Karen, Author at Business RadioX ® Page

Nathan Harris with Ease and Saul Sutton with LetsScale

February 9, 2023 by Karen

Phoenix Business Radio

Nathan Harris with Ease and Saul Sutton with LetsScale

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Nathan Harris with Ease and Saul Sutton with LetsScale

LetsScale is a management consulting firm that provides fractional operations as a service, that specializes in placing C-Suite talent within organizations. Focused on scaling operations and increasing revenue.

We design customized growth strategies based on our client’s objectives. Over the last decade, we have supported growth initiatives for companies on all spectrums, from 7-figure businesses to 9-figure corporations. Supporting over 10 million in business growth and cost savings.

Saul Sutton IV is a Business Growth Strategist with expertise in Scaling Operations.

As a COO and former corporate leader with experience scaling Amazon delivery services across the US at its inception by developing and managing a lean, effective, and happy workforce.

He is determined to build thriving companies by creating effective operating models to solve organizations’ greatest challenges.

Most importantly, Saul and his team’s commitment to producing real results has forged trusting relationships helping businesses grow exponentially. He founded LetsScale a Christian consulting company with a vision and mission to improve society by bringing positive influence to the culture at large.

This is why 10% of all our business profits go to locate and international charities as well as churches.

Connect with Saul on LinkedIn and follow LetsScale on Facebook and Instagram.

Ease connects diverse and highly qualified candidates, at scale, with the nation’s top organizations looking to hire. Our technology and processes reduce hiring bias by providing companies with an AI-enabled way to attract, vet and upskill often-overlooked talent.

Ease is an alum of the world’s top technology accelerator programs gener8tor and Plug & Play Tech Center and is backed by some of the nation’s top angel investors, CSA Partners and Northwestern Mutual.

Ease is the 2020 winner of Milwaukee Reverse Pitch for creating an industry-leading diverse external talent marketplace that matches the ideal corporations and professionals and allows them to collaborate within a proprietary remote environment.

Ease partners with the nation’s top universities, coding camps, and corporations to create an equal opportunity remote workforce platform.

Nathan Harris is a technology founder and restaurateur with over 10 years of experience in building timeless and award-winning brands.

As CEO he’s led his company through the nationally ranked accelerator program gener8tor, the world’s largest corporate innovation accelerator Plug and Play Tech Center, and became backed by CSA Partners Venture fund.

Nathan also consults organizations of all sizes on how to build brands & cultures that attract and retain the best customers and talent.

Connect with Nathan on LinkedIn and Instagram.

What’s Your Number? E141

February 9, 2023 by Karen

Phoenix Business Radio

What's Your Number? E141

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What’s Your Number? E141

Eric Crews joined Tycoons to talk about what is important about the journey of growing your business all the way to retirement. One of the biggest things he recommends is that you know your number. What number are you aiming for to grow your business and eventually retire?

Tune in to hear Eric talk about how his love of endurance sports has helped him in his business journey and his philosophies on what is most important when growing your business. Learn more about Eric at crewsandco.com or find him on LinkedIn.

Crews & co. is a management consulting firm helping ready-to-scale, seven-figure businesses achieve their first $10M, $20M, or $50M year. Using the Growth Method, their proprietary business operating system, they help companies increase their revenue, profitability, and salable asset value.

Through in-house resources and a curated partner network, they also offer entrepreneurs everything they need to grow their business: finance services, recruiting, HR, marketing, wealth management, M&A, and more.

As Founder and CEO of Crews & co., Eric Crews is passionate about helping businesses grow. Eric has guided 100+ organizations to increased and sustainable profitability while simultaneously optimizing their operations and instituting elevated quality of life for their leadership teams.

Working in industries such as technology, finance, marketing, manufacturing, education, and construction, he has helped convert many unorganized, underperforming ventures into streamlined, revenue-generating enterprises.

Building on decades of successful entrepreneurship and eight years as a Certified EOS Implementer® with over 1000 session days, Eric led Crews & co.’s 2021 launch of the Growth Method℠, a proprietary business operating system designed to propel companies to increased revenue, profit, and salable value.

Eric is also the Co-Founder and CEO of CE Painting, one of the largest commercial painting businesses in New England. Both CE Painting and Crews & co. have been honorees on the Inc.com list of 5000 fastest-growing businesses.

About the Show

Tycoons of Small Biz spotlights the true backbone of the American economy, the true tycoons of business in America… the owners, founders and CEO’s of small businesses. Join hosts, Austin L Peterson, Landon Mance and the featured tycoons LIVE every Tuesday at 1 pm, right here on Business RadioX and your favorite podcast platform.

About Your Hosts

Austin Peterson is a Comprehensive Financial Planner and co-founder of Backbone Planning Partners in Scottsdale, AZ. Austin is a registered rep and investment advisor representative with Lincoln Financial Advisors. Prior to joining Lincoln Financial Advisors, Austin worked in a variety of roles in the financial services industry.

He began his career in financial services in the year 2000 as a personal financial advisor with Independent Capital Management in Santa Ana, CA. Austin then joined Pacific Life Insurance Company as an internal wholesaler for their variable annuity and mutual fund products. After Pacific Life, Austin formed his own financial planning company in Southern California that he built and ran for 6 years and eventually sold when he moved his family to Salt Lake City to pursue his MBA.

After he completed his MBA, Austin joined Crump Life Insurance where he filled a couple of different sales roles and eventually a management role throughout the five years he was with Crump. Most recently before joining Lincoln Financial Advisors in February 2015, Austin spent 2 years as a life insurance field wholesaler with Symetra Life Insurance Company. Austin is a Certified Financial Planner Professional and Chartered Life Underwriter. In 2021, Austin became a Certified Business Exit Consultant® (CBEC®) to help entrepreneurs plan to exit their businesses.

Austin and his wife of 23 years, Robin, have two children, AJ (21) and Ella (18) and they reside in Gilbert, Arizona. He is a graduate of California State University, Fullerton with a Bachelor of Arts in French and of Brigham Young University’s Marriott School of Management with a Master of Business Administration with an emphasis in sales and entrepreneurship.

Connect with Austin on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Landon Mance is a Financial Planner and co-founder of Backbone Planning Partners out of Las Vegas, Nevada. He rebranded his practice in 2020 to focus on serving small business owners after operating as Mance Wealth Management since 2015 when Landon broke off from a major bank and started his own “shop.”

Landon comes from a family of successful entrepreneurs and has a passion and excitement for serving the business community. This passion is what brought about the growth of Backbone Planning Partners to help business owners and their families. At Backbone Planning, we believe small business owners’ personal and business goals are intertwined, so we work with our clients to design a financial plan to support all aspects of their lives.

In 2019, Landon obtained the Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA) designation through the Exit Planning Institute. With this certification, Backbone Planning Partners assists business owners through an ownership transition while focusing on a positive outcome for their employees and meeting the business owner’s goals. Landon is also a member of the Business Intelligence Institute (BII) which is a collaborative group that shares tools, resources and personnel, and offers advanced level training and technical support to specifically serve business owners. In 2021, Landon became a Certified Business Exit Consultant® (CBEC®) to help entrepreneurs plan to exit their businesses by counseling owners about exit options, estimating the value of the business, preparing the business for exit and tax considerations.

Landon enjoys spending time with his beautiful wife, stepson, and new baby twins. He grew up in sunny San Diego and loves visiting his family, playing a round of golf with friends, and many other outdoor activities. Landon tries to make a difference in the lives of children in Las Vegas as a part of the leadership team for a local non-profit. He regularly visits the children that we work with to remind himself of why it’s so important to, “be the change that you wish to see in the world.”

Landon received his B.S. from California State University Long Beach in business marketing and gets the rest of his education through the school of hard knocks via his business owner clients.

Connect with Landon on LinkedIn.

E116 The Biggest Tribute to the Foo Fighters, Projects Gone Viral with Fabio Zaffagnini and Claudia Spading from Rockin’ 1000

February 6, 2023 by Karen

Phoenix Business Radio

E116 The Biggest Tribute to the Foo Fighters, Projects Gone Viral with Fabio Zaffagnini and Claudia Spading from Rockin' 1000

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E116 The Biggest Tribute to the Foo Fighters, Projects Gone Viral with Fabio Zaffagnini and Claudia Spading from Rockin’ 1000

In this episode of Project Management Office Hours, PMO Joe welcomed Fabio Zaffagnini and Claudia Spadoni from Rockin’ 1000. Fabio and his team are the founders of the global movement and sensation Rockin’ 1000 which brings together 1000 musicians to perform concerts. The first concert for Rockin’ 1000 was a viral video calling for the Foo Fighters to play a concert in their small hometown of Cesena, Italy.

Project Management Office Hours is a show about the people and projects in project management from around the world. We’ve talked with people from all the continents discussing war, family, history, projects, careers, neuroscience and so many different topics over 115 shows. Each show was a fantastic experience to listen and learn, but there has been 1 guest PMO Joe has been chasing for years…Fabio and the Rockin’ 1000 team.

If you haven’t seen the video you are missing out and you must join the over 61 million viewers who have experienced the passion, excitement, purpose, and emotions from this call to action – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JozAmXo2bDE&list=RDJozAmXo2bDE

Fabio shares the origin story for the video, “So I live in a very small town in Italy, it’s called Cesena, and I’m a Foo Fighters fan. And at some point I really wanted Foo Fighters to come and play in my hometown.” He added, “So in order to convince them, I needed something crazy to make some sort of crazy request. So one day this idea popped out in my mind and I had this feeling that if we put on a sort of tribute to the band, the biggest tribute ever made, probably Dave Grohl would have been convinced to come over and play a gig. So I had this idea of asking 1000 musicians to perform altogether simultaneously in a park, one of their songs that was Learn to Fly. And this idea in the beginning was something that I just had, but as days went by, it turned into sort of obsession, so I could not stop thinking about it.”

Claudia and Fabio tell us their story, how they built the biggest Foo Fighters tribute. Asking the Foo Fighters to play a concert for them in Cesena. How do you bring to life a crazy idea like this? With the help of project management, that’s how. How do you get it funded? Where do you find 1000 musicians? How do you coordinate equipment, video, audio, food, and drink for so many people to come together to play just one song? It was over a yearlong project and they were able to pull it off!

At one point in the video Fabio says, “I’ve been working on this fucking project for more than one year, waking up every morning thinking about how to make it real and this is all that we’ve got. One thousand people, one thousand rockers that came from all over the nation at their own expense and they did it for just one song…” How many of you have had that same thought leading your projects? I’ve been working on this project for over a year, and I keep waking up every morning wondering how it is going to all come together.

Connect with Fabio, Claudia and the Rockin’ 1000 team: https://www.rockin1000.com/en/

To catch up on previous episodes visit the Project Management Office Hours website – https://www.thepmosquad.com/podcasts/project-management-office-hours

Thank you to THE PMO SQUAD and The PMO Leader for sponsoring this show.

The PMO Squad is a leading provider of PMO and Project Management services in the US. They assist clients building and improving PMOs, provide Project Management Consulting services, deliver custom Project Management Training and provide Project Management staffing services. Learn more about The PMO Squad – https://www.thepmosquad.com

Where do PMO Leaders go for Information, Learning, Networking and Services? The PMO Leader community has “Everything You Need to Become a Great PMO Leader”. One PMO World, One Community!

Learn more about The PMO Leader – https://www.thepmoleader.com

ABOUT PROJECT MANAGEMENT OFFICE HOURS SERIES

Project Management Office Hours is intended to provide Project Management professionals a place to drop in and discuss Success Stories, Best Practices, and Lessons Learned. Project Management Consultant Joy Gumz has shared with us, “Operations keep the lights on, strategy provides the light at the end of the tunnel, but project management is the train engine that moves the organization forward.”

Each of us has a unique story to tell, but collectively we share a message that organizations who embrace Project Management Best Practices perform better than those which don’t. Organizations which align Projects to Strategy perform better. Organizations with Engage Executive Sponsors deliver better results. Organizations which measure Project Management performance outperform those which don’t.

During our Project Management Office Hours, we hear directly from Industry leaders how to make an impact in our profession. How we, collectively, will Advance Project Management Best Practices, One Listener at a time!

ABOUT YOUR HOST

Joe Pusz started THE PMO SQUAD to bring real world PMO Leadership experience to the consulting space and to advocate for Project Management through his blog PMOJOE.com. The old saying is “Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.” Following this mindset Joe left Corporate America in 2013 to start THE PMO SQUAD and work with fellow Natural Born Project Managers to advance Project Management Best Practices.

ABOUT OUR SPONSOR

THE PMO SQUAD focuses exclusively on PMO and Project Management consulting. Corporate America is full of Accidental Project Managers running projects who haven’t been trained to be PMs. To help solve this problem THE PMO SQUAD is on the Leading Edge with PMO As a Service. PMO As a Service allows our clients to focus on their respective core competencies while THE PMO SQUAD delivers Project Management expertise. Contact Joe at 678-591-7868. Follow The PMO Squad on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

Where do PMO Leaders go for Information, Learning, Networking and Services? The PMO Leader community has “Everything You Need to Become a Great PMO Leader”. One PMO World, One Community! Learn more about The PMO Leader – www.thepmoleader.com

Ken Hunt and Sunny Wight with Mindfulness First

February 3, 2023 by Karen

Phoenix Business Radio

Ken Hunt and Sunny Wight with Mindfulness First

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Ken Hunt and Sunny Wight with Mindfulness First

Mindfulness First empowers students with practical skills and knowledge for lifelong mental health wellbeing. They offer scientifically informed programs based in trauma-informed Mindful Awareness and Social-Emotional Learning which equitably support children, educators, and communities with tools to manage stress and navigate life’s challenges.

Sunny Wight created Mindfulness First after experiencing a stress-related breakdown and illnesses from which she used mindfulness to recover and completely transform her life.

Sunny is conventionally qualified with a Bachelor’s Degree, 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training and Mindful Schools Fundamentals/Curriculum Training: with a prior career in PR.

She is passionate about nurturing critical thinking in others and creating equitable and collaborative work environments; all by-products of mindful living. Sunny is married with 2 teenage children.

Ken Hunt has decades of leadership experience in financial services, with a successful history of building companies, relationships, and processes.

With a passion for supporting those that are creating meaningful change in the world, Ken is a mindful relationship facilitator and socially responsible executive leader.

Mindfulness has played a tremendous part in Ken’s journey of awareness and healing trauma stored away for many years.

A lifetime of seeking approval and needing to prove his value, embedded in early childhood development, took its toll, and eventually led him to mindfulness. Ken maintains that his challenges provided a massive gift in return: a passionate inner journey of healing, exploration, and discovery.

Follow Mindfulness First on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Building Culture Through Human Connection E29

February 3, 2023 by Karen

Building-Culture-Through-Human-Connection-feature

Phoenix Business Radio

Building Culture Through Human Connection E29

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Building Culture Through Human Connection E29

Do you ever feel like you are moving through the motions at work and not really connecting with the people there? You want to know them more and truly connect but you aren’t. Do you ever feel this same way when you are at a networking event? As if it is a competition for how many names and business cards you can share?

This is because you are not finding the real connection with people.

True human connection and communication is what really builds culture and relationships. True connection with others helps good leaders to become the best leaders. We discussed this with Craig Forman with CultureAmp and Bobi Seredich with Southwest Institute for Emotional Intelligence on this episode of the Culture Crush Business Podcast.

When we reflect on this podcast, we have so many topics that were discussed.

Self awareness
Military culture and influence
Emotional intelligence for the workplace
Ways to inspire people through culture
Having the courage to be vulnerable
The fitbit affect with culture
Leveraging data to grow culture
Stop, Breath, Ask

If you are curious about these topics then you will have to listen to the podcast to hear more from Bobi and Craig about them.

In the meantime, we do have a few other quick takeaways from the podcast about shifting your attitude and actions.

Intent versus impact: We all have good intentions but others judge us by our actions. When you are forming a relationship or bond with someone, be curious instead of judgemental. Love human beings, not human doings. Let’s try to be more intentional.

Transformational versus transactional: Let’s try to be less transactional and more transformational. When it comes to connections and relationships, it does not need to be a tit for tat game. If we come at relationships with the want and need to help support and transform, then the relationship has the opportunity to build in a more unique way.

Culture Amp is a culture-first software company that is building a survey and analytics platform for people and culture.

The Culture Amp team combines deep knowledge in psychology, statistics, user experience and engineering into a platform that is transforming organizations worldwide.

Craig Forman is a Lead People Scientist at Culture Amp, an employee experience platform used by over 6000 organizations worldwide. He both supports organizations in building effective people and culture strategies along with building the world’s largest community of people focused on building a better world of work. Behind all of his work is a mission to help the world work better by improving the places we work.

He holds a Masters degree in Industrial / Organizational Psychology, and is a proud veteran of the US Air Force.

Connect with Craig on LinkedIn.

The vision at the Southwest Institute for Emotional Intelligence is to enhance life and leadership through Emotional Intelligence (EI) mastery. They have a proven approach to teaching EI skills that are immediately applied to business growth.

They teach influencers and leaders to connect confidently with each other in more meaningful and productive ways – to better collaborate, communicate, express empathy, perform under stress, adapt to change, and drive results.

The Southwest Institute for Emotional Intelligence offers keynotes, workshops, online courses, coaching, and consulting.

Bobi Seredich is the Co-Founder & President of The Southwest Institute for Emotional Intelligence. She is a certified coach and trainer in Emotional Intelligence from the Institute for Health and Human Potential. She is a recognized speaker, author, trainer, and successful entrepreneur specializing in leadership development.

Her passion is to guide individuals and organizations to a higher performance level through her own business knowledge, inspirational stories and leadership emotional intelligence training. She has spent over 25 years of her career dedicated to creating, directing, writing and presenting leadership programs for top companies in the U.S. and around the world.

In 2001 she founded Equanimity, Inc. also known as EQ Speakers, a speakers bureau, and leadership training company. It fast became a top speaker bureau that booked hundreds of speakers with large Fortune 500 clients. EQ Speakers was sold in 2012 and continues to be a leader in the industry.

Her book, Courage Does Not Always Roar Ordinary Women with Extraordinary Courage, was published by Simple Truths in the spring of 2010. The book is a collection of her experiences and stories of women who have had the courage to overcome very difficult life events. She is a mother of twins, Alex and Gia.

Follow Southwest Institute for Emotional Intelligence on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

About Culture Crush

Culture is not just a tag word to be thrown around. It is not something you throw in job descriptions to draw people to applying for jobs within a company.

According to Marcus Buckingham and Ashely Goodall in their book Nine Lies About Work, “Culture is the tenants of how we behave. It’s like a family creed. This is how we operate and treat each other in the family.”

As a growing company- Culture Crush Business Podcast is THE culture improvement resource that supports companies and leaders. Our Mission is to improve company cultures so people WANT to go to work. Employees and leaders should like where they work and we think this is possible.

Within the company: Culture Crush has Vetted Resources and Partnerships with the right people and resources that can help improve your company culture.

On this podcast: We focus on everything surrounding businesses with good company culture. We will talk with company leaders to learn about real-life experiences, tips, and best practices for creating a healthy work environment where employees are finding joy and satisfaction in their work while also striving and growing within the company. We also find the companies that offer resources to help improve company culture and showcase them on the show to share their tips and tricks for growing culture.

About the Host

Kindra Maples is spartan racer, past animal trainer, previous magician’s assistant, and has a weakness for Oreo cookie shakes. Her journey working with people actually started working with animals as a teenager (don’t worry we won’t go that far back for her bio).

She worked for over 15 years in the zoo industry working with animals and the public. Her passion of working with animals shifted into working with people in education, operations and leadership roles. From there her passion of leadership and helping people develop has continued to grow.

Then came the opportunity for leading the Culture Crush Business Podcast and she jumped on it. Leadership, growth, and strong company cultures are all areas that Kindra is interested in diving into further.

Shout Outs

We want to thank a few people for their behind the scenes effort in helping this relaunch to come to life. James Johnson with Tailored Penguin Media Company LLC.– It is a small, but powerful video production company with a goal to deliver the very best by articulating the vision of your brand in a visually creative way. Gordon Murray with Flash PhotoVideo, LLC. -Flash Gordon has been photographing since high school and evolving since then with new products that will equip, encourage, engage, and enable. Renee Blundon with Renee Blundon Design – She is not only one of the best free divers (that’s not how she helped with the podcast) but she is great with graphics design and taking the direction for the vision that you have while also adding creative ideas to bring to your vision to life.

These are just a few of the folks that supported the relaunch of the podcast. If you would like to be part of the Culture Crush team or would like to support underwriting the show- please reach out: info@culturecrushbusiness.com

Mark Sutter with Impact Sales Advisors

February 2, 2023 by Karen

Phoenix Business Radio

Mark Sutter with Impact Sales Advisors

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Mark Sutter with Impact Sales Advisors

Impact Sales Advisors was founded to help leaders of small and mid-sized business achieve profitable and profitable growth by providing Fractional VP of Sales services.

We build a path to more sales by:

Conducting a formal assessment of your current state
Create a Strategic Sales Plan
Put the right sales structure and sales process in place
Managing your sales team
Train and certify your sales leader
Find sales talent for you

Mark Sutter is a strategic, results-driven, and collaborative sales leader with an extensive track record of developing and executing strategic plans that drive sales growth, employee engagement, and customer satisfaction.

Before founding Impact Sales Advisors LLC, an outsourced sales leadership firm that helps clients develop and implement the right sales infrastructure and processes to grow sustainable top line sales, Mark spent nearly 30 years delivering award winning sales performance at top shelf firms such Gartner, Inc., Russell Investments and Dun & Bradstreet.

Throughout his career across various industries Mark has always greatly exceeded sales and business expectations by taking a “practitioner” approach to truly understand the situation within the company and market, create winning strategies, processes, and actionable plans to drive growth.

Mark has a Masters of Business Administration from Willamette University and Bachelor of Science degree focused on Management and Marketing from the University of Oregon.

Connect with Mark on LinkedIn.

Sink or Swim E140

February 2, 2023 by Karen

Phoenix Business Radio

Sink or Swim E140

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Sink or Swim E140

Keith Baldwin joined Tycoons to talk about his journey from dropping out of college to work, moving his way up in the company, buying the company, and the struggles of running the business through the pandemic.

Tune in to hear Keith talk about how he has adapted to the various roadblocks that have come between him and success and how his desire to learn has helped him build relationships and succeed throughout hardship. Learn more about Keith at GoSpikes.com.

Spike’s is a manufacturer of Awards and Signage, in addition to a distributor of Promotional Products since 1929. Spike’s has won numerous awards over the years including: The Award industry’s Retailer of the Year (3x’s) and the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce’s Manufacturer of the Year.

Keith Baldwin has worked for over 45 years at Spike’s, starting as a teenage employee. He worked for 2 absentee owners for over 25 years before purchasing the business 20 years ago.

He is a Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Alumni and the President of the award industry’s buying consortium Award Associates of America. He hosts the Podcast BCA (Business Clubs of America) Radio and an author of “A Leap Year of Firsts” www.KeithBaldwinFirsts.com. He is currently working on his first TED Talk, while sitting on a few boards.

He has been married for 35 years with 2 children and 2 grandchildren. He spends his free time traveling, golfing and exploring new firsts.

Connect with Keith on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

About the Show

About Your Hosts

Connect with Austin on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Landon received his B.S. from California State University Long Beach in business marketing and gets the rest of his education through the school of hard knocks via his business owner clients.

Connect with Landon on LinkedIn.

Gary Braun is a Founder and co-owner of Pivotal Advisors. In his role at Pivotal, Gary is primarily responsible for business development but, he’ll gladly take on few clients in a consulting role. Gary speaks with and partners with other firms that help drive top-line growth.

Gary, helps organizations define where growth is coming from, helps them hire and/or develop the sales team, identify ideal clients and markets, and leverage true differentiators (even in commodity markets). He also implements sales processes, targets specific KPIs, increases activity, creates and applies sales compensation plans, and develops sales leadership skills.

Pivotal Advisors LLC is dedicated to creating a community of people who strive for excellence in sales and leadership. A Sales Operating System is the model for how to achieve excellence. Leadership is the First Factor of success in any sales organization. Therefore, building and developing leaders responsible for generating revenue is critical for growth.

Follow Pivotal Advisors on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

The Dignity of Generous and Authentic Giving E14

February 1, 2023 by Karen

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Phoenix Business Radio

The Dignity of Generous and Authentic Giving E14

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The Dignity of Generous and Authentic Giving E14

Dr. Valerie Nkamgang Bemo, Deputy Director at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation says: “Give aid while recognizing the dignity of the people receiving aid.” How do we honor dignity, of ourselves and of others? Valerie shares how it all starts with being authentic, sharing from our true selves, without expecting anything in return. And give to others in a way that recognizes that they like to make their own choices.

She also shares how we can learn about Ubuntu (I am because we are) and generosity from the poor. Said Valerie about one person who received a bag of rice and turned around to share it with others: “You cannot be happy and centered if everyone around you is not.” Listen to this episode of Rooted & Unwavering and connect more deeply to your generous self.

Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people’s health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty.

In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people—especially those with the fewest resources—have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. Based in Seattle, Washington, the foundation is led by CEO Mark Suzman, under the direction of co-chairs Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates and the board of trustees.

Dr. Valerie Nkamgang Bemo is a distinguished leader, motivational speaker, coach and mentor and an internationally recognized expert in global health and humanitarian response. Born and raised in Cameroon, educated in France and Spain, Dr. Bemo has established a strong reputation as a cross-cultural connector and thought leader. Her ideas and reflections are inspired by her multi-cultural lived experiences, a multi-lingual education, and her spirituality. With over 20 years of experience as an international development practitioner, she has worked with communities, governments, local and international organizations to strengthen systems, and empower leaders to create lasting social change.

On behalf of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Dr. Bemo has worked with poor and vulnerable communities across the globe, especially those impacted by natural disasters, disease outbreaks and conflicts. Examples of her work include leading the Foundation’s global humanitarian response program such as Haiti earthquake, West Africa, Ebola outbreak, cyclone Idai in Mozambique, investing in programs to strengthen the capacity of local and regional humanitarian agencies to better respond to emergencies, supporting the design and implementation of sanitation and health programs for Rohyinga refugees in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh and Syrian refugees in Jordanian refugee camps, and co-leading interventions as part of the Foundation’s Africa response to the Covid 19 pandemic.

Throughout her work Dr. Bemo’s approach is grounded in a commitment to and passion for solutions that will shift mindsets and remove institutional and systemic barriers to empower individuals and groups to create locally grown solutions. She brings an abundance of optimism, energy, and authenticity to her work. As a team leader and facilitator, Dr. Bemo cultivates an atmosphere of playful creativity and innovation, a sense of adventure, and collaboration.

Dr. Bemo received her Medical Degree (MD) from the University of Cote d’Ivoire, an Epidemiology Diploma at the University of Paris, and her Master of Public Health (MPH) from Madrid Autonoma University. She is a certified trainer and coach.

About Rooted & Unwavering

Peace, Compassion, Wisdom, Purposefulness, Creativity and Strength come online in us when we deeply connect with the true, unwavering greatness that lives within ourselves and others.

In this podcast and radio show, Hylke Faber, seasoned transformational coach and author of the award-winning Taming Your Crocodiles series, engages in deep inquiry with leaders from all walks of life about courageously connecting with our true selves, others and the world at large.

How do we stay connected to our true selves and our greatness, especially when we are challenged? How do we rest in the heart, also when our mind keeps us restless? What becomes possible when we truly stay committed to our own and others’ best selves, also when we don’t feel it? How do we practice staying connected to our true selves, in the midst of our busy lives?

Join us and leave inspired to act on your heart’s greatness and that of the people around you.

About Our Host

For as long as he can remember Hylke Faber has been curious about what this life is about. His ongoing inquiry has become his work: helping people individually and collectively to discover what is possible in life and express that authentically and fearlessly.

Hylke started his work life with Towers Perrin as consultant and then as Partner with Strategic Decisions Group, serving a wide range of industries, including financial services, manufacturing, consumer electronics and life sciences companies. A major shift occurred during this critical phase of his life. He had become the typical, hard-charging, 16-hours-a-day strategy consultant, and was burning out at a rapid clip.

When he discovered meditation, everything changed. He was so taken by his new discoveries that he chose to bring to business what he was learning: that there is a way we can have it all – we can be fulfilled, do work we love, and create extraordinary results with others. He thinks of it as creating a sense of ease in business.

He learned how to coach and facilitate human transformation completing his coaching certification with Newfield Network and by working at Axialent, the culture and leadership company. After a few years, he founded Co-Creation Partners together with other leaders in the field of transformation and personal development. Then he formed Constancee to help people grow by creating the conditions where deep personal, interpersonal and organizational shifts happen routinely.

He leads Growth Leaders Network, the culture and team development consultancy. He has also taught coaching at Columbia Business School Executive Education and has contributed to Harvard Business Review. He is currently teaching a course on Climate Conscious Leadership at Arizona State University. His award-winning book, Taming Your Crocodiles: Unlearn Fear & Become a True Leader, was published by Dover in 2018.

His next book, Taming Your Crocodiles Practices for Leadership Depth, came out in 2020. Besides helping others grow, which he loves, he is a trained opera singer, enjoys hiking and writing, is an avid reader, in particular of biographies, and is always in the process of growing himself. He integrates all of what he learns in his work with executives.

Connect with Hylke on LinkedIn.

About Our Sponsor

Realizing Your Greatness

We are a team of experienced facilitators and coaches dedicated to helping individuals, teams and organizations thrive by helping them recognize their innate greatness and putting it to work.

- Executive Coaching: we work with clients individually to help them connect to their calling and use every challenge as an opportunity to help them grow more into what makes them great.
- Team Performance: we help teams evolve to their next level of excellence, connectedness and impact by working on the root drivers of team performance.
- Culture Development: we help organizations to evolve their culture by creating clarity about where they aspire to go, and by building role models, coaches and systems that catalyze people being energized to work the new way.

Key Notes: we deliver powerful speeches at conferences and other events that help audiences become energized, more connected to themselves and each other, more open to discovery and ready to commit to the next stage of learning in their career and life journeys.

Growth Leaders Network (GLN) serves Fortune 500 companies, smaller organizations and non-profits globally.

GLN clients report that we catalyze significant business transformational impact and profound shifts in people, team and organizations at the root cause level.

Learn more about the Growth Leaders network here.

Mission Critical: Closing the Cybersecurity Workforce Gap E34

January 31, 2023 by Karen

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AZ TechCast

Mission Critical: Closing the Cybersecurity Workforce Gap E34

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Mission Critical: Closing the Cybersecurity Workforce Gap E34

Did you know that the global cybersecurity workforce gap is roughly 3.4 million people? This means that the supply of skilled cybersecurity workers needed to protect businesses from cyber threats has struggled to keep up with growing demand.

The January 2023 episode of the Arizona Technology Council’s AZTechCast podcast featured experts including Dara Gibson, AZ president of WiCyS Phoenix and senior manager at Optiv; Susan Morris, co-owner of ABL Cyber Academy and Cogent Cyber Range; and Andrew Roberts, chief cybersecurity strategist at cStor, A MicroAge Company. These leaders joined Steve Zylstra, president and CEO of the Arizona Technology Council, and Bianca Buliga, the Council’s director of marketing and communications, in discussing how Arizona can more effectively close the gap and connect with skilled cybersecurity talent.

Throughout this hour-long episode, the panel of three experts discussed how they became interested in cybersecurity careers, the current global state of cybersecurity, the top cyber threats to watch out for and how businesses are more closely integrating cybersecurity within their business operations to protect themselves, their employees and their clients. On multiple occasions, the experts emphasized the growing disparity between open cybersecurity positions and the pool of skilled talent, and highlighted that people don’t need to be cybersecurity experts to land careers in the growing field.

The mission of WiCyS (pronounced We Sis) is to help build a strong gender-diverse cybersecurity workforce by facilitating recruitment, retention and advancement for women in the field.

WiCyS is a global community of women, allies and advocates, that are dedicated to bringing talented women together to celebrate and foster their passion and drive for cybersecurity.

The organization unites local communities of aspiring and thriving women cybersecurity professionals across the world to collaborate, share their knowledge, network and mentor.

Optiv is the cyber advisory and solutions leader in the United States. It is critical for any organization to achieve its full potential, cyber risk must be understood and overcome. Optiv cybersecurity experts will work alongside clients to manage cyber risk and equip them with perspectives and programs to accelerate business progress.

Real-world experience, deep vertical expertise and diverse teams enables the subject matter experts to face any challenge with confidence. Optiv will put the organizations at the center of our unmatched ecosystem of people, products, partners and programs to design and implement agile solutions. The adaptive approach continually assesses risk in the context of cyber and broader objectives to secure today’s business and fortify it for the future.

Optiv professionals manage cyber risk so all businesses can secure the full potential.

Dara Gibson has developed and managed cybersecurity services for 5 years. By blending cutting-edge technologies, unique skill sets, and proven cyber strategies, she can create lasting partnerships with clients to protect shareholder value and corporate reputations.

As a nationally recognized information security leader, Mrs. Gibson is responsible for designing cybersecurity awareness programs to foster expertise in relationship management with industry leading cyber insurance and legal providers for proactive and reactive cybersecurity capabilities.

Connect with Dara on LinkedIn.

cStor helps organizations strategize, design and implement cybersecurity, modern infrastructure, and digital transformation solutions and services that address the evolving needs of today’s enterprise. cStor’s proven capabilities with best-in-class technologies provide peace of mind and put organizations on a path to success.

cStor serves clients throughout the Southwest with a focused, collaborative approach and superior results.

As the Chief Cybersecurity Strategist for cStor, Andrew Roberts partners with clients to help them achieve great accomplishments in their cybersecurity, governance, risk and compliance programs.

He is building a successful cybersecurity practice by focusing on client success, sales enablement and partner alignment.

Andrew brings a wealth of experience in audit, advisory and cybersecurity leadership and freely shares that knowledge to help put clients on the path to success.

Connect with Andrew on LinkedIn.

ABL has been a workforce effectiveness provider for 24 years. Clients include the US Navy, Department of Energy, Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), and numerous Fortune 1000 organizations including Allstate, Esurance, eBay, Microfocus, Avnet, Haliburton, and PepsiCo.

ABL takes a hands-on approach to learning and development and has followed the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) Cyber Range Project Team’s recommendation for the use of cyber ranges to improve individual and team cyber security knowledge and capabilities.

In response to the significant threats facing every organization today, ABL includes hands on skills development for all students through ABL’s Cyber Range, for ensuring higher levels of cyber skills competencies in identifying vulnerabilities and threats to mitigate and thwart.

ABL’s mission is to develop and validate cyber security skills for incumbent individuals, teams and the incoming workforce.

ABL’s newest range, the Cogent OT Cyber Education and Skills Range launched in October 2022. A “cogent” approach to large scale education and skills development has never been more crucial. Through cloud range access, training resources for organizations, educational institutions and individuals are available from anywhere, at any time, ensuring individuals have the knowledge and practical skills to identify poorly designed code, legacy and vulnerable device configuration issues, critical to protecting any organization.

It is ABL’s mission to build and continue to initiate alliances and partnerships for real change with private organizations and government agencies who are leaders in the field for OT workforce development, to attenuate the global OT/IT cyber vulnerabilities. A few of our current partnerships include, but are not limited to, the Arizona Cyber Threat Response Alliance (ACTRA) and ACTRA’s initiative, the North American Cyber Range Alliance, NACRA.

Susan Morris’ areas of expertise include business consulting, research, design, development, and implementation of workforce effectiveness solutions and corporate change initiatives that produce bottom-line results for ABL’s clients, including the Fortune 1000 and the Federal Government.

Ms. Morris amended ABL’s mission in 2015 to include a focus on the critical threat to both private and public sectors – the shortage of cyber OT and IT workforce talent. In her role, Ms. Morris researches and utilizes the most current learning strategies, methodologies, education processes and resources in workforce development for ABL’s clients and partners.

As part of establishing ABL’s strategic direction and vision, she ensures ABL has alliances and partnerships with private organizations and government agencies who are leaders in the field for real change and attenuation of the global OT/IT cyber vulnerabilities. She continually diversifies ABL’s portfolio and worked to secure ABL as a cyber certification training provider to the US Army, US Navy, and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA).

From over 30 years’ experience in workforce effectiveness, she understands reducing human error-caused data breaches requires more than building employee knowledge, skills, and abilities.

Susan holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Marymount College in New York.

About AZ TechCast

AZ TechCast is dedicated to covering innovation and technology in Arizona and beyond.

Through the art of connected conversation, AZ TechCast’s guests will share their expertise, success stories, news and analysis about the region’s leading startups, companies and emerging technologies, as well as the latest industry trends and critical issues propelling the state’s growing technology ecosystem.

About Your Hosts

Steve Zylstra serves as president and CEO of the Arizona Technology Council, a role he assumed in 2007. He is responsible for strategy, operations, finance and policy development. Zylstra is a vocal spokesman for the value technology can provide in raising social and economic standards in Arizona.

Zylstra serves on numerous councils, committees and boards, was named “Leader of the Year, Technology,” by the Arizona Capitol Times, and “Most Admired Leader” by the Phoenix Business Journal. In addition, he was awarded an honorary doctorate of science in technology from the University of Advancing Technology in Tempe, Ariz.

Zylstra earned a bachelor’s degree in automotive engineering technology from Western Michigan University.

Karen Nowicki is a successful author, speaker and the creator of Deep Impact Leadership™ and SoulMarks Coaching™. She is a two-time recipient of the prestigious national Choice Award® for her book and personal development retreat. Karen was crowned the first-ever “Mompreneur of the Year” Award in 2010 for the southwestern states. She was recognized for her leadership, business acumen, and work-life balance.

Karen has been an expert guest on regional TV and radio shows, including Fox Phoenix Morning Show, Sonoran Living, Good Morning Arizona, The Chat Room, and Mid-Day Arizona. She has been a regular contributor to many print and online magazines – publishing articles and blogs for business and education.

In addition to working with private coaching clients, Karen is also the Owner & President of Phoenix Business RadioX. The Business RadioX Network amplifies the voice of business – serving the Fortune 500,000, not just the Fortune 500. Phoenix Business RadioX helps local businesses and professional associations get the word out about the important work they’re doing to serve their market, profession, and community.

Of all the experiences Karen has had the privilege of participating in over her vast career, she shares that Phoenix Business RadioX is a pinnacle adventure!

Connect with Karen on LinkedIn and follow Phoenix Business RadioX on Facebook and Instagram.

Born in Phoenix, Arizona, Bianca Buliga is a trilingual first-generation American of Romanian ethnicity. A marketing professional with experience in both the nonprofit and for-profit sectors, Bianca currently works as Director, Marketing & Communications for the Arizona Technology Council.

Previously, Bianca worked as Marketing Communications Lead at Proctorio, a learning integrity platform that offers remote proctoring software ensuring exam integrity for learners around the world.

Bianca also worked as Senior Marketing Manager at SEED SPOT, a social impact incubator that educates, accelerates, and invests in impact-driven entrepreneurs creating market-based solutions to social problems. In January of 2020, Bianca was selected as an awardee of the Mandela Washington Reciprocal Exchange Program and traveled to the African island of Mauritius to run entrepreneurship programming for 15 impact-driven ecopreneurs on behalf of the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

Bianca has also completed comprehensive consulting projects for IBM, ESAN Business School, and the Peruvian government, and interned at the Arizona House of Representatives and U.S. Embassy in Bucharest, Romania.

Bianca earned her Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from Northern Arizona University in 2014 and her Master’s degree in Global Affairs and Management from the Thunderbird School of Global Management in 2017. She is an avid reader, yogi, and world traveler always planning her next trip.

Connect with Bianca on LinkedIn.

About Our Sponsor

The Arizona Technology Council, Arizona’s only statewide organization serving the technology sector, fosters a climate of innovation to enhance technology in Arizona.

A trusted resource in strengthening Arizona’s technology industry, the Council proactively eliminates impediments that companies face, accelerates the entrepreneurial mindset in the state’s expanding innovation ecosystem, and works to create a destination for companies to be, thrive and stay.

Follow Arizona Technology Council on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.