Talking Business Now

As an entrepreneur, do you ever feel like you’re losing your “edge?” Kelly’s guest, Scott Halford, says that might actually be a good thing if you want to improve employee performance, transform your workplace and be a successful leader. Drawing on his knowledge of neuroscience, Scott shares his insights into why entrepreneurs need “emotional intelligence”—not just the right technical skills and IQ—to be successful. In a witty and humorous conversation, he breaks down the practical uses for neuroscience in areas critical to business success: leadership, decision making, influence, critical thinking and more. 

Scott is the author of the best-selling book Be a Shortcut: The Secret Fast Track to Business Success, an Emmy award-winning writer and producer, long-time consultant to Fortune 500 executives, and the Brainy Business columnist forEntrepreneur magazine online.

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Best practices and “back to basics” were forged during a different economic time–and have no place in the New Normal. Sean Stormes is helping companies around the world double and triple their profitable revenue growth just months after they begin his program. As the Chief Revenue Strategist for The Third Door, Sean works with high profile clients around the country. He is a sought after keynote speaker, and his American Cities Business Journal column reaches more than 1.1 million readers each month. His newest book, The Third Door, will publish in early 2013. 
On today’s show, Sean and Kelly discuss how to build a more powerful value proposition that results in profitable revenue growth, while avoiding the plague of “same old, same old” that affects so many businesses today.

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Having a plan is important, but if you can’t adapt quickly and confidently when business conditions change, you could be putting your company at risk.
This week’s guest, Brent Gleeson, knows firsthand about the importance of making good decisions on a moment-by-moment basis. Gleeson offers an unparalleled perspective on change. As a Navy SEAL combat veteran, Gleeson has the unique knowledge of how important it is to analyze intelligence, intake situational data, and then be able to throw it all out the window when the situation changes, while still reaching and exceeding your original goals.
Gleeson has applied these lessons to the company he co-founded, Internet Marketing Inc. IMI is one of the fastest-growing online marketing firms in the nation, recently ranking #185 on the Inc. 500 list of fastest-growing private companies in the U.S.
Gleeson is a contributor for Forbes and has made various TV appearances including NBC’s reality super show “Stars Earn Stripes” where he helped his partner Olympic gold medalist Picabo Street earn $50,000 for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce “Hire Our Heroes” program. Gleeson also appeared on a Discovery Channel series and has served as a leadership, entrepreneurial, Internet marketing and military expert on many news shows.
In this segment of Smart Companies Thinking Bigger, Kelly and Brent talk about ways you can reach good decisions even when you’re under fire and working with incomplete information.

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Kelly talks with her guest Barbara Unell, the founder of Back in the Swing, about how business owners can help their employees—and themselves—get back into the swing of work after surviving cancer.
Barbara got back in the swing herself, after being diagnosed with and treated for breast cancer in 1998. She created Back in the Swing originally in 2000 as a fundraiser for breast cancer survivorship programs, services and research. That grassroots start has since evolved into an international presence.
Barbara  brings to the organization her 30 years as a publisher, business owner, author, speaker, educator and philanthropic/social entrepreneur. She is the author of a dozen books about healthy family living. The creator of many national publications and nonprofit programs, she has been an educator and media contributor on social issues around the country, appearing on Oprah, NPR, Good Morning America and NBC Nightly News, and in the New York Times.

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Great football coaches know more than pass defense and offensive strategy: they also tend to have a strong understanding of sales and marketing. Kelly’s guest this week is Jeff Beals, author of Selling Saturdays: Blue-Chip Sales Tips from College Football. Join us as Jeff shares the sales and marketing secrets he learned in interviews with legendary college football coaches like Barry Switzer, Tom Osborne, John Cooper, Hayden Fry and scores of others.  You’ll learn how a little “football practice” can help your company achieve big wins.
Jeff Beals is the author of two award-winning books and hundreds of articles. He delivers keynotes worldwide and has been quoted in Investor’s Business Daily, Men’s Health, New York Times Online and USA Today. He’s been both a radio and tv host, as well as a college professor and adjunct dean.

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We welcome serial entrepreneur Seth Meinzen, co-founder of EvisThrive, a company that helps communities across the country develop their own “entrepreneurial ecosystems” by organizing and activating networks to accelerate business creation and growth. The result is enhanced economic development, stronger businesses, more local jobs, increased business and community revenues and a more cohesive community.
During the past five years, Seth has built more than 10 businesses, taking one startup full-circle to a sale. Seth is now funneling his entrepreneurial passion and experience into helping communities across the country grow their entrepreneurs through a proven system that connects city governments, chambers of commerce, economic development organizations, and investors with the entrepreneurs in those communities. Additionally,  entrepreneurs are connected to events and resources, including a series of guided pathways that help them start, build, and grow their business.
 

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This week’s guest is Shaul Weisband, one of the entrepreneurs behind Jifiti, a new app that lets users create a  wish list for pretty much any store in the entire world. Once an item is scanned into Jifiti, the app sends a notification to the user’s social network so friends and family can “crowd fund” the gift. Once the funds are collected, the user is notified to pick up the gift. Not only does Jifiti help users get the gifts they really want, the app also allows the average brick-and-mortar store to compete more effectively with the likes of Amazon.
Shaul is a marketing and brand development specialist.  Over the years he has consulted and worked with many multi-national companies and organizations in Israel and abroad. Jifiti bridges the gap between online convenience and the brick-and-mortar experience.
Shaul also talks about building a startup from scratch, learning how to amass seed money, and relocating to Ohio instead of the expected Silicon Valley or New York.

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Smart Companies Radio welcomes international speaker, author and marketing guru, John Jantsch. In his latest book, The Commitment Engine, John looks at what sets truly great businesses apart. Those companies, he found, tend to have a hunger for extreme clarity, a culture of shared commitment and a ridiculous passion for community. Join Kelly and John as they talk about ways you can establish lasting commitment in your employees, customers and community. Seth Godin calls the book “insanely brave and breathtakingly important.”   John, who has been called the world’s most practical small business marketing expert, is the creator of the Duct Tape Marketing System and the Duct Tape Marketing Consulting Network. His blog was chosen as a Forbes favorite for marketing and small business and his podcast, a Top 10 marketing show on iTunes, was called a “must listen” by Fast Company magazine. He is the featured marketing contributor to American Express: OPENForum and is a popular presenter of workshops and webinars for organizations such as American Express, Intuit, Verizon, HP and Citrix. He’s often cited in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and CNNMoney.

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Ken Segall, the marketing genius who put the “i” in iMac, iTunes and other Apple products, has worked with some of the world’s largest corporations, including BMW, IBM and Intel. Join Ken and Kelly as they talk about how focus and simplicity can bring new power to your brand.

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With the job market and unemployment in the shape they’re in today, why should employers be concerned about why employees leave? Best-selling business author Leigh Branham’s exhaustive research gets to the bottom of that question, and also reveals the seven hidden reasons employee leave – even during bad economic times.
Leigh is the founder and principal of Keeping the People, a talent management consulting firm that helps companies analyze the root causes of turnover and employee disengagement, and then develop and implement strategies to make your company the “employer of choice.”
Leigh is the author of three books on employee engagement and retention: Re-Engage: How America’s Best Places to Work Inspire Extra Effort in Extraordinary Times (co-authored with Mark Hirschfeld), The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave: How to Recognize the Subtle Signs and Act Before It’s Too Late, and Keeping the People Who Keep You in Business.
Leigh has presented internationally to audiences in China, Singapore, Malaysia, Poland, Canada, Argentina, Chili and Paraguay. His articles have appeared in The Harvard Business Review, and he’s been quoted in Business Week, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, and other magazines and newspapers.

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