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Leadership Across Generations, with Andy Kalajian, Founder and President, Fort Leadership and Sales Consulting

October 2, 2023 by John Ray

North Fulton Business Radio

Leadership Across Generations, with Andy Kalajian, Founder and President, Fort Leadership and Sales Consulting

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North Fulton Business Radio, Episode 702)

Andy Kalajian, Founder and President of Fort Leadership and Sales Consulting, joined host John Ray on North Fulton Business Radio to share his work in leadership and character development. Andy discussed leadership and workforce challenges businesses face today, the proportion of the workforce millennials comprise, what that proportion suggests about successful leadership, developing a personal and professional development curriculum, and much more.

North Fulton Business Radio is broadcast from the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta.

Fort Leadership and Sales Consulting

Fort Leadership and Sales Consulting, LLC is a professional education & training company that helps high commission sales professionals, small business owners, and entrepreneurs get the most out of their teams through character development, leadership training, and practical application.

Website | LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram

Andy Kalajian, Founder and President, Fort Leadership and Sales Consulting

Andy Kalajian is the Founder and President of Fort Leadership and Sales Consulting based in Alpharetta, GA. Andy founded Fort Leadership in 2019 after a 33-year career in Medical Device Sales and Marketing Leadership; 25 of those years were with Zimmer (NYSE ZBH) formerly a division of Bristol Myers Squibb (NYSE BMY).

Andy’s journey began at 9 years old when he started in Cub Scouts with his dad and his younger brother. His parents constantly reinforced the Scout lessons of Character and Integrity. Andy continued in Scouting and at the age of 16 he earned the rank of Eagle Scout. At 17 his mom handed him the book, How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. Andy credits that book with igniting his passion for learning how to get along with people. From Hill, to Covey, from Peale to Ziglar and Maxwell, Andy became a voracious reader of books about Leadership, Character, Communication and Teamwork.

After 5 years working as a golf caddie, Andy was the recipient of the prestigious Evans Scholarship Award (www.wgaesf.org). This full academic and housing college scholarship is awarded in recognition of a strong work ethic as a golf caddie, and strength of character, integrity, and leadership. Andy used his scholarship to earn a B.S. in Medical Technology from Michigan State University.

In 1985, Andy loaded up his car with nothing more than his resume, a sport coat and tie, $2500, a big dream and faith that God was going to fill in the gaps. He moved to Atlanta GA in pursuit of a medical sales career where he could leverage his passion for medicine to serve people. Andy grew his medical sales business well into 7 figures by applying the leadership, character, communication, and teamwork lessons he learned from reading books and listening to thought leaders. As Andy continued to advance in his career, he was invited to speak to organizations and train teams on those lessons learned throughout the United States and Puerto Rico.

Andy founded Fort Leadership to continue speaking, training, and coaching individuals and teams in leadership and character development. These skills foster growth in corporate leadership, communication, and teamwork. His corporate experience and insights train leaders to develop healthy corporate cultures with team members who are motivated, engaged, and purpose-driven, resulting in increased employee retention, team performance, and revenue growth!

Andy and his wife, Sherrie, live in Alpharetta, GA and have four adult children. They are members of Pastor Andy Stanley’s North Point Community Church (www.northpoint.org) where Andy is a small group leader in the North Point Men’s Ministry. Andy serves on the Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors at Avalon (www.gnfcc.com) where he started the successful Member 2 Member Business Roundtable.

Questions and Topics in this Interview:

What is your background and how did you come around to starting Fort Leadership and Sales Consulting?
How does Fort Leadership and Sales Consulting help businesses out there today?
What challenges are you hearing about in the business community?
What’s causing these business challenges?
Why is it so important for business owners today to understand the Millennials?
Can you tell us why it’s so important for Millennials to enroll in a personal and professional development curriculum?
What is the experience like to work with you and Fort Leadership?

North Fulton Business Radio is hosted by John Ray and broadcast and produced from the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta. You can find the full archive of shows by following this link. The show is available on all the major podcast apps, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, Amazon, iHeart Radio, Stitcher, TuneIn, and others.

Renasant Bank has humble roots, starting in 1904 as a $100,000 bank in a Lee County, Mississippi, bakery. Since then, Renasant has become one of the Southeast’s strongest financial institutions with over $13 billion in assets and more than 190 banking, lending, wealth management, and financial services offices in Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida. All of Renasant’s success stems from each of their banker’s commitment to investing in their communities as a way of better understanding the people they serve. At Renasant Bank, they understand you because they work and live alongside you every day.

Since 2000, Office Angels® has been restoring joy to the life of small business owners, enabling them to focus on what they do best. At the same time, we honor and support at-home experts who wish to continue working on an as-needed basis. Not a temp firm or a placement service, Office Angels matches a business owner’s support needs with Angels who have the talent and experience necessary to handle work that is essential to creating and maintaining a successful small business. Need help with administrative tasks, bookkeeping, marketing, presentations, workshops, speaking engagements, and more? Visit us at https://officeangels.us/.

Counting the Steps Along the Way

January 13, 2023 by John Ray

North Fulton Studio

Counting the Steps Along the Way

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Counting the Steps Along the Way

Counting the steps along the way by celebrating your firm’s milestones is not only rewarding, but also a trust builder for your business.

The Price and Value Journey is presented by John Ray and produced by the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX®.

About The Price and Value Journey

The title of this show describes the journey all professional services providers are on: building a services practice by seeking to convince the world of the value we offer, helping clients achieve the outcomes they desire, and trying to do all that at pricing which reflects the value we deliver.

If you feel like you’re working too hard for too little money in your solo or small firm practice, this show is for you. Even if you’re reasonably happy with your practice, you’ll hear ways to improve both your bottom line as well as the mindset you bring to your business.

The show is produced by the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® and can be found on all the major podcast apps. The complete show archive is here.

John Ray, Host of The Price and Value Journey

John Ray The Price and Value Journey — **John Ray, Host of “The Price and Value Journey”**

John Ray is the host of The Price and Value Journey.

John owns Ray Business Advisors, a business advisory practice. John’s services include advising solopreneur and small professional services firms on their pricing. John is passionate about the power of pricing for business owners, as changing pricing is the fastest way to change the profitability of a business. His clients are professionals who are selling their “grey matter,” such as attorneys, CPAs, accountants and bookkeepers, consultants, marketing professionals, and other professional services practitioners.

In his other business, John is a Studio Owner, Producer, and Show Host with Business RadioX®, and works with business owners who want to do their own podcast. As a veteran B2B services provider, John’s special sauce is coaching B2B professionals to use a podcast to build relationships in a non-salesy way which translate into revenue.

John is the host of North Fulton Business Radio, Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Radio, Alpharetta Tech Talk, and Business Leaders Radio. house shows which feature a wide range of business leaders and companies. John has hosted and/or produced over 1,700 podcast episodes.

Coming in 2023: A New Book!

John’s working on a book that will be released in 2023: The Price and Value Journey: Raise Your Confidence, Your Value, and Your Prices to Grow Your Business Using The Generosity Mindset. The book covers topics like value and adopting a mindset of value, pricing your services more effectively, proposals, and essential elements of growing your business. For more information, contact John below.

Connect with John Ray:

Website | LinkedIn | Twitter

Business RadioX®: LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

TRANSCRIPT

John Ray: [00:00:03] Hello. I’m John Ray on The Price and Value Journey. I just recorded show number 600 for North Fulton Business Radio, one of the shows that I host. And you know what? I’m pretty excited about this milestone. Celebrating the big achievements like a five, ten, or twenty year anniversary is not just appropriate. I think it’s mandatory because those milestones are remarkable both for you and your team.

John Ray: [00:00:38] But celebrating the grind, the day after day struggle is fitting as well. B2C companies do this a lot. Mcdonald’s comes to mind with their signs that say billions and billions served. But I don’t see too much of that from professional services providers. You know, it’s a win just to show up every day, to keep plugging away, to keep delivering.

John Ray: [00:01:03] If you’re not counting those steps along the way, you’re missing moments in which you can give your team members pats on the back. You’ve lost an opportunity to thank those who have supported you along the way. You’re passing up times you can take a pause yourself and say, “Wow. It’s been quite a journey.”

John Ray: [00:01:23] Further, you’re missing out on a trust builder with prospective clients. When I’m speaking with a prospective client, I’m able to tell them that I’ve hosted or produced somewhere around 1,700, 1,800 podcast episodes and counting. I’m communicating without having to say it explicitly that my team has seen it all, the good, the bad, the ugly, and the beautiful. And we bring all that experience and knowledge to the table when we work on their show.

John Ray: [00:01:56] If you’re a website developer, what would it mean to a prospective client to say how many websites you’ve built? If you’re a family law attorney, the number of cases you’ve closed. If you’re a social media marketer, the number of social media posts you’ve made. Or a videographer, hours of video footage you’ve released. If you’re an outsource H.R. professional, the number of employees you’ve been responsible for. Sure, you’re signaling that you’re an experienced professional, but you’re also communicating that you’re reliable and that you show up day after day confronting challenges and grinding it out. Count the steps in your journey and celebrate them.

John Ray: [00:02:46] And speaking of celebrating, I have to celebrate my team that helped me get to those 600 episodes for North Fulton Business Radio. So, thank you, Arlia Hoffman, Mildred Denis, Angi Shields, and Heather Bellew. I appreciate all of you. You’re terrific.

John Ray: [00:03:06] Hey, this is John Ray, again, on The Price and Value Journey. Past episodes of this series can be found at pricevaluejourney.com. And I would be honored if you would subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast app. And, also, hey, I’ve got big news for the new year ahead, I’ve got a new book coming out, The Price and Value Journey: Raise Your Confidence, Your Value, and Your Prices to Grow Your Business Using the Generosity Mindset. If you’d like to know more, you can email me at john@johnray.co. Thank you for joining me.

E38 Colin Ellis with Colin Ellis PTY LTD and Charity Carr with Olympus Construction Management

September 24, 2019 by Karen

E38-Colin-Ellis-with-Colin-Ellis-PTY-LTD-and-Charity-Carr-with-Mayo-Clinic1

Phoenix Business Radio

E38 Colin Ellis with Colin Ellis PTY LTD and Charity Carr with Olympus Construction Management

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E38 Colin Ellis with Colin Ellis PTY LTD and Charity Carr with Olympus Construction Management

As a Project Management leader are you focusing on your people? In this episode we chat with Colin Ellis and Charity Carr about the importance of the human element of Project Management. We kick off our discussion talking about Colin’s book, The Project Book. The discussion takes us to the people side of Project Management. As we focus on the soft skills of project management we recognize these actually are the hard items to focus on. We then discuss the importance of purpose and culture to achieve the results we’re looking to hit. The future of project management has us evolving away from the triple constraints and moving towards improving culture and providing value.

Listeners have asked to hear from PM leaders within the Construction industry and we hit the mark with Charity. She shared with us her experiences and the work she is doing to build and expand on the Mayo Clinic campus. We learn of the similarities and differences between construction projects and technology projects. Charity shares the benefits of IDP, Integrated Project Delivery within the design and construction space that leads to improved communication and teamwork.

Tune in for upcoming shows with Project Management leaders and subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcast, iHeartRadio, Spotify, Spreaker, Stitcher,or your favorite podcast platform! Thanks to our sponsor THE PMO SQUAD. Visit www.thepmosquad.com to learn about the Purpose Driven PMO and all their project management services.

Colin D Ellis is an award-winning international speaker, best-selling author and renowned workplace culture and project management expert who delivers speeches and development programs around the world that inspire, motivate and entertain!

Able to draw on more than 30 years of public and private sector project leadership experience in the UK, New Zealand and Australia, Colin gets people talking through his emphasis on people being the best version of themselves and creating teams and communities they can be proud of.

Colin is originally from Liverpool in the UK and now lives in Melbourne, Australia following six years in New Zealand. He is known for his snappy dressing, sense of humour and love of karaoke.

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

Olympus Construction Management is a Construction Consulting firm with offices in Phoenix, Arizona & Sacramento, California. They specialize in 3rd Party Project Management and Owner’s Representation. Olympus becomes a part of the Owner’s team and continuously represent their interests on the project. Beginning at project conception, they manage the entire process from planning through occupancy and even beyond. They listen to the Owner’s needs and implement their goals into each project.

With over 15 years of experience in the construction industry, Charity Carr is well-versed in many facets of design and construction. Owner, Project Management – Estimating, Budgets, Contracts, etc. Complete project oversight and management from conception to completion. Construction – Subcontractor Management, Assigned Division Management, Estimating, Project Engineering, Project Management Design – Revit Architectural Modeling, Test Fits, Interior/Exterior Wayfinding Sign Systems, Presentations, Database Design General – Document QA/QC, Employee Mentoring, Code Research, Software System Development Communication – Internal/External Team Management and Communication

Connect with Charity on LinkedIn.

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.

Episode 46: Leveraging Your Story for Team Cohesion with Hasani X

May 20, 2019 by Mike

Business Infrastructure

Episode 46: Leveraging Your Story for Team Cohesion with Hasani X

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“What are you fighting for?” According to Hasani X, the answer to this question sets the foundation for everything you do. But people need to know and hear this story in order to be compelled to work with you on a team or do business with you. In this episode, Hasani, a communications and performance expert, shares the people, processes and tools he leverages to help his clients dramatically transform their businesses and team dynamics through storytelling. He also shares how a personal tragedy led him to pivot from building businesses to building people.

Special Guest: Hasani X, Chief Storyteller at Lead Your Story

Location: Columbia, SC USA

Show Notes:

VideoDayWithX.com: learn more about Hasani’s Launch My Story program to magnetize your message and grow your business.
Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action: book by Simon Sinek.
Building a Story Brand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen: book by Donald Miller.
Tell Your Story Now: How to Unlock the Power of Your Personal Story to Attract, Lead and Inspire: Bo Eason’s FREE storytelling guide.
The Hero with a Thousand Faces: book by Joseph Campbell.

Leadership, Biotech & Driving Innovation for the Southeast!

July 28, 2013 by angishields

Global Leader Radio

Leadership, Biotech & Driving Innovation for the Southeast!

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Should Atlanta establish itself as the driver of innovation and connection for the Southeast? In this edition of Global Leader Radio!™, Dr. Stacy Shuker joined Alvin C. Miles to discuss the burgeoning life sciences industry and the leadership needed to expand the focus of biotech from local to regional.

Here are seven takeaways from our discussion:

When it’s broken, leaders fix it!
Never let them see you get angry.
Get comfortable with the fact that sometimes you won’t be right!
Mentoring doesn’t always have to be formal to be effective.
Listen more and talk less!
Alone time is important.
Achieving success doesn’t have to be “cut-throat.”

Listen in as Stacy explains how the industry has progressed and what’s needed to help realize its potential. Add her insights, tips and resources to your leadership toolkit. Leadership IS a conversation!

Dr. Stacy Williams Shuker/ President, Down South Innovation

Dr. Shuker has been a part of Atlanta’s innovation community since 2006. She started as a scientific advisor in an intellectual property law firm and as a volunteer in Georgia’s innovation non-profit organizations.

In 2008 she moved to the Georgia Department of Economic Development as the Director of the Center of Innovation for Life Sciences. It was there that she pioneered the use of social media in economic development after her marketing budget was cut by $85,000 during the Great Recession. It was from this social media base that she created a virtual community of life science innovators from across the Southeast that she still uses today. Downsouthinnovation.org provides regular updates on news and events from across the Southeast to its 1000 registered members.

As Director of Partnership Development for Georgia Bio, she initiated an industry outreach program, which resulted in several multi-billion dollar companies visiting Georgia’s research universities. Her partnership development firm, Down South Innovation, now connects clients with academic and corporate decision makers of the life science community in the Southeast.

She has chaired and served on several committees of Georgia Bio, Southeast BIO, Southeast Medical Device Association, the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, and the MIT Enterprise Forum of Atlanta. She is also a strong supporter of StartupLounge.com – an Atlanta based organization that pairs emerging companies with qualified investors. Dr. Shuker devotes her professional volunteer efforts to making the Southeastern region a thriving ecosystem for innovation and commercialization.

Dr. Shuker completed her undergraduate chemistry degree at the University of Georgia and went on to get her Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry at Carnegie Mellon.

Contact Stacy: (770) 725-7777, saw7777@gmail.com

Which Book Has Most Impacted Your Leadership Ability?

Stacy: