Category Archives for "MQ4B Podcast"

2:10 About looking up to Steve Jobs. “He inspired me most with how he speaks.”

3:05 The specialness of the tinkering mindset

3:49 “It was the way that [Jobs] communicated things that I loved so much.”

4:10 “You can’t doubt vision.”

5:20 “Our minds are so complex, we have to understand them because they’re the mechanism by which we run companies, by which we run our lives and make decisions.”

6:06 “It’s very easy to come into this subject of focus with a lot of preconceptions.”

6:37 Common misconceptions about focus and thought processes.

6:42 “Research shows that being interrupted is one of the best things that can happen for us and for our team.”

7:35 Case study of a team of engineers – “Interruption is the process by which collaboration happens.”

9:04 “I think the most important context in regard to focus on a team level is the breakdown of how much of the work that the team does is a) collaborative or b) focused-work.”

10:07 Analysis of news and how it drives focus

12:15 “If you’re doing work that’s focused, find an office where you can focus on that work.”

14:10 “50-60% of my work is focused and 40-50% of it is collaborative.”

14:56 Why it’s important to schedule in focus time for yourself. “It’s how the important stuff gets done.”

15:24 Chris’s focus rituals.

16:39 “You ask a lot of people where they are the most productive and few people say the office.”

17:18 “In any one moment of the day either you’re focused on something or your mind is wandering, you can’t be focused and wandering at the same time.”

17:45 “Most of the time we’re unfocused, we’re unfocused against our will.”

18:45 Why a wandering mind provides the perfect chance for brilliant ideas to form.”

19:13 “When we’re focused, we’re moving our work forward.”

19:44 “Managing our attention is something that we should do because we’re able to achieve a nicer and more deliberate balance of these two modes, once that’s productive, one that’s creative, one that’s about focusing, one that’s about wandering.”

21:47 The peril of focusing all day long.

22:17 “If someone’s connected 100% of the time, they’re going to be focused 100% of the time and no ideas will ever come to them.

23:12 “We’re more focused than we have to be.”

23:44 “We think about our goals 14 times as much when our mind is wandering.”

24:52 “We need to see email differently.”

25:32 “The average office worker checks their email 88 times over the course of a day.”

26:03 Strategies for dealing with email management

27:57 Lightning Round

1:41 How Jacob’s father, a Holocaust survivor, became an entrepreneur and inspired Jacob when he was young. – “He was extremely charitable.”

3:53 Jacob’s father’s 10 commandments of good business – “Never confuse efforts for results.”

4:27 “Know what you stand for and know what you won’t stand for.”

4:57 “I realized I wasn’t really in the spice business, I was in the people business.”

5:11 “Building your organization is all about bringing in the right people.”

6:13 “Family businesses are notorious for many different things, among them it’s very difficult to keep the second or third generation going.”

6:52 How the financial crash of 2008 affected Jacob’s business prospects.

7:38 ‘If I suggest something and people aren’t interested, I do it myself.”

8:01 “I think it’s a well-known thing that people are continually distracted. Technology is a huge distractor if we don’t create boundaries to our distractions.”

10:31 How Jacob was able to coach a woman whose distractibility was getting in the way of her effectiveness.

10:56 “She needed to learn to spend a good part of her day being proactive about things rather than reactive.”

12:14 “You want your people to stretch, you want people to think outside of the box.”

12:30 “If you encourage mitigated risk, and you encourage people to make that leap and really think outside of the box, and be ambitious, you never know.”

13:14 The 3 part evaluation Jacob uses with his clients.

13:49 “Oftentimes entrepreneurs want to be the voice around the table.”

14:42 My Quest for the Best Lightning Round

15:29 “I’m very focused on having impact.”

19:39 “When I talk about prosperity and the definition of prosperity, it’s about character.”

2:03 How Fabi’s dad inspired her when she was growing up.

3:03 “I moved to Charlotte at 17 and started my life, and that was a very independent journey.”

4:29 “I love having these amazing clients and people who come into our business and our circle that have great stories to tell and those stories are stories that can really impact and build platforms for other people.”

5:06 “The building of the platform comes when they are able to start establishing a tribe, an audience, and they are able to share information through books or their programs.”

5:30 “That’s what I call building a platform, it’s taking what you know and being able to put it out there in a much bigger, better way.”

7:15 How a cancer survivor used a book to build her platform.

8:15 “It needed to stand apart. It needed to be able to speak more directly to the audiences that it was speaking to. So in order to do that, you need to have a really good marketable book.”

8:59 “They’re not mass market books, they could become that way, but that’s not our goal.”

11:13 How a “yes” when it should’ve been a “no” during a business deal ended very badly for one SparkPublications author, and how she was able to eventually turn all of that around for good.

13:32 “Sometimes you think you have a great message and sometimes you think you have a good audience to speak to, but you’re not really clear on what they want from you.”

14:26 “We establish peer reviews for our authors.”

15:33 “Someone who thinks they can do a book for $1200 is not someone with the same focus as what we’re looking for.”

15:48 “We really focus on the success of the book, and the success of the goal that the client has for the book.”

16:59 “I could not have gone through this just to keep all this great knowledge to myself.”

18:40 What inspired Fabi to write the book. – “I came into this world as an F word.”

19:24 “I became obsessed with finding fabulous F words for everything.”

19:58 “Fog is just that blanket of overwhelm that’s caused by a lack of knowledge or outright fear.”

21:23 “What do your desk and counter space look like?”

21:52 Lightning Round

2:01 Michael tells about his experiences in Japan under Moria-san, who opened up doors for him when he was creating a new branch of his business.

2:46 Michael recounts his time growing up with his cousin Sam, and how they eventually began to work together. – “We created a bond really quickly, and we’ve been like brothers ever since.”

3:55 “We wanted to create a way to really help others, but do it online.”

6:11 “I think anyone can be a consultant if they have a few things. The first and most important is the ability to provide value to the client you’re consulting.”

6:42 Why it’s important to see your consultancy business as an actual business.

7:26 “The best consultants are people who ask questions consistently.”

9:21 “Instead of focusing on the process or the methodology to gather data…he should shift it to focusing on what the buyer actually wants.”

11:40 “One of the prerequisites to reaching a higher level of success is the desire to continue learning.”

13:32 Why it’s so important for new consultants to put in place the right fundamentals when they’re starting out.

15:10 “What you really want to get focused on is #1 identifying who your ideal clients are.”

15:54 “If I were to encourage people to do one thing and one thing alone, it would be to have conversations.”

18:22 How one of Michael’s clients took the idea of having conversations to the next level.

19:57 “If [new consultants] don’t have the fundamentals into their business, it doesn’t matter what tools or technology they use, it doesn’t really make an impact.”

22:38 “There’s a lot of things we can do that might seem a little more uncomfortable, because it’s very easy to hide behind technology, but it’s infinitely more effective because it gets you in front of your ideal client in a more direct way.”

23:57 “If your goal is to bring in more business now, writing an article and putting it on your site rather then finding the time to get in front of your ideal clients, that’s not good prioritization.”

24:53 The Lightning Round

2:54 “I was very fortunate to have great parents who lived their lives like very much what I would refer to as a go-giver, people who always look to give value to others.”

3:35 “People always show up at just the right times. I always took it upon myself to give value to them in whatever way I could and really try to make it worth their while. I think when you do that you attract people into your life.”

4:51 Why asking someone to mentor you out of the blue doesn’t exactly work.

5:14 “You can reach out to anyone you like, regardless of the medium, and just let them know you’re an admirer of theirs.”

6:53 Why a handwritten note to thank someone for their help, especially if they’re in a position of authority or thought leadership, is so important.

7:35 “Value is always in the eyes of the beholder.”

8:06 “A mentor-protegé relationship is just that, it takes time to build.

8:43 “This is really the key: shifting your focus from getting to giving.”

9:31 “Nobody is going to buy from you because you have a quota to meet.”

9:48 “They’re going to buy from you only because they believe they will be better off by doing so than by not doing so.”

11:12 “Value is the relative worth or desirability of something.”

12:17 “Selling is actually discovering what the other person wants, needs, or desires and and helping them to get it.”

14:03 Case study of two terrible salespeople who were incapable of giving the other what they wanted or needed.

14:23 “The first thing we need to do in any business or situation is to master our emotions.”

19:18 “That’s how we live our lives, we come from different belief systems, we see the world from different points of view.”

19:53 “Let go of having to be right.”

20:58 “Bias means that when you come across some new information that confirms your already held beliefs or biases, you accept them. But if they differ from your accepted beliefs, you ignore them.”

22:58 “Great influencers don’t push, they pull.”

23:42 Why it’s better to seek commitment than compliance.

24:14 “What we also want to do is understand our strengths.”

25:06 Why it’s common for so many salespeople and entrepreneurs to undercharge.

25:33 “When you sell on price, you’re a commodity, when you sell on value, you’re a resource.”

26:46 Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Value – “They tend to come down to 5 Elements of value. Those 5 are excellence, consistency, attention, appreciation, and empathy.”

28:29 Lightning Round

30:37 “I think the biggest misconception about influence is that you get it by pushing your will onto others, and you don’t. It goes back to attraction.”

1:55 How Anne’s parents, and her early life experiences with the opera, were able to show her the importance of subscribers at a young age.

3:32 “There was a real difference for me between the people who were buying a ticket for one show and the people who were subscribing to the series.”

4:09 “It wasn’t just the revenue part, but also what that meant when somebody showed up and said I’m going to subscribe to your season, even though I haven’t seen a season yet.”

5:17 “The fundamental shift that I think we need to make when we think about selling things one off versus selling a subscription to something is this: a subscription sale isn’t a one time transaction, it’s actually the beginning of a relationship.”

5:41 “How do I create a relationship with this person that will deliver value to them, and deliver value to the business.”

6:45 “Every single business model you can find someone who has a subscription play on it.”

7:35 The Adobe model for subscriptions and how it changed the game.

9:27 “If you spend the time and the money acquiring these subscription customers at $30 or $60, and they don’t renew for a year, or they quit after a year, if you have not continued to make them happy, you are losing money on that new customer.”

10:48 On the media response – “Financial people weren’t accustomed to this, they don’t know how to look at those metrics at first.” 

11:32 On adopting the subscription model: “It takes a little patience and persistence and tinkering to figure out.”

13:33 How a recruiter successfully shifted the services of his company to a subscription model.

16:50 “We picture a funnel and we know how they work, they’re one way.”

17:18 “If your business is based on a subscription model, then you’re really just getting started at the moment someone becomes a subscriber.”

18:35 “A subscription is a vehicle for an ongoing relationship with your customers, and everything you do with your customer from that point forward is part of their experience.”

19:36 How CDBaby modeled exemplary customer engagement in a small way.

21:21 “Another thing we need to think about is trust.”

22:01 An example of a bad customer engagement experience Anne dealt with during a stolen credit card situation.

24:04 “If you’re not finding value within 90 days, the chances that you’re going to renew are really really small.”

24:26 “The best time to reach out and help people start using things is as early as possible.”

25:21 Why companies should find ways to celebrate their customers’ success with the product.

26:54 “Businesses are so quick to send out emails announcing their own successes.”

27:20 Lightning Round

30:12 How to find and define superusers – “A superuser is that person who finds so much value in your business that they find it important to share it with others.”

2:06 How Alvin Toffler inspired Ron when he was a boy. “He was always an intellectual hero of mine.”

3:06 “There’s a limit to the absorption rate people can adapt.”

3:40 “More than half of [leaders] fail within their first 18 months.”

5:03 “The organizational obstacles put in people’s way on their way towards broader leadership are pervasive, it’s a wonder any of them succeed.”

6:46 “What leader or HR department isn’t saying we aren’t getting enough talent in?”

7:30 On the importance of interviews and resumes: “You have a recipe, you have a formula, we’d like you to repeat your success here…without understanding the context.”

9:07 “You can’t be such an outsider or such an abrasive force that the organization doesn’t trust you.”

9:14 “Nobody knows how bad things are more than the people who are already there.”

10:23 “Most leaders don’t want to do diagnostics.”

13:06 Case study of a problem client, who suddenly had a change of heart and decided to go in a more cohesive direction. – “They co-authored their future together in a way that built trust.”

16:13 Why it’s crucial for top leaders to be vulnerable and make changes.

16:46 On leaders in the spotlight – “They need to behave as if everything they’re doing and saying has a megaphone strapped to their mouth 24/7.”

18:02 On Leading Out Loud – “Never assume people are clairvoyant and reading your mind.”

18:41 The essentials of the Rise to Power diagram – “As you plan and navigate your assent, there are predictable phases.”

22:16 “We all come readily wired to want our individuality noticed.”

24:19 “Any leader who wants to do it well will suffer.”

25:06 “Every executive I’ve ever consulted with has a moment of buyer’s remorse.”

26:33 The value of honest feedback and calibration

27:55 Lightning Round

36:20 “We all have sources of power we don’t realize.”

1:57 How Robbie’s dad inspired her when she was growing up. “After about 25 years at being at the law firm, he retired from the law firm and started a venture capital firm.”

5:01 How Robbie took the risk to start her own consulting company – “I said I’m going to just give this a try.”

6:46 Robbie recounts her experiences working with the Netflix acquisitions team.

7:39 “It was a very big driver in the direction of my business because I fell in love with [Netflix’s] business model and I fell in love with the very rigorous, analytical approach to what I call a membership economy.”

8:41 “I loved the way [Netflix] focused on solving one problem for their audience.”

9:00 “It’s so easy for business people to get distracted by shiny pennies.”

10:33 On the Membership Economy “If you depend on having relationships with your customers to be successful, then this is important to you.”

11:06 “If you care about the relationships you’re building with your customers, then the membership economy is something worth considering because it’s all about taking a long term focus on your members’ needs as a guide to building your business.”

12:13 “If you grab 3 people who all love LinkedIn, they probably all use it in very different ways, but all of us use it to advance our careers.”

14:09 Robbie describes the “palette for painting a new business model.”

16:42 The importance of going from transactional to relational, and how a subscription/membership model can help make that a possibility.

18:55 “What if the person I cared about most in the world were my customer, how would I structure the work for that person to give them the best value?”

22:16 “If you focus on knowing who your customers really are and serving them for the long term, your customers tell you what they want next.”

22:48 Weeding out bad prospects becomes easier when you know your customer base.

23:59 “You have to know who your best customer is, and be able to measure customer goodness.”

26:49 “Why are you successful when so many people fail?”

28:51 “Starting to create content and experiences for the people who want to know what you know is a really great way to extend your impact and also, in many cases, create passive income.”

30:15 Tips for gaining credibility as an expert in your niche. – “You want to start with the lowest hanging fruit.”

31:59 Steps toward making a contribution in the world and positioning yourself as a thought leader.

32:56 The Lightning Round

2:09 How a Middle School teacher inspired Rob to write.

4:08 “Bottom Up is programmed deeply into our genes.”

5:15 “Bottom-up includes bringing the customer’s voice into the company, in fact, if you’re doing sales, you want to use the language of your customer.”

6:06 “The opposite of bottom up, in many ways, is top down.”

6:59 “People born after 1980, they’re brains work differently…if you’re taking a top-down approach, you’re going to miss people born after 1980.”

8:26 Case study of a company who was rigid and, after working with Rob, began to integrate a more bottom-up way of thinking, and was able to sell his company 2 years later for more than $1M.

11:41 The interaction levels of websites. “You want to let people ease into those different levels.”

12:44 “You need a platform. A platform includes information about you, whether you’re an author, a service provider, or a business selling products. You have to have a a platform that tells about who you are.”

14:07 “You want to build a mailing list.”

15:29 Two metrics that every small business owner should pay attention to.

16:04 Peter Drucker and the Japanese worker study. “They got their workers to think with the idea of ‘we,’ not ‘I.’”

16:49 “There are new models of management that are totally non-hierarchical.”

17:25 “You don’t have to do anything extreme. You can just start trusting your employees and making a systematic effort at getting their input.”

19:16 “If you’re looking at bringing out a new product, you want to look at the customer base.”

20:45 Lightning Round

1:44 Allen recounts his experience interviewing with an ad agency immediately following graduation.

3:19 “Marketing is about making your products or service relevant in a rapidly changing world, and if you have no clue what’s going on in the world, you’re not going to be very good at marketing.”

4:11 What Allen reads and listens to in order to stay relevant. “Part of staying current is staying out of your desk.”

4:46 “I always look for clients that are facing challenges that don’t have any easy answer.”

6:39 “If you just really try to watch your customer and observe what’s going on, you’ll be a step ahead.”

7:10 Why you should be more like Jerry Seinfeld.

9:05 “If you just do what you did yesterday, [you’re] going to become less relevant.”

9:50 Why being myopic is the biggest red flag for your business.

10:58 The importance of paying attention to alternatives.

12:09 “A big problem for a business that has become irrelevant is pointing at the other guy.”

14:19 The story of Katz’s Deli and what they did to stay relevant.

15:32 “Sometimes luck matters.”

18:17 The story of the National Geographic Boats. “Instead of just taking a cruise to Alaska, you could take a cruise on National Geographic Boats…you’re living a National Geographic Experience.”

19:14 Why you should make your brand an experience.

20:22 “Everyone can provide a little extra to make their customers’ experience really unexpected. If it’s unexpected people will share it.”

21:11 The importance of zooming out when it comes to increasing social media engagement.

22:26 The story of Central Park and how they divided tasks to assign accountability to the conservancy rangers.

23:37 “If you can get your employees to own the problem or own the business totally with you…you’ll be far better off.”

23:59 “No one ever washes a rental car.”

24:21 The Lightning Round

2:25 “I was inspired by the nuns of the school I went to.”

3:29 How one particular nun, sister Mary Lawrence

4:52 “These days my work is inspired by the women and increasingly the men in the audiences that I speak to.”

5:59 Why people hire Sally to speak. “Number 1 they’re struggling to develop their women leaders so they can move into much more senior positions…”

7:10 “I think there’s ever more recognition that engagement is key.”

7:39 On the global employee engagement survey. “What they discovered was that not just did people feel engaged or disengaged, they based on whether or not their voice was heard or actively heard by their immediate supervisor.”

8:15 “Engagement is correlated to safety. “

8:31 “What they needed to adopt into their culture was the ability to translate the message that employee engagement and inclusion were important down from the most senior level, where there was big buy-in about it, to the level of supervisory or on-site.”

9:52 “The most powerful way to create a career path that is satisfying, engaging, and rewarding and sustainable over time is to look at what you can control, what lies within your control. What lies within your control is going to be your own habits and behavior.”

10:40 “It’s very common that behaviors that serve you well early in your career can restrict you later on.”

12:50 “Women are often, for very good reasons, reluctant to use the “I” voice when claiming their achievements. Women can be proactively trying to ward off the charge of being ambitious, aggressive, or ‘all about myself’ for things that men would never be tagged as overambitious for saying.”

15:35 How to articulate the exact skills of what you brought to the table, rather than deflecting the credit to avoid looking overambitious.

17:26 The change template – “The change template is very clear in 4 steps.”

17:46 The change template 1 – “Start with one behavior that you can clearly begin to address.”

17:49 The change template 2 – “Enlist other people as allies.”

18:41 The change template 3 – “Let go of self-judgment.”

20:13 “I’ve been doing this for 30 years and I’ve never heard anyone say ‘I work for a perfectionistic boss and I love it.’”

21:40 “Leading your organization and leading it well gives you a platform for being a leader in your industry or sector or in your community as well.”

22:33 “Putting yourself out there and testing your own ultimate capacity for exerting leadership in a variety of venues is always going to be a benefit to you as a leader.”

23:46 Why you shouldn’t expect people to spontaneously acknowledge and reward your contributions, and how this applies to STEM fields.

27:39 How men can become more aware of some of the habits that do get in women’s ways.

29:13 The importance of honest and solicited feedback in an organization.

31:31 The Lightning Round

2:10 How Francesca’s dad inspired her to work hard, made sure that she engaged deeply with whatever she was studying, and taught her the importance of travel.

3:08 “I’ve always been fascinated by our human nature.”

3:35 “I began to look at breaking rules in a way that was constructive rather than destructive.”

4:26 How a non-traditional recipe book inspired her to create a non-conventional book of her own. She would later use the chef as a case study.

7:01 “Whenever we do case studies, we usually visit the business and have interviews right there in the city where the business is, but instead of just an interview, they put me to work.”

8:53 “For many people, despite the fact that they spend a lot of time at work, work is not a source of inspiration.”

9:50 “Rebelliousness has a lot of advantages for businesses.”

9:56 “We tend to think about rebels the wrong way.”

10:50 The story of a family who ate at the Michelin starred restaurant and what the chef did to appease the two smallest boys seated at the table.

12:41 “Rebels are those who break rules, whether for the constructiveness of destructiveness of the business.”

13:08 The 8 qualities of a rebel.

14:10 “Being a rebel means really being committed to adopting certain behaviors and talents.”

15:18 Why it’s remarkable for a chef to put on his coat and go out to clean the streets.

15:47 “Leaders who really are rebellious are those who also tend to be contagious because they’re modeling the behaviors for others.”

16:57 What a Tennessee/West Virginia fast food restaurant does to make their employees experts at their stations.

17:15 Why it was important for Francesca’s study to be multi-industry.

18:32 “Revealing yourself and reflecting is all about is focusing on strengths instead, and really finding opportunities to be authentic, and that sometimes means making ourselves vulnerable.”

21:24 “By being rebellious, or by being a curious leader you are showing the right behaviors for others.”

2:28 How both Caroline’s Grandmother and the founding principle of the Norwood school in Maryland had an impact on her young professional life.

3:45 Good handshakes show that you’re not afraid of being seen and heard.

5:08 Caroline recounts how Uncle Platt set the world record for the high jump.

6:02 [On overcoming bulimia and telling the story – “I had to begin unpacking how not just for myself, but for other people.”

7:04 “You have to learn to integrate recovery into a life which is part and parcel of how people connect with other people.”

8:49 “There’s no danger of relapse for me. I’m fully recovered.”

9:33 “When we don’t talk about things that are part of our backstory, we connote shame.”

10:07 “I created habits that pertain to excellence.”

11:24 “The fastest way to change your behavior is to change your environment and the quality of the people around you.” 

13:58 How humility plays a role in grit.

16:32 The main components of grit as espoused by Angela Duckworth

17:42 “I don’t think grit is a good quality unless it’s used in the process of pursuing good goals for the right reasons. “

18:45 “There’s a kind of grit that’s really dangerous in the wrong person for the wrong reasons.”

20:05 The story of Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos as an example of bad grit.

22:03 “Bad grit repels people.”

23:17 “The most meaningful goals are also the hardest goals.

24:39 “We have a generation I feel that was brought up to dumb down standards of excellence.”

25:58 How to hire for grit in companies.

27:06 “It’s really important to ask people not just what they have overcome but who else have they helped to overcome.”

28:16 Lightning Round

2:14 How his grandfather inspired Dave to have a strong work ethic.

3:55 “I came from a family of non-sales people.”

5:26 The importance of putting your own personality into sales.

5:39 How Dave started working with David Sandler.

7:09 Characteristics of entrepreneurs who need outside help

8:04 Why it’s essential for a team of sales people to use the same sales language.

9:54 How to recognize when you have a blind spot and what to do about it.

10:30 “Being an entrepreneur, it’s a lonely business.”

11:10 “People will work harder for themselves than they will for you.”

12:06 “In order to link the corporate goal to the personal goal, you should sit down and have a conversation that would look something like this.”

14:09 “Do you know the top 2 or 3 goals for the people who work for you? If not, you have a blind spot.”

15:21 “If you’re working on the business it’s really tough to work on the business.”

15:45 How having best practices allows your employees to mimic success.

17:06 “If someone’s stepping into that role, i want them to produce at the same level as the person who’s leaving that role.”

17:17 The 6 “P’s” in the excellence process.

18:19 “Where I want to be then affects where the company will be.”

22:12 How to set up your company’s practices so that if the leader or a pivotal employee leaves, the company isn’t paralyzed.

24:31 The Lightning Round

1:49 How Arnoux’s grandfather’s tendency towards helping inspired him as a youth, and his difficult upbringing gave him the life experience he needed to write his new book, The Answer.

3:51 How to test if you’ve rid yourself of negative programming.

5:16 “You don’t have to remember anything that happened to you to use the 7 steps to delete old programs, all you have to do is feel the emotion that you’re dealing with now.”

6:01 “You’re not the old anger, old fear, old sadness, old guilt, old shame.”

7:01 “We have to come from a different position to truly take the power and change our business.”

9:13 “If we could release our anger, we would then see reality as it is.”

9:44 “The seven steps is the basic manual for how to access programs on the computer and delete ones you don’t want.”

9:50 The 7 Steps to Reprogramming Yourself

11:03 Why it’s more difficult to eradicate a negative emotion that’s been around for decades.

11:35 “The human mind is most susceptible to unconscious programming up until ages 8-13.”

12:55 “Conscious beliefs are what you choose to believe, it’s what you choose to think about as reality or about life.”

13:15 [Paraphrasing Dr. Judd] – “It’s not that you have too many thoughts, it’s that you think the same thoughts every day.”

14:32 #upgradeyourpersonalplaylist

16:36 How Arnoux helped unblock a client who just couldn’t finish writing a book.

17:24 “Some of the unconscious programs we remove actually relate to many areas.”

18:39 Why it’s impossible to simply ignore your unconscious thoughts.

19:53 Questions to figure out what’s in your way of being successful.

22:18 3 ways to evaluate what emotions you’re experiencing.

24:05 The importance of quieting the mind.

25:36 Lightning Round

1:52 What David is excited about in his life and business right now.

2:10 “One of the benefits of running a small business is that the practice serves you if you do it right.”

3:28 How having a book in accessible spaces leads to an influx of inquiries.

4:15 What it means to have a learning conversation

5:21 “In order for me to remain a thought leader in consulting I have to talk to people and understand what they’re doing.”

5:58 Why David is interested in how people have failed.

6:51”You have to be willing to admit you don’t know, and you need to have a genuine desire to learn.”

7:44 “The obstacles are all internal.”

8:54 Why if you’re targeting smaller company prospects, you need to make sure they have big issues.

11:14 “The place to start is not by defining your target.”

11:20 “The number one attribute of a right prospect is that you can reach them.”

12:32 Why you need to reach the influencer and the decision maker and make A1 relationships.

13:47 Trade associations and the 5 marketing musts in consulting.

14:40 How David helped a small firm explode their business through trade associations.

16:14 Why trade media is still relevant.

17:18 Ways to measure the success of your outreach.”

18:08 “There’s a difference between goals and behaviors.”

20:10 “Most people absolutely suck at asking for referrals.”

21:53 “People who are interesting are people who are doing things.”

22:53 “Consulting is not about you.”

24:29 How you interact with people everyday, how you respond, affects your business.

25:49 “We are wired to think about ourselves.”

25:59 Lightning Round

1:53 Pete describes the impact business greats Richard Branson and Bill Gates had on his young entrepreneurial mind.

3:55 What Pete’s early retail jobs taught him about running a business.

5:36 “I’m a really big believer in stories.”

7:30 Summary of the relationship of JJ the bike store owner and Charlie the mentor featured in Pete’s book Cadence.

8:43 Why so many business owners deal with the “little feeling of overwhelm.”

9:02 “Most people don’t realize the need for that skill set before it’s too late.”

10:23 “What really drives profit in a business?”

11:15 “You don’t have to double your leads or double your traffic to get a 2x profit. You can [instead] increase 7 areas by 10%”

13:53 The impact of small wins.

14:57 The 7 Levers approach to business growth.

16:30 “All you need to do is increase each of those [levers] by 10%.”

17:49 “There’s only 7 things that grow profit, and only 7 things you have to manage, and measure.”

18:51 Tools you can buy to help manage and measure these levers.

20:14 Why you shouldn’t overcomplicate managing these levers.

20:37 “One of the reasons people think it’s scary is because they don’t want to look at the numbers in two months time and see minimal growth.”

21:31 “Small wins are what you need.” 

25:25 Why you should engage your whole team to work on increasing the levers together.

26:41 Pete’s trusted split testing tools. 

29.51 You shouldn’t change tools that are working just because you’re bored with it.

30:45 The Lightning Round!

2:30 David recounts how his father, who was also a doctor, inspired him to grow up to become a physician.

3:15 “Spine surgery has changed dramatically over the last 30 years.”

4:03 Some of the challenges physicians face when dealing with the stress of the industry.

5:00 “What happens when you suppress stress, your body chemistry is still adverse, and people get sick.”

5:54 How David’s tendency to suppress stress led him from having no anxiety to having severe migraine headaches and panic attacks.

7:09 David recounts the symptoms of stress repression.

8:43 “Thoughts have the same effect on the brain as these physical threats do.”

11:19 How to redirect your inner stressful thoughts to a more positive outlook.

12:55 “There’s a positive link between sustained stress and auto-immune disorders.”

14:00 “Anxiety is the pain. Whether it’s a physical threat or a mental threat, anxiety is the pain.”

16:01 The Ring of Fire metaphor for dealing with stress and anxiety.

16:55 How David learned to enjoy every aspect of his job – “Pain pathways are permanent, but so are play pathways.”

19:15 “The bigger the adversity, the bigger the chance to practice the tools.”

19:47 Why it’s important to see challenges as an opportunity rather than a burden.

20:45 “If you’re not sleeping, this entire project is out the door, nothing works.”

23:03 Why David insists his patients don’t complain about their pain.

25:15 The mirror neuron effect.

26:35 David describes his morning mindfulness routine.

2:18 How Edwards elementary school librarians socialized him into the love of books and the love of reading.

2:53 “I’m really an opinion writer and an interpreter.”

3:28 “Once people understand the historical background they have more confidence in dealing with the present.”

5:09 “You can think of this as a continuous R&D Laboratory.”

5:49 “The point of the book is that too much focus on short-term efficiency can make us less efficient in the long run.”

6:20 The art of inspired inefficiency

8:21 “I think too much reliance on Amazon means it’s very easy for someone to get into a groove, to have lots of things recommended that are sort of like what they had before.”

11:07 The importance of having a diversity of skills and mentalities in the workplace. 

11:37 The concept of peripheral vision, and the importance of creating opportunities for resourceful people.

13:13 “Sometimes if you’re focusing too much on the algorithm, you’re overlooking the opportunities for creative change.”

16:23 How to be intentional when using search engines.

17:12 “Find a well-established site and form a relationship with it.”

19:19 “When you’re evaluating anything based on metrics, it really pays to see what kinds of compromise might have been taken.”

20:49 “There are a lot of problems in the feedback of medical efficiency.”

23:49 “The most important thing for me in medicine is to be sure that the style of the doctor that you’re working with is a style you are comfortable with.”

2:41 Chris tells about the time when a physics professor took the time to explain a difficult subject to him, and eventually took him under his wing, and the impact that had on his young mind.

3:56 “When you’re doing science, you don’t always have the answer, and sometimes you get an answer that you don’t expect…the world is not a straightforward and linear place.”

4:46 Chris describes his role working for James Street, and using computers to recognize how much things were worth.

6:58 “Once I understood the trading and I understood the infrastructure and the regulatory stuff and the way everything came together, I switched to a role where I was looking at these bigger questions of risk.”

9:00 How reading about aviation infrastructure, or lack thereof, in Asia allowed Chris to see the complexity inherent in the system.

9:24 “Why do some organizations do a great job of making decisions in really complex environments and managing risk and others do not?”

9:58 “Aviation has figured out how to manage some of these risks prospectively.”

11:00 The genesis of starting his own firm.

11:57 Chris recounts his interest in the BP oil spill. “I was really interested in understanding what happened, and as I dug in more and more…I became fascinated with how the accident happened.”

12:37 “The greatest environmentalist in the last 50 years, might’ve been someone at BP who said, ‘No, this isn’t the right way to do this.’”

13:53 The reason to buy down risk. “There are things happening in the world that [people] don’t quite understand that will affect their business.”

15:18 The importance of preparing for the “knock-on” consequences.

15:58 “It’s not about figuring out what hatch to close, it’s about developing a different perspective and saying: ‘Oh, these things might interact in a way that causes a big problem.’”

16:24 “We wear a seatbelt not because we know the exact kind of accident we’re going to get into, we wear a seatbelt because we want to protect ourselves regardless of the accident.”

17:34 On the post-disaster case study. “I think what that training did was give them the confidence they needed so that they were able to, the next time these things came up, not only deal with it in real time but see the precursors.”

19:12 “In this day and age, there is so much more interconnectedness and complexity.”

20:02 How the Meltdown Quiz can you help you think better about your existing systems. “How many things in this project have to go right for this project to succeed?”

22:28 “We need to add structure to our thinking…we do a lot of work with leaders to help them develop a process to add that structure to their thinking.”

23:05 How to avoid falling into the trap of making the situation more complex than it needs to be.”

26:10 What it means to, as Cal Newport named it, “do deep work.”

27:16 How Chris tracks his deep work hours.

27:53 “I realized that my morning routine with my five-year-old son looked a lot like a crisis.”

30:44 Why you should start your meetings a little bit differently.”

33:18 How doctors in Toronto figured out that asking patients a handful of questions could quickly determine whether or not the patient needed an x-ray.

35:00 “An open door policy is not enough.”

37:25 Chris’s three big takeaways.

  3:14 “I knew nothing about the business or the industry, I just jumped in and did it.”

4:03 How Carla’s decision to eliminate her need to constantly save money she freed her self up to have more adventures and new experiences.

6:04 How Carla’s close friend encouraged her to write the book. – “You need to allow people to see that they’re not the only ones who have gone through traumatic circumstances in their life.”

7:20 On Writing the Book – “It was a truly cathartic experience because it allowed me to piece my life together.”

8:45 Why Carla would change nothing about her tumultuous past in light of her brilliant present.

9:40 “When I came back [from my trip] I didn’t want to jump back into the old world of making money just to be making money, I wanted to do something that I was passionate about. And I realized that would be something that would give back to people.”

11:31 How Carla’s traumatic childhood gave her a negative sense about herself that she had to overcome as an adult, especially concerning her relationships.”

13:05 Carla’s tips for overcoming subconscious self-sabotage.

15:10 How Carla was able to help a client see a 20% increase in his business after a 2.5 month coaching investment with her.

17:10 The question business owners should ask – “Is there something from the past stopping me from getting to my next step?”

17:48 How Carla’s experiences in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Eastern Africa reshaped her worldview.

20:56 “It was the internal strength of the people that really resonated with me.”

22:06 “By being able to take yourself out and actually visiting and seeing those places and feeling the energies around there, it really does make a difference.”

23:45 “Most people find passion by being able to help others.”

25:23 “Look for ways you can give back, even to the community you’re in.”

26:13 Carla’s tips for staying on track and productive. – “I decide what my day is going to be like.”

4:20 What it is to have a sabotaging trait, and to find its antidote. –  “It’s there to really help us to get to the next level.”

6:49 The steps which led Dr. Phillip discover the 6 step blueprint.

8:30 “The steps are cyclical, you can start anywhere.”

9:00 Dr. Phillip explains the the six seasons and what each of them mean – Summer, Harvest, Autumn, Winter, Relinquish, and Spring.

11:14 How Dr. Phillip helped a salesman who had a tendency to give too much information away.

14:10 Dr. Phillip recounts the case of a scatterbrained client  – “Once he started going through a system, he became less overwhelmed.”

14:38 [The reason why some people don’t become successful] – “It’s more painful for them to become successful than to stay where they’re at.”

17:17 Dr. Philip describes the process of writing the book, and how the first draft only took two weeks.

18:47 [Case study of a single mom-trepreneur] “What she was doing in her personal life, she should be doing in her business, and what she was doing in her business, she should be doing in her personal life.”

20:18 “You don’t have to wait for the world Autumn to do Autumn things, it’s within yourself that these things are happening.”

21:53 How Dr. Phillip wrote a book in two weeks, and how he implemented his antidote to make it work – “I made sure that I had planned out that this is what I’m going to do per so many hours.”

23:54 “Don’t get upset with yourself, the sabotaging trait is there to help you.”

2:17 The two mantras that Randi’s mom held when Randi was young.

2:44 “What gets positive reinforcement is what you pursue.”

4:30 Randi describes all the early creative jobs she held that fostered her young entrepreneurial spirit.

6:03 “Creativity for business and entrepreneurs is different than art for art’s sake and fine artistry, and it’s very much driven to solve business strategy and problems.”

7:05 “Design, when it’s done well, enhances whatever the content and message needs to be. When design is not done well, it’s decorating.”

8:20 “I’m a mapmaker, I draw pictures.”

10:15 “It’s so hard when you are in your business to look at your business.”

11:07 Why a designer or design team is uniquely positioned to assist a company in solving their content strategy issues.

15:11 Why everyone at Randi’s creative lab wears a coat and goggles.

16:54 Randi’s design team’s first step when working with new clients is determining their underlying set of priorities.

18:40 “A lot of people look for answers. The best way to get to the answers is to have the right questions.”

21:08 Randi explains why each of her company’s “labs” last for two days.

21:40 “People always make a better decision when they’re given viable choices from which to make that decision.”

22:15 “Creativity isn’t something that a lot of people are comfortable with.

23:46 The importance of complete client confidentiality.

25:06 Randi tells about an unconventional creativity lab that led somewhere different than the client was expecting.

27:43 “I’m not coming in as the outside bad cop, I’m coming in with very clear glasses to look at what’s been done, to understand why suddenly no one’s happy.”

29:09 “No one should be reading a powerpoint.”

30:56 “There are lots of ways to be right.”

36:09 “It’s about trusting that you’re hiring people who are there to complement your strengths.”

39:05 “I’m up until 2AM most days making my own luck.”

3:04 Eric discusses what it was like meeting Bob Perkins at YoungLife.

3:19 “Great leaders lead other leaders.”

4:01 “If you want to hire and keep great people then you’re going to have to be prepared to invest in a few and have that team be the core that impacts the many.”

6:08 Why “A Players” can sometimes be difficult.

7:48 “I think there’s a difference between disagreeable [people] and people who are behaving poorly because they’re not getting the attention, and not getting treated the way that they need.”

9:25 Why leaders should always have a Plan B when it comes to dealing with toxic A Players.

12:02 “You’ve got to get your whole team involved in recruiting.”

14:25 What it means to have an A Player scorecard, and what the process means for team buy-in of new recruits.

14:51 How asking questions can create a whole new level of employee engagement.

16:23 “We get better at things that we practice.”

18:03 Tested tips and tricks for putting interviewees at ease before and during an interview.

18:08 “The most important interview question is the follow-up question.”

20:54 “What you’re doing as an interviewer is working to ensure a good mutual fit: good for the company, and good for the person.”

22:45 “There are not that many great leaders out there, so if you invest in your own ability as a leader, if you get better as a leader, then you’ll attract other leaders.”

23:25 “I’m committed to finding and hiring the best people that I can.”

23:57 What inspired Eric to write the book How to Hire A-Players.

26:54 “Over the last 6 months the talent markets have gotten hotter, making it harder to find and hire the best.”

27:35 What Eric does to stay productive and on track. 

1:55 Linda tells about her goats, fig farm, and her business Blue Banana.

3:45 How a gluten intolerance became the impetus for Linda to build her first website, and eventually allowed her to expand her business to help build website traffic for others.

4:03 “People that build websites know that that’s the easy part, getting traffic to it is the hard part.”

6:12 [On Malcolm Gladwell’s search for stories] – “He doesn’t wait for them to happen, he looks for them to happen.”

7:06 “I like to give freely, I like to give my information away. There’s no point in just keeping that to me.”

8:36 Linda discusses the process of writing her first book and getting it published.

9:43 “You don’t have to give all the tools in your toolbox away, but if you can give them some taster of the sort of information [with which] you can help them.”

12:08 “The one thing you need is distribution, because without a distribution channel it’s not going to go anywhere.”

13:18 Why audience size matters to publishers.

15:33 How one of the women Linda follows is optimizing LinkedIn for her business.

16:37 Why you should do audio recordings of your work.

18:22 “As an individual trying to get your name and your brand moving, think about audio.”

19:10 “People listen to the person.”

22:21 How to generate buzz around your podcast.

23:14 “You do have to have some budget in the early days to get something moving.”

24:04 “All companies need to have a [LinkedIn] company page, but growing your company page is hard work.”

26:00 “Have a great image, and steer away from stock images.”

26:54 “Tell the people what the article is about, for sure, but don’t try to be clever, just be clear.”

28:23 “Try and write something that’s evergreen.”

28:59 How Linda helped a client in the healthcare sector improve their business on Social Media. 

32:52 [The importance of conversation on Social Media] – “Don’t forget that [with social media] you’re talking to other humans.”

2:45 Brad discusses his connection to John C. Maxwell.

4:30 How leadership ability was natural to Brad even in his youth.

6:56 [On why leaders can be introverts] – “Just because you’re naturally quiet…doesn’t mean you still can’t lead.”

7:52 Leadership doesn’t mean hogging the spotlight, it means stewardship.

8:26 “If you want to lead, you’re going to have to be responsible for people.”

10:59 The importance of not being a “Darb” leader, and letting the stress of leadership bring out toxic aspects of your personality.

14:43 “Everyone wants to work in an environment where self-awareness is at the forefront of the culture.” 

16:31 “When you’re in charge, no one wants to tell you the truth.”

18:43 “You lead like you were led.”

19:40 “People are looking for a culture that is healthy and customized for them.”

22:39 Why you should invest time in on boarding new team members.

23:27 [How to be proactive during the hiring process] – “The story behind the story matters.”

25:00 “Hire slow, fire fast.”

26:38 [H3 Leadership] – “Be humble, stay hungry, always hustle.”

27:40 – “In writing any book the challenge always comes: ‘How personal are you going to be?’”

29:43 Why it’s so essential to be curious.

30:40 “The best way for you to gain instant credibility is ask a good question.”

35:09 “We bypass ‘why,’ because why is hard.”

38:00 The most surprising thing for Brad about writing the book.

39:37 Brad’s tips for staying on track and productive.

2:32 How Ron went from being a Marine to following his inward journey. “I found I had to let go of all my training to be an all American boy was taking me.”

4:47 Details of Joseph Campbell’s “Hero’s Journey,” on leaving the comfort zone.

5:37 “I realized that comfort zone wasn’t comfortable for me any longer.”

6:08 “The hero’s journey is about taking your life up to the next level.”

6:59 How childhood experience affects the way humans act as adults, especially in regards to their choices and relationships.

7:36 Why people should “quit chasing the symptoms.” Symptoms are indicators of an opportunity to grow.

9:58 How Ron helped a client overcome his communication problems, specifically those surrounding how he communicated anger.

14:35 “Change begins to happen almost immediately.”

17:05 “We are nothing but energy. That’s physics, not metaphysics.”

18:07 Why lobsters, and humans, need to take the time to “shed their shell.”

19:24 Ron describes the Big Mind. – “The quieter my mind got, the more depth I had in my life.”

22:34 How Ron used Big Mind to create a $1M Japanese Garden.

24:01 “Most people think in terms of working harder. I think in terms of accessing different parts of who we are.”

26:30 “Money is not the answer.”

27:19 The source of why people so often sabotage their life, and why when you come up against roadblocks, it’s not necessarily a bad thing.

30:08 Some changes needed aren’t big changes, but small changes, that will make all the difference.

31:11 Ron’s morning routine for staying centered throughout his day.

2:10 How a negative experience working at a steakhouse encouraged Susan to think about making money differently.

3:51 Susan recounts how her mom’s entrepreneurial drive inspired her to become one too.

4:37 “If you have the guts to go out and do it on your own, go out and do it on your own.”

5:15 [On having the courage to leave the corporate world] – “You take the step and say I’m going to give this a try, and if it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out.”

5:55 The benefits of knowing your core competencies.

7:15 The steps Susan took to deal with the challenge of an assumed learning disability in middle school.

8:04 “Believe in yourself, know what you can do. No one should label you.”

9:06 How a lack of knowledge about how to run an internet company didn’t stop Susan from buying SBTV.com. The company would become one of the Hot Tech 100 companies of the year.

10:28 “The biggest thing that we did to build the business was getting collaboration.”

11:28 [On Networking] – “It’s not about selling, it’s about building that trust and rapport.”

13:29 Marketing used to be the message going out to consumers, and now it’s a two way street.

15:05 “We have so much access to data.”

16:40 Susan explains the significance of being authentic and connecting with your followers online.

17:22 How collaboration with other websites can bring more traffic to your website.

19:08 [The One Percent Edge] – “It’s about looking at your business on a regular basis…and about continuing to evolve on a regular basis.”

20:30 “You can”t be on the status quo, you’ve got to be on the status grow.”

20:49 The dangers of being married to our business operations.

22:40 “If you’re not willing to open up, I can’t help you.”

24:05 Susan describes the process of writing the book.

25:56 The trend of people wanting to talk about what’s happening, and being more accessible to having new conversations.

2:28 Clay explains why leadership and authority don’t always go hand in hand.

3:32 How an internship at the Georgia State House crafted Clay’s young understanding of leadership and decision making.

4:43 “When you believe that you have to be in charge in order to lead, that even when you are in charge and you try to leverage that authority to try to get people to move, it will work in the short term, but it does not work long term.”

5:09 The essence of leadership is influence. – “[Leadership is the ability to inspire people to move in order to accomplish something that they may not even realize that they want to accomplish.”

5:52 “Because leadership is influence, some people are born with more instinctual traits that give them influence.”

6:30 “What are my behaviors today that are gaining me influence? And what am I doing that’s costing influence?”

8:15 First of the four big behaviors to cultivate more influence.

8:41 “The easiest way to lead yourself is to ask others exactly where you are…You can’t get to where you wanna be unless you know exactly where you are.”

12:21 “There are things about yourself that everyone else knows, and that you probably know, but you have no clue that they are as aware as they actually are.”

14:20 Why influence is a commodity.

15:03 “Solicited feedback is always easier than unsolicited feedback.”

19:02 “What we have to [ask] as leaders, as managers, whether we’re in charge or not…is what is the incentive that’s causing them to work, what is motivating them?”

20:44 How to motivate people who are happy in their current position.

22:52  The big behaviors that cultivate influence.

23:52 “Every one of us has to bring value to what we’re working on.”

24:26 “The most dangerous enemy to not being in charge is passivity.”

26:48 How Clay rewards leadership behavior.

28:15 Why our greatest fear of taking leadership actions is fear of doing it wrong. – “The map will appear when the car is in motion.”

29:32 “A part of our role when we’re not in charge is to manage the anxiety of our boss.”

31:12 “Nothing so conclusively proves your ability to lead others as what you do on a day to day basis to lead yourself.”

32:13 Clay describes the steps he took in order to not only start, but finish the book.

33:11 Clay’s tips and tricks for staying productive and on task.

1:08 Anthony describes one of the ways he and David co-author Eagleman initially connected.

1:41 How Anthony’s parents practice of restricting TV, and introducing construction materials, in the home encouraged his early creativity.

3:13 “From the moment I did something like playing the violin, I also wanted to make the music myself.”

4:15 Why hearing their piece rehearsed is such a joy for composers.

4:45 “David’s an amazing scientist. Not only does he do cutting edge research, but he’s also a best selling novelist.”

5:53 Bill tells off the collaborative efforts between Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison

7:39 Why did Beethoven move to Vienna? – “He needed to be embedded in a culture in order to thrive as an individual creator.”

8:17 “There’s this virtuous loop between social engagement and the actions of our own imagination.”

10:06 Anthony describes the process of writing the book with David Eagleman.

10:38 “The only reason animals have memories is in order to better predict the future.”

11:01 [Exploration vs. Exploitation] – “Every animal. even if their in the most bountiful environment, they’ve got all the food they could ever want, will dedicate a certain amount of their life to exploring new environments.”

11:40 [The roots of creativity] – “Being able to think beyond the present moment and detach from reality and imagine alternative futures, that was where, evolutionarily, the seed of creativity was born.”

13:54 “It’s true that some examples of creativity exist in the wild, but they’re very anecdotal and they’re very limited.”

15:31 “[Creativity] is something that is absolutely normal. It is awe-inspiringly ordinary. “

16:55 Anthony’s steps for people who want to reconnect with their creativity. – “Whatever you can find that you can make yourself, do it yourself.”

18:29 “Creativity is too often presented as being all about novelty…human minds like to have one foot in the familiar and one foot in the unexpected.”

22:44 “One of the most dangerous concepts is that of the finish line.”

24:20 “How do you know when you’ve come up with a great idea?”

26:05 What companies can do to foster creativity in the workplace.

28:10 “There’s no doubt that creativity is risky.”

31:00 The importance of play not just for children, but for adults too.

33:13 Why composers are so deadline driven, and why it’s essential to create “intermediate deadlines” for yourself in the midst of a large project.

35:20 What Anthony uses to stay on track and productive.

37:12 “The smartest and the most successful people are the ones who are generating the most options.” 

1:49 How Ted’s parents passed onto him the ethic of “getting out and doing things.”

2:58 [Paraphrasing the Dalai Lama] – “The purpose of life, I believe, is to find happiness.”

3:28 “When you make the choice to be happy, it’s really powerful.”

4:25 The benefits of smiling more often.

5:30 The “30 second rule” of changing your mindset.

5:49 [The Get To Mantra] – “You say, ‘I get to do this,’ you smile, and then you do what you’re going to do.’”

7:08 The essential difference in mindset between “I have to” and “I get to.”

10:15 Why the kind of happiness Ted refers to isn’t a “Polyanna” kind of happiness.

13:08 How Ted’s experiences traveling through India helped him shape his worldview.

14:59 “When I’m deliberate about saying ‘I get to do this,’ the more in control I am of my life.”

15:49 “We all have our level of frustration and things like that, but we do have the choice.”

17:28 Ted recounts his work with Bon Jovi, and what it was like to get through the trust barrier.

18:49 “We’re born and then we die, and in between we get to do this thing called life.”

20:09 The point of the mindful movement.

21:43 [Ted describes his 3 month executive coaching process.] – “It helps take people from this mundane [mindset] or just going through the motions and brings them up to really experiencing life.”

22:30 Case study of a Florida business man who just wasn’t getting the most out of life.

23:45 [On writing Get To Be Happy] – “I had the best time.”

25:24 “I learned that just being focused and dedicated to something for 30 minutes a day, you can get a lot done.”

28:15 Ted’s daily exercise for staying happy and productive.

1:51 Ajit tells about growing up in a family where all his cousins were either engineers or doctors and how it made him want to do the opposite. “I wanted to not take a safe route.”

2:50 Ajit recounts the four years he spent in India as a youth working in a children’s league, and how a key leader in the league helped develop his organizational skills.

4:08 “It’s ok to fail…and recovering from failure is almost as important as failing.”

5:33 How Ajit became involved with TED and TEDx

7:00 Ajit gives tips on how to put together a TEDx talk.

7:07 “People feel the need to put everything they know into a talk, which is a huge mistake.”

7:31 “What is that one idea worth spreading?”

9:15 [How to resist the urge to condense multiple ideas] – “Write down every idea [you] want to share in a TEDx talk, it doesn’t matter whether it’s one talk or multiple talks. Once [you] write it down on a sheet of paper, I then say, ‘What is the one idea of all those ideas on the sheet of paper you want to share with the world if you never got an opportunity to do a second TEDx talk?’”

10:09 “[TEDx Wilmington] no longer let anyone come without a lot of rehearsal…It’s a very conscious, determined process that we have.”

11:14 [Ajit explains why TEDx talks don’t allow notes] – “A good TEDx talk takes at least 50 hours of rehearsal.”

13:26 Ajit describes the organizational challenges of running TEDx.

15:02 What makes a fascinating TED talk.

17:12 “Often what we try to do is give a global platform to people who have great messages, but who are not getting them across.”

19:05 What it means to be a good life coach.

19:15 “You can only show them how to walk and give them the directions.”

20:33 “It’s much harder to get people to gracefully surrender something that they passionately believe in.” 

21:00 Ajit tells about his upcoming project Second Chances Farm, an organic farm where individuals recently released from prison will have a place to get back on their feet, and the goals he has for its development.

24:43 How Ajit became involved with doing work with Wilmington prisons through the organization Breaking Bread Behind Bars.

25:52 [On hiring individuals recently released from prison] – “There’s a huge shortage of labor force in the United States right now.”

27:50 [The importance of prioritization] – “The key is remembering that there’s no such thing as multi-tasking…so at the end of the day you have to decide if you make a list of 25 things, what’s the one thing that you must do today?”

1:25 Yu tells about his early experience starting an Asian Funk Band.

2:08 “Even when met with odds that seem insurmountable, it didn’t stop us, we went out and created an Asian Funk Band.”

2:30 “I leaned on a lot of other folks and some of their skills and some of their ideas were basically how to figure out and make a shared vision work.”

3:25 [On his mother as his role model] – My mom decided to do everything she could to contribute to our ability to move to a new country and to acclimate.”

4:16 Yu tells about his move from Taiwan at 3 years old to Berkley, California.

4:39 [On his ideal client] – “Folks who are very interested in learning and have a high degree of curiosity, who know they have a lot of unique skills, capabilities, and experiences, but also are sort of seeking leveraged guidance.”

5:50 Yu tells about his recent work with a company who had a very interesting product and an even more interesting challenge – “Their key challenge was that they had a very distinctive product proposition, and a wonderful story because the products were all made based on empathy…their challenge was how do they come into a mature market and be the eighth competitor in that market?”

8:09 Yu explains the ins and outs of breaking into a complicated market by not going for the lowest hanging fruit.

8:39 “We help them focus on this idea of instead of going really broad, going really narrow.”

10:06 “Do you know which of your brands or your product franchises are delivering most of your profit? And of those, do you know which of them are truly iconic?”

11:47 “Take your cash cow, milk them, and butter them up.”

12:37 [On his inspiration for writing Iconic Advantage] – “I always veer towards wanting to do new things – new product lines, new initiatives, new technology…but what I learned over those 30 years was that I had a hard time commercializing new ideas.”

13:58 [On the approach that longstanding successful companies have] – “They took a lot of their shiny new ideas and applied it to franchises that had momentum.”

14:46 Yu explains that most companies don’t know what makes them iconic.

15:19 [Why it’s critical to keep people in love with your brand] – “Just like consumers fall in love with people, they also fall in love with brands. And just like people, when you fall in love with somebody, you don’t want to fall out of love with them. And if somebody’s in love with you, you’re not going to do things to hurt that relationship.”

15:35 “It’s critical for those of us who are caretakers of brands to take care of that relationship as a love relationship.”

15:59 Basics of the Iconic Brand Pyramid

17:18 “That’s where it starts off – What do you care about?”

17:39 “You want to be consistent about how you represent your personality.”

19:37 “There’s a lot of ways to find these signature elements, and it’s critical that you find those.”

20:09 Why it’s essential to reinforce and align.

21:16 The story behind Nike Air and their path to distinctive design.

22:28 Why it’s important for companies not to overlook the assets already inside of their organization.

23:50 Why an hour of true productivity each day is a goal worth seeking out.

24:42 “I have a very simple 3-5 year vision of what I want to accomplish.”

22:29 “When you leave the room, what fragrance do you leave the room with? What do people remember you for?”