The Hero Factor

Claudia Harvey gave up a corporate career on Bay Street (the Canadian Wall Street) to bring an idea she had into reality — all over beers with a friend. Dig It®️ Apparel even caught the eye of the Dragons’ Den (the Canadian Shark Tank), and one investor was particularly interested in her idea. Hear the story behind the special gardening gloves, the values she lives by every day, and what’s next for the company in this episode of The Hero Factor with Jeffrey Hayzlett.    

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Can employees love their boss? In this episode, Jeffrey sits down with Pirooz Abir, CEO of LiquidInvoice LLC. During their wide-ranging talk, the pair talk about firing customers, biggest influences and the person in your life whose advice you should always take. 

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Business is a spiritual discipline and Blaine Bartlett, President and CEO of Avatar Resources, practices it every day. However, he is quick to point out you shouldn’t think of it as spiritual in the religious sense, it’s more about listening to the “merchant priests” that are setting the standards all businesses should live by. In this episode, Blaine drew a clear distinction between the old money millionaires and what drives the modern millionaire and what businesses need to do to deliver on their mission.

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Can you build a business that makes money and helps the community? Dawn Elyzabeth and Jonathan Stone have managed to do both – and quite successfully, too. Sababa is more than a bottled water brand. For every bottle sold, Sababa donates a meal to a food-insecure child. They are also building mobile food pantries on the west coast and feeding thousands in the Bronx — all while getting for-profits and non-profits to work together for a common goal. Plus, wait until the end to find out Sababa means in this episode of The Hero Factor.

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Can employees love their boss? In this episode, Jeffrey sits down with Pirooz Abir, CEO of LiquidInvoice LLC. During their wide-ranging talk, the pair talk about firing customers, biggest influences and the person in your life whose advice you should always take. 

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Live your values and never stop learning. Those are just two bits of sage advice Tom Landry leaves us with in this episode of The Hero Factor. Tom not only challenges the status quo by helping businesses re-think the definition of diversity, but he also finds himself routinely making life-changing decisions. He has even given up multi-million-dollar contracts with long-time partners because he felt it was the right thing to do. Tom’s hero story offers something for the businessperson at any level of their career. 

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There’s more to making a difference than just writing a check. Nobody knows that better than Orianne Collins. Her Little Dreams Foundation helps children around the world overcome the obstacles in their lives to pursue their passions in music, sports, and the arts. While Orianne and her husband Phil have been inspiring others, Orianne’s story is an inspiration in itself. A complication from a 2014 surgery left her paralyzed from the neck down. She’s walking today, with the help of canes and several hours of daily physical therapy. On top of that, Orianne is a mother, jewelry designer, business owner, and has a cosmetic line coming soon. Can’t make it to Miami? Find Orianne’s Jewellery designs at https://www.oriannecollins.com/ To learn more about the Little Dreams Foundation and their upcoming Foundation Gala, click here https://littledreamsfoundation.org/ 

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“We have a golden rule in our company that you’re not allowed to say no without permission. We just think ‘no’ is a lazy answer, and to be dynamic, truly dynamic, most people expect ‘no’ when they walk in the door, especially when it comes to customer service. I own some Verizon Wireless stores, and in that retail environment, ‘no’ is just something kids have come accustomed to saying to people and we had to change that.”- Rory Kelly (The HERO Factor, pg 86)

What does being truly dynamic mean? How do you get your employees to move beyond just saying no? 

How can you help them be the best employee they can be? What do you need to do to get your team to provide the best customer service possible?

Rory Kelly believes there is no such thing as self-made.

15 years ago he started selling Verizon Wireless phones for a woman named Janet Eining. He quickly saw an opportunity for the business to grow – but the owner didn’t want the hassle. Rory was persistent, and she finally gave him the opportunity to be a small partner – and Rory was right – they grew.

With the help of his team, Rory Kelly has grown as large as 40 doors, he has owned restaurants, land, buildings, and other retail business all because of the opportunity he saw and teaching his team to move beyond ‘no.’

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“I think the thing that really tells you whether or not you’re on the right track is what people say about you and your business at the bar. Because when people are a few beers in – or even if they’re not – they’re just comfortable enough to talk about things the way they want to talk about them.

That’s where you hear the most important things. Being in HR, I kind of based the success of the year in terms of employee engagement on the conversations that we would have. So, if you had people who were saying, ‘you know, I just don’t really feel good about this, or we worked too many hours, or the equipment doesn’t run right, or I don’t like these policy changes,’ I would kind of know that we had to straighten some of that stuff up. 

I will say more often than not, of course it was good. When you have an inspired employee, ten, twelve, fifteen percent extra effort means a huge thing to the bottom line. But it’s not something that can be measured the same way traditional performance indicators are.”

-Meg Manke (The Hero Factor, pg 58)

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