selling system developed by David Sandler, Knox informs, entertains, and motivates leadership and rank-and-file sales teams to achieve their full potential. He heads a Sandler training center in Calgary.

Podcast Topics Include:

• How to overcome the word "decision" in the selling process
• How to go right to the top of the selection making chain
• Sales and cold calls advice from Hamish: Why it's so important to stay present and to always remember that it's never about you
• Hamish's point of view on accountability, especially as it relates to your sales team
• Strategies for implementing an effective and sustainable accountability program
• On accountability:"The leader has to go first."
• How to create a leadership mentality in 20 minutes
• Why Hamish is known as the 'behavior guy'
• The sales role: "need to have" versus "nice to have" behaviors
• How to change behaviors and why "mom always wins"
• Tips for leaders to understand the feelings, personal goals and motivation of their team members
• Hamish explains Sandler's "cookbook" philosophy
• Hamish's perspective on our rising workforce and their interpersonal skills

FULL SHOW NOTES

"You don't become confident and then act confident. You act your way into confidence."

- Sally Helgesen

On this episode of The Pivotal Leader Gina Trimarco interviewed Sally Helgesen, International Speaker, Leadership Consultant & Author.

In her newest book, How Women Rise: Break the 12 Habits Holding You Back from Your Next Raise, Promotion, or Job, Sally and her co-author Marshall Goldsmith, help women identify specific behaviors that keep them from realizing their full potential, no matter what stage they are in their career. They help identify why what worked for them in the past will not necessarily get them where they want to go in the future -- and how to finally shed those behaviors so they can advance to the next level, whatever that may be.

Podcast Topics Include:

• Habits and behaviors that hold women back from getting to the next level
• Expecting people to spontaneously notice the great things you've done; the differences between how men and women notice things
• Advice to women struggling to get noticed for their achievements without appearing to be showboating
• How women can work on leveraging relationships rather than just building them
• How to leverage relationships to achieve real influence and authority
• Understanding your worth and how it relates to confidence
• Sally's book, The Female Advantage, and women leadership skills and styles

FULL SHOW NOTES

"It's better to invest in what you can track."

- Jake Baadsgaard

On this episode of The Pivotal Leader Gina Trimarco interviewed Jake Baadsgaard, CEO of Disruptive Advertising. After growing one of his first PPC clients from 25 to 250 employees, Jake realized he had a gift for using pay-per-click marketing to drive dramatic business results. To help more companies succeed online, Jake founded Disruptive Advertising, a PPC, and CRO management agency that has helped hundreds of companies realize unprecedented growth and profitability from the online advertising.

In the four years since its founding, Disruptive Advertising has grown from two employees working in Jake's basement to a flourishing agency with more than 90 employees and a run rate of over $12 million - putting it at #145 on the 2017 Inc 500 list!

Podcast Topics Include:

• How Jake got started in PPC advertising
• Jake walks us through the moment he decided to create Disruptive Advertising in his basement and the transition out of the basement
• How to scale a business quickly
• Getting past founder-based selling
• What Disruptive Advertising focuses on, who they serve and how they maximize the results for their clients
• The biggest challenge in the PPC and advertising industry, plus Jake's biggest business challenge
• Finding and developing talent: some of the ways Jake is finding, developing and keeping talent, including his approach to top performers - "We don't penalize top performers."
• How Jake deals with perception of industry problems by using case studies and quantifiable data
• Some of the ways to measure marketing results, blended customer acquisition costs and analytics
• Customer acquisition advice straight from Jake
• Why Jake dislikes the phrase, "Let me know what I can do to help," and what you can do to put a different spin on it
• Jake's advice to rising CEOs and entrepreneur who are growing or starting their businesses

FULL SHOW NOTES

"We as leaders and entrepreneurs have a responsibility to make sure that if the 'what-if' does happen, the prudent planning and prudent steps are in place."

- Patrick Ungashick

On this episode of The Pivotal Leader, Gina Trimarco interviewed Patrick Ungashick, CEO of NAVIX Consultants. For more than twenty-five years Patrick has provided exit advice and solutions to business owners with companies as small as several million in revenues to more than half a billion. Patrick is the author of two books helping business owners prepare for exit: Dance in the End Zone: The Business Owner's Exit Planning Playbook, and the award-winning A Tale of Two Owners: Achieving Exit Success Between Business Co-Owners. He has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Financial Week and other media. He speaks to several dozen business groups per year on how to achieve successful exits. As CEO of NAVIX Consultants, Patrick leads a national team of exit planning consultants located in nearly two-dozen US cities.

Outside of work, even though he cannot juggle nor play a musical instrument, Patrick is a proud member of the Atlanta Distinguished Clown Corps, a group of full-time CEOs and part-time clowns that have raised about $1.5 million for Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, the largest pediatric hospital in the U.S.

Podcast Topics Include:

• What inspired Patrick to help businesses plan for successful exits
• Some challenges Patrick faced early on in his business
• The effects of exiting on home life and relationships
• Immediate steps and strategies for creating an exit plan
• 15-year plan for exiting a business, plus determining which of the four possible exit strategies to choose
• Differences between the four exit strategies, plus some advantages and disadvantages
• Steps to take if a business is being "given" to you
• Co-owners and exit plans: what you need to know
• Risk management: what to consider if the business owner dies or becomes incapacitated
• Patrick offers a free Emergency Guidance Letter template every owner should have

FULL SHOW NOTES

"If you're going to start a business,

you have to be willing to grind."

- Nate Lawrie

On this episode of The Pivotal Leader, Gina Trimarco interviewed Nate Lawrie, CEO, Brazyn Life. Nate played 8-years of professional football in both the National Football League (Buccaneers, Saints, Bengals) and United Football League (Sacramento Mountain Lions), before retiring after the 2011 season.

A self-described "NFL Grinder," Lawrie fought through numerous injuries throughout his pro-career which led him to rethink many of the products he was using to take care of his body - wanting tools that were more convenient to use without compromising functionality.

In 2015 Nate launched a new business called Brazyn Life. Brazyn Life is dedicated to helping people achieve their fitness and health goals through innovative, high-quality, and travel-ready recovery and fitness tools. Brazyn's launch product is The Morph Collapsible Foam Roller, a premium foam roller that folds flat making it easy to use at home, the office, the gym, or on the road.

• Service providers or professional athletes are their own product
• How Nate developed, created and released his first product
• The benefits of using of using a foam roller
• Nate takes up through the process of how he went from just having an idea to creating a collapsible foam roller for mass production
• The nuances of launching a successful Kickstarter campaign
• Nate's shares his experience on Shark Tank and the aftermath following the episode airing
• The challenges of launching a new project; raising capital, taking risks and manufacturing of a physical product
• Finding the right people for your team and also relying on a little bit of luck
• How startup life can be extremely overwhelming, but yet so rewarding
• Pulling from peer groups for support, valuable knowledge and guidance
• Being an "NFL grinder" and how it's applicable to starting a business

Full Show Notes

"Surround yourself with amazing people and a wonderful team."

- Roger Morgan

On this episode of The Pivotal Leader, Gina Trimarco interviewed Roger Morgan, founder and CEO of pawTree, a direct selling pet nutrition company he created in 2014 to provide a better way to care for and love pets. Just days before this interview, Roger received the Rising Star Award from the Direct Selling Association out of all the direct selling companies less than five years old.

Roger has built a way to change a pet and pet parent's life one meal at a time and to enable pet lovers to thrive as small business owners who share and sell its products. A pet-industry veteran, Roger served as CEO for a major pet products manufacturer for almost a decade as well as served on boards for the American Pet Products Association, Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council, and PetSmart Charities. He is dad to dogs, Bella & JoJo.

Podcast Topics Include:

• What is pawTree? (not just a pet food company)
• What inspired Roger to start pawTree
• Some of the biggest challenges Roger faced in the early days of business startup
• How to put together a great team for your startup venture
• Why Roger chose the direct selling model for his business
• The growth of pawTree customers, sales and Pet Pros
• The ideal profile of a remote sales associate (aka Pet Pro)
• Keeping sales associates and team members informed, trained and connected
• Where Roger goes to get support, advice, leadership and coaching

FULL SHOW NOTES

"Everyone's got an idea but not everyone has balls to bring it to market."

– Paul Szyarto

On this episode of The Pivotal Leader, Gina Trimarco interviewed Paul Szyarto, a globally recognized expert in entrepreneurship, business leadership and self-defense. He is highly sought-after for his executive coaching and business leadership training. Known for applying the principles of Krav Maga – the Israeli self-defense system – into everyday business and life scenarios, Szyarto has trained hundreds of law enforcement professionals and groups of NFL players, in addition to business executives and entrepreneurs. He's also co-founder of the VMMA Fitness franchise.

Podcast Topics Include:

• Paul's VMAA strategy on martial arts and when VMMA started
• Turning your hobby into a scalable business
• Paul explains true entrepreneurship and "survivor-preneurship"
• Never Broke(n) Paul's new book on lessons of entrepreneurship and survival
• Stress Management - Paul talks about one of the greatest lessons on how being adaptable can get you through any situation
• Paul shares advice to shift a stagnant or toxic organizational culture
• What to do when there is no one to change poor leadership
• Motivating and engaging your talent and understanding your talent needs
• Best practices to ensure being the best possible leader you can be
• Being a leader and CEO - Paul discusses support and mentorship he needs

FULL SHOW NOTES

"It's important to take risks, as a business leader, as an entrepreneur. This business was a huge risk from day one."

- Alex Danza

Imagine a better way to interstate business travel on a luxury motor coach that offers only 22 comfortable leather seats and amenities such as, steward service, noise-canceling headphones, WiFi, satellite television and an onboard conference room!

On this episode of The Pivotal Leader, Gina Trimarco interviewed Alex Danza, founder and CEO of Vonlane luxury motor coach service that he founded in 2014 to give Texas travelers an alternative to the delays and interruptions that accompany short-haul flights and the hassles of driving one's own vehicle. Starting with routes between Dallas and Austin, Alex has expanded the company's reach, and now the five biggest cities in the Texas Triangle are completely accessible on Vonlane with plans for expanding out of Texas.

Alex also is the 2017 recipient of the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year® Award in the Southwest region in the category of Emerging Retail and Consumer Products.

Podcast Topics Include:

• Alex describes Vonlane – "it's like a private jet on the ground"
• How personalized and proceduralized training is the key to creating an amazing customer experience
• Recruiting employees and referrals and how to get top talent in the door
• Making gut decisions, taking risks to progress and innovate
• Spending advertising dollars as a startup
• Scaling and growing: identifying prospects and keeping the model pristine
• Raising capital to get a business venture off the ground
• Suggested strategies for CEOs seek help and guidance for leadership and as an entrepreneur
• Favorite books: Good to Great

Full Show Notes