Scaling Up Business with Bill Gallagher

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

We help leadership teams with the biggest decisions around People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash so that they can Scale Up successfully and beat the odds of business growth. Scaling Up is based on Verne’s original best-selling business book, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Perfecting your pitch

Tue, 02 Apr 2024 11:54:00 -0400

In this episode, the focus is on mastering the art of pitching within the context of growing a company, emphasizing the importance of engaging people effectively despite their inherent complexities and irrationalities. Recognizing that people, including ourselves, operate in ways that might only make sense to them, the episode delves into how to craft a pitch that resonates and leads to more affirmative responses. The key lies in sharing a compelling vision of the future that addresses a problem or gap and depicts an improved future state. This approach not only demonstrates an understanding of the current challenges but also ignites excitement and passion, crucial elements for driving decision-making and action.

The episode further explores the significance of personalizing the pitch to align with the interests and desires of the audience. This requires setting aside one's own objectives to contemplate what truly matters to the other party, speculating on their motivations, and explicitly connecting the benefits of the proposal to their specific needs or goals. By articulating how the proposed vision relates directly to them, it's possible to create a more persuasive and impactful pitch. This strategy, comprising a clear depiction of the problem, a vision for a better future, and a personalized connection, is presented as a reliable formula for consistently perfect pitches, transcending the need for perfectly chosen words and instead focusing on genuinely addressing and engaging with the other person's aspirations and challenges.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Don't Self Sabotage with personal worries

Wed, 27 Mar 2024 11:14:00 -0400

In this episode, Bill delves into the psychological barriers that hinder our ability to secure affirmative responses in business interactions, emphasizing the detrimental impact of personal concerns and self-doubt. He identifies common worries, such as fearing one is too salesy or arrogant, and illustrates how these internal fears can prevent effective communication and diminish the enthusiasm in pitches or proposals. Bill proposes a solution to shift focus away from oneself and towards understanding and addressing the needs and interests of the other party. By acknowledging and setting aside personal concerns, rather than suppressing or compensating for them, individuals can engage more authentically and constructively in conversations. This approach encourages looking beyond one's insecurities to concentrate on the other person's perspective, fostering a more connected and productive dialogue that can lead to a mutually beneficial "yes." Bill's insights highlight the importance of self-awareness and adaptability in overcoming personal barriers, thereby enhancing the ability to scale one's business more enjoyably and effectively.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Designing a Company That Can Get Rich with Christopher Volk

Wed, 27 Mar 2024 10:00:00 -0400

The ultimate goal of building a company is to build its value. Designing a company that can get rich is not always top-of-mind for business owners, but it should be.

Christopher Volk is the author of The Value Equation. Christopher was instrumental in leading and publicly listing three successful companies, two of which he co-founded. A 2019 regional winner of EYs’ Entrepreneur of the Year award, Christopher is a frequent university lecturer and serves on multiple non-profit boards.

Not all companies are created equal. While many companies focus on their goods or services that are designed to make the world a better place, what separates an average company from a successful company is its ability to master the financial aspects of business.

In order to get really good at one thing to the point that people are willing to pay money for it, business owners have to be willing to reject a lot of other things. Determine who your core customers are, identify what you can do to bring them value, and hone in on just that, leaving everything else behind.

Consider what you would do if you could do it all over again. How can you disrupt your business, or put yourself out of business? Those are the steps you need to take today to make your company more successful tomorrow.

Interview Links:

Christopher Volk

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Talent Assessment and Development

Tue, 26 Mar 2024 10:52:00 -0400

In this episode, Bill introduces a comprehensive approach to talent assessment aimed at enhancing team performance and fostering a positive work environment as businesses grow. He emphasizes the critical importance of assembling a team that not only performs well but also aligns with the company's values and culture. Bill introduces the concept of a talent assessment tool and process that focuses on two main criteria: fit with the company's values and performance in their current roles. This straightforward assessment provides a clear strategy for managing team members, highlighting the need to nurture high performers who embody the company's ethos and reconsider the fit of those who don't, regardless of their performance.

Bill delves into categorizing team members into A players, B players, and those who neither fit the company's culture nor meet performance expectations. He suggests actionable strategies for each category, including training for B players to enhance their performance and making the tough decision to part ways with those who, despite high performance, do not fit the company's culture. This segment emphasizes the impact of each team member on the overall team dynamic, underscoring the importance of alignment between individual contributions and the company's core values for sustained growth and success.

Throughout the episode, Bill encourages leaders to undertake this talent assessment process with rigor and caution, ensuring that decisions are based on accurate evaluations of both fit and performance. This thoughtful approach to team management aims to increase the proportion of A players within the organization, thereby improving team morale, performance, and ultimately, the company's ability to scale effectively.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Dignity in The Modern Workplace with Ari Weinzweig

Wed, 20 Mar 2024 10:00:00 -0400

Does dignity in the workplace really matter? Plenty of companies seem to get by without upholding dignity, but with over 40 years of experience and $60 million in annual sales, today’s return podcast guest knows there is a better way.

Ari Weinzweig is the co-founder of Zingermans Delicatessen. Ari, alongside his co-founder, Paul Saginaw, started Zingerman’s in 1982 as a restaurant and specialty food retail space. Now the Zingerman’s Community of Businesses has 23 partners, employs over 750 people, and generates over $60 million in annual sales from ten separate businesses.

In countries and companies alike where dignity is the norm, progress can happen. Companies that are run by tyrants limit growth and eliminate progress. Dignity has been central to the success of Andy’s 42-year business partnership with Paul Sagen. Together they built and expanded a community business that has provided people with a place to connect.

Ari reflects on his vision and approach to successful business scaling. Ten years in, he and his partner realized they had reached a threshold of success without a clear vision of where to go next. A vision is a win-win future and an action plan to make it happen. And integral to the success of the vision is the upheld dignity for everyone involved.

Ari highlights the six elements of dignity that he has challenged himself to work with every day. From honoring humanity to acting authentically without acting out, dignity is at the core of success in the modern workplace.

Interview Links:

Ari Weinzweig

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Process Accountability PACe

Tue, 19 Mar 2024 10:49:00 -0400

In this episode, Bill explores the crucial concept of process accountability as a key driver for company growth and efficiency. Focusing on the interplay between team engagement, performance, and the seamless integration of various business processes, Bill sheds light on the importance of defining and managing core processes distinct from functional responsibilities within a company. He emphasizes that processes like the transition from lead to customer experience involve multiple departments and, without clear accountability, can lead to missed opportunities and inefficiencies.

Bill delves into the idea that while functions such as sales, marketing, and operations have clear leaders, cross-functional processes often lack a defined ownership, leading to potential issues in the handoff between departments. By identifying core processes and establishing metrics and ownership, companies can mitigate risks and improve overall performance. Bill encourages listeners to map out their business processes, identify where functional handoffs occur, and appoint process owners to ensure smooth operations and enhance the customer journey from lead generation to payment collection.

Throughout the episode, Bill provides actionable advice on how to identify, map, and measure core business processes, stressing the importance of accountability and leadership in process management. He suggests that this strategic focus on process accountability is essential for businesses aiming to scale effectively and maintain high levels of operational excellence.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Developing and training people for performance and retention

Thu, 14 Mar 2024 02:44:00 -0400

In this insightful episode, Bill dives into the critical importance of fostering a culture of learning and development within businesses to fuel growth and ensure talent retention. Bill emphasizes the necessity for every team member to contribute effectively and how investing in employee development significantly enhances job satisfaction and loyalty. He shares practical advice for companies, especially those operating with limited resources, on how to cultivate a continuous learning environment that benefits both employees and the organization.

Bill outlines actionable strategies for integrating learning into the company's fabric, highlighting innovative and budget-friendly approaches such as "lunch and learn" sessions and leveraging tools like Trainual for efficient learning management. He stresses the positive outcomes of becoming a learning organization, including improved employee performance, increased value, and stronger retention rates. Tune in as Bill unpacks the steps businesses of any size can take to build a dynamic and supportive learning culture, ultimately driving their success and scalability.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Transforming the State of Small Business with Michael E. Gerber

Wed, 13 Mar 2024 10:00:00 -0400

Are you working at a job, or are you working at building a business that will be worth enough to sell someday?

Michael E. Gerber is the author of the NY Times mega-bestseller for two consecutive decades, The E-Myth Revisited, and nine other worldwide best-selling E-Myth books. For over 40 years, Michael has been impacting the lives of small business owners as one of the world's most renowned small business thought leaders.

With 34 books in his name, Michael is a rockstar author who describes his success with The E-Myth Revisited a complete accident. He knew how to sell encyclopedias, and he quickly learned how to sell systems for any company. The true product of a business is the business itself, and therein lies the secret of success. Instead of trying to reinvent everything all the time, the basics of business are the same across the board. Companies succeed when they have their basics covered.

Michael shares the success of McDonald’s, what he calls the most successful small business in the world. It’s not the culture of a company that creates the success, it’s the approach to developing people in a way that they know the story, the vision, and the values of a company and can deliver it to customers over and over again.

In business, practice absolutely makes perfect. The experience of practicing creates a ritual, and that ritual leads to mastery. When companies can master their offerings in a way that can be delivered flawlessly to their customers, they will find success.

Interview Links:

Michael E. Gerber

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Focusing on the Systems, Not the Symptoms with Dave Newell

Wed, 06 Mar 2024 11:00:00 -0400

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by unsuccessful attempts to grow your business, you may be too focused on the systems. Growth happens when the focus shifts to addressing the systems, not the symptoms, of your company.

Today’s guest is Dave Newell, CEO of Evolve Leadership Consulting. Dave works with small business leaders to implement the Five Facets of Business — a small business operating system — to optimize processes and foster team alignment around culture, strategy, operations, story, and finances.

When systems and behaviors are aligned, the magic can start to happen. In the early days of Dave’s work, he quickly realized that every business is a series of systems that not only have to interact with each other, but they have a major impact on each other.

Dave highlights a $750,000 company that had the goal of scaling up to $20 million. Their operations were a nightmare, the CEO had unrealistic goals, and the team was uninspired and stressed out. The systems — not the symptoms — were the root problem that was holding this company back. By creating simplified, scalable structures, the company was able to create manageable systems that more effectively supported its target market and its core business.

Business is a complex web. Every decision impacts other decisions, and it takes a good hard look at what really matters most to figure out the next steps. Too often business owners hyperfocus on the one angle that makes them look good, but everyone around you can see your business success, or failure, from every angle. Ignore the symptoms, and the problems will only get worse. Address the symptoms, and real growth can finally start to happen.

Interview Links:

Dave Newell

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Using Meaning in Your Marketing with Pete Steege

Wed, 28 Feb 2024 11:00:00 -0400

There is power in meaning, especially in your marketing, and it may be the ticket to achieving the growth that you are seeking.

Pete Steege is the CEO of B2B Clarity. With over 30 years of marketing experience with a wide range of B2B technology and manufacturing businesses, Pete helps companies manage and scale their businesses by using meaning in their marketing to scale their businesses.

In the early days of his career, Pete realized that marketing focused on sharing intellectual information while entirely missing the why behind the message. Marketing is supposed to be about relationships, and relationships are built on meaning. Companies grow when clients can clearly see why you can help them reach their goals.

Pete shares the factors that create meaning behind these relationships, including authenticity. Tell the truth about why you are here in a transparent and authentic way. Focus on the work that you care about rather than trying to meet the needs of a too-broad spectrum of clients.

The trust that you grow with your key clients is the most powerful element to your success. When you lean into, and then highlight, what you care about most, the growth will occur naturally.

Interview Links:

Pete Steege

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Manifesto

Tue, 27 Feb 2024 11:00:00 -0400

A great tool for reinforcing your strategy over time and embedding it in your company’s culture is the manifesto. An effective manifesto can be read daily, or at least weekly, shared with your team like a manifestation, and provides the opportunity to reflect on its relevance today. When reflected on often, a manifesto encourages people to apply its truths to their day-to-day actions and goals.

There is a simple formula for developing your manifesto. First, identify the purpose. What is the “why” of the work you are doing? Next, consider your values and brand promises. Then, turn to your BHAG to round out your manifesto.

Bill’s manifesto is clear and gives him purpose in the work he does each day. Over time, your manifesto will become deeply ingrained in the decisions that you make and pull everyone on your team toward the company’s core strategy.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Franchising Your Business For Growth — Lance Graulich

Wed, 21 Feb 2024 11:00:00 -0400

There are plenty of ways to grow your business, but until you’ve worked out your strategy, it can be really hard to scale. One strategy makes funding growth much easier — franchising.

Joining the show today is Lance Graulich. Known as the “King of Franchising,” Lance is the CEO of ION Franchising, an industry-leading franchise consulting and development group that represents over 800 franchise brands and business opportunities in every imaginable category. He’s also the host of the Eye on Franchising Podcast. Lance has helped over 1,000 people go from “Wannabe” Entrepreneurs to Franchise owners with his work and has helped Franchises such as TGI Fridays grow to over $225 million in revenue.

Franchises, and optimized businesses in general, aren’t about the business, they’re about the people. Successful leaders look for the people who know how to get the job done and build a great business up from there. From the bald guy who owns hair salons to the garage door franchisee who just exited for $98 million, franchises provide a perfect opportunity to develop an empire without having any specialized knowledge of the business.

Lance has insights into avoiding failure as well. In any franchise selection process, there are people to meet and questions to ask to determine whether it’s the right fit for you. He also covers scaling tactics, innovation strategies, and the power of choosing a franchise over the slow, organic growth of the traditional stand-alone company.

Interview Links:

Lance Graulich

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

One-Phrase Strategy

Tue, 20 Feb 2024 11:00:00 -0400

Sometimes the littlest things are the hardest things. Many people really struggle with their one-phrase strategy. The one-phrase strategy distills everything your business offers down to your competitive, profitable advantage over everyone else.

The way you do business, your customer advantage, or the way you deliver goods or services all could become your one-phrase strategy. It’s generally operational, and it gives you a great competitive profit advantage.

After you’ve figured out your brand promises, your core customer, and your differentiating activities, you need to look for the thing in all of that that can become your one-phrase strategy. When you find it, you’ve got the key to being profitable and competitive over time.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Creating a Bullseye for Customer Experience — Ali Cudby

Wed, 14 Feb 2024 11:00:00 -0400

Every company wants to grow faster, but what is the point of scaling up if you can’t retain the employees and customers you’ve already got? You have to deliver exceptional customer experience so that the growth you’re working on actually matters.

Ali Cudby is the Founder and CEO of Alignmint Growth Strategies, which delivers consulting and training so you and your team know what to do to prevent customer churn before it starts. Ali knows customer experience is not a department — it’s cross-functional. She is the author of the #1 best-selling book on customer retention, Keep Your Customers.

Straight out of business school, Ali was staffed on a project with the call center at the New York Times. She saw firsthand that the company was not engaging with its call center employees in a way that aligned with its global brand. She quickly learned that the way you engage with your team has a huge impact on the way that they engage with your customers, and that means the customer experience really matters.

The action steps to creating a culture that targets the customer experiences are simple. Make employees feel valued. Pay them an attractive wage. Give them swag or company merchandise so they feel like they are part of the team. Consider your customers. Do you give as much love to your existing customers as you do to your brand-new customers? Do you provide a higher tier of customer support to your higher-tier customers? Do you spend as much time maintaining long-term relationships as you do onboarding new customers?

Ali’s experiences — from bra fitting to lingerie consulting to the work that she does now with Alignmint — all underscore the same message. When you focus on the customer experience, you are fostering long-term loyalty and the potential for the kind of scaling up that lasts.

Interview Links:

Ali Cudby

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Profit Per X

Tue, 13 Feb 2024 11:00:00 -0400

Profit per X is a strategic KPI that indicates the potential of the unit of measure that is most constrained in your business.

As an independent coach, Bill’s most constrained thing is the number of days that he can work or profit per day. A laundry delivery service may deal with profit per truck or profit per stop. When you identify and optimize the number of profit per your X, it may be per customer, per product, per transaction, or per job, but whatever it may be, if you can optimize it, you can make a meaningful difference in your growth. Consider the pros and cons of optimizing your per X, and then focus on the one that will lead to the greatest growth. Strategic decisions about how you lead, grow, and scale will come more easily as a result.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

All In — Mike Michalowicz

Wed, 07 Feb 2024 11:00:00 -0400

Nothing significant happens when you’re working alone. If you want to do anything big, you’re going to need a powerhouse team.

Return podcast guest Mike Michalowicz founded and sold two multi-million dollar businesses by his 35th birthday. He is the bestselling author of Profit First, The Pumpkin Plan, Clockwork, and Fix This Next. He has built two additional multimillion-dollar companies and has become one of the world’s most popular speakers on small business topics. His new book is All In: How Great Leaders Build Unstoppable Teams.

The vision you may have for your business is not necessarily the same vision for the entirety of your team. Leaders often work in their own self-interest, but powerful leaders work to help their team realize their dreams as well. As you as a leader prioritize their vision, they will begin to prioritize the vision of the company.

What do your people want? Why should they perform to the best of their ability? Effective leaders prioritize recognition, create traditions in the workplace, and foster a workplace culture that celebrates the dreams and accomplishments of every team member.

Mike wants leaders to treat people as human beings rather than human resources. He highlights the transformation that the right captain was able to inspire on the worst-performing ship in the Navy. It takes a team to be successful, and that team needs 100% commitment from every single member. When the team is all in, the success is unstoppable.

Interview Links:

Mike Michalowicz

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

X-Factor

Tue, 06 Feb 2024 11:00:00 -0400

Your X-factor is the thing that gives you an advantage in your marketplace. It is your secret sauce to being better and standing out from your competition. It’s the key to growing faster than anyone else.

It’s not easy to figure out your X-factor, and when you do, you have to keep it a secret that you can use for as long as you can because it doesn’t last forever. A truly great X-factor will expire as it is figured out by other people.

You can figure out your X-factor by determining if your obstacle to growth is more about supply or demand. Identify the key barriers to meeting those supply or demand needs, and then figure out which one you are going to solve in a unique, innovative, or sexy way. That is your X-factor.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

The Business of Safety — Apolonia Rockwell

Wed, 31 Jan 2024 11:00:00 -0400

Safety is at the core of the culture of every business. Sometimes it’s in direct ways, sometimes in indirect ways, but safety is always at the core of the work people do.

Apolonia Rockwell is the Founder and CEO of True Safety Services, a company that specializes in on-site safety consulting and in helping employers with Safety/CDL Training local to Colorado, as well as nationwide.

With a front-row seat to the dangers and harsh realities of hazards in the workplace in her childhood, adult Apolonia was fascinated and relieved to learn about federally mandated safety requirements. She now works to bridge the gap between a company’s safety director and the employees they work to protect.

As a strong female in a male-dominated field, Apolonia has taken an effective approach to getting employee buy-in, connecting with the unspoken leaders, and using curiosity to invoke respect.

Safety is often disregarded or minimized, but effective safety practices always start with leadership. Effective cultural change can only happen when leaders exhibit the behavior they want to see in their team.

Apolonia shares a variety of incidents, insights, and experiences she has had over the years, and the ultimate safety that leaders in every field need to focus on — the mental and emotional health of their employees.

Interview Links:

Apolonia Rockwell

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Words You Own

Tue, 30 Jan 2024 11:00:00 -0400

If you asked people to pick three or four words to describe you and your business, what would they say? Would your customers and partners recognize your clear identity, or would they stumble?

The words that you want to own in the future are the words that you invest in over time, starting now. Bill wants to be known as The Scaling Coach, and he has focused years and hours of effort on making that a reality.

The key to identifying the words that you want to own is by talking to other people about their perception of you. Try Googling your business and asking your peers. Invest in the marketing that will secure your identity in the way you want to be known. The more specific you are, the easier it will be for you to own those words.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Fire Yourself First — Jeff Russell

Wed, 24 Jan 2024 11:00:00 -0400

How can you get out of your business so that it can actually grow and thrive? Chances are, you’ve had days when you wished you could fire yourself. In reality, when it’s time to exit, you need to be the first person out the door.

Jeff Russell is a best-selling author, renowned speaker, and accomplished entrepreneur. As the founder of many successful businesses and author of his latest book, Fire Yourself First, Jeff is an expert in helping business owners break free from the daily grind. Get ready for an insightful conversation as we delve into his proven strategies for achieving business success and living a life well-balanced.

Once Jeff decided he wanted to work just 10 days a month, he focused on finding a way to build up his businesses so that they could run without him. By hiring and training people who could run the business without him there, he essentially built an ATM for himself.

His book underscores a four-step program that transforms an overbooked life into a 10-day-a-month work program. Wise business owners use the knowledge they have to create a business they care about while avoiding enslavement for the rest of their lives. By creating a bigger picture than simply where you are today, you can begin to craft the life that will offer you greater freedom in the future.

Discovering your why, the purpose of your life, is the key to creating the life you want. Ask yourself what you are proud of, what you find deeply satisfying, and what your contributions are to the world around you.

When you build up a business that helps solve problems, and then remove yourself from that business, you’ve created a business that is worth more than it would be if you were there running it day after day. Don’t be selfish, fire yourself for the sake of your business.

Interview Links:

Jeff Russell

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Guarantee Catalytic Mechanism

Tue, 23 Jan 2024 11:00:00 -0400

What is your guarantee? When you put your money where your mouth is, you lock in your brand promise. A guarantee can also serve as a catalytic mechanism that keeps your team focused on the right things and rewards the right behavior.

Whether it’s a money-back guarantee or rewards for improvement, your strong guarantee serves as a bounty for the promise you have made. Make it big and make it strong to make it effective.

Bill’s guarantee is that if you are unhappy with his team’s work at any point you can apply a credit on your next invoice and leave the program that you’re in. A guarantee is a powerful tool that lets people know that you are serious about their satisfaction.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Gain the Advantage by Leveraging the Voice of Your Customer — Mark Allen Roberts

Wed, 17 Jan 2024 11:00:00 -0400

How many of your strategy problems could be solved if only you knew what your customers have to say about your business?

Mark Allen Roberts is the CEO and Founder at OTB Solutions, a Certified Scaling Up Coach, and a data-driven sales growth expert with over 37 years of experience in helping manufacturing CEOs and business leaders strategically drive explosive growth in revenue, profits, and shareholder value.

Once Mark tasted the satisfaction of finding and solving customer problems — and turning a 10 million dollar business into a 300 million dollar sale as a result — he was hooked. As a scaling coach, he has helped myriad companies solve their problems by doing one simple thing. Too many salespeople focus on their generic sales pitch when really, they need to be asking better questions and figuring out how to solve their customers’ problems.

Talking to the customer about brand promise generalities is not enough. Effective problem solvers identify the needs that their customers have and then highlight those solutions in ways that are credible to their target audience.

It doesn’t matter how busy you are, or how hard this work may sound. If you are willing to put in the time and effort to actually talk to your customers, uncover their needs with effective questions, and find solutions to those needs, you will find the success that is waiting right in front of you.

Interview Links:

OTB Solutions

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Differentiating Activities

Tue, 16 Jan 2024 11:00:00 -0400

What are your differentiating activities? Differentiating activities are the operation-side things that you do differently than anyone else. They also help you achieve your brand promises over time. How are you able to deliver different results and, ultimately, a superior value to your customers?

Start by identifying your brand promises, then look at the unique ways that you are operating. What is unique about your products and services, your operations, your team, and about the way you execute your promises? Think across strategy, across marketing, and the economic engine of your business. What is different about you?

Next, consider your key competitors and what they have to offer that is different from you. Then identify up to seven key unique things about your operations that you can emphasize and invest in. For Bill, a podcast, online learning, and a focus on scale set him apart from his competitors.

The internal, operational ways that you fulfill brand promises will create a unique, valuable company that is not like everyone else.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Differentiating Your Business By Doing Things That Don’t Scale with Alex Sanfilippo

Wed, 10 Jan 2024 11:00:00 -0400

Alex Sanfilippo is an entrepreneur, SaaS Founder, and Podcast Host. He is the CEO of PodPros, a software company specifically focused on independent podcast hosts and their guests to elevate their voices through podcasting and be heard.

In his 15 years in the aerospace industry, Alex worked his way from taking out the trash up to the C-Suite. When he was told to stop the above-and-beyond initiative, he realized it was time for a major change. After an initial struggle, Alex identified a better equation for entrepreneurship and he was on his way to real success.

Alex’s equation is simple. Find an area of passion, get into the community of that area of passion, find a problem that they are struggling with, and then offer the fastest possible solution to that problem. When you focus on that problem, and your ability to solve it, you differentiate yourself in a way that allows you to stand out.

Potential customers will tell you what their pain points are, and when they are, and your job is to solve it. When you do, and they put their money where their pain is, you’ve got a standout business that is going to make things happen.

Interview Links:

PodPros

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Brand Promises

Tue, 09 Jan 2024 11:00:00 -0400

Brand promises are what your customers can expect from you. It’s what sets you apart from the competition. You want to have three key brand promises that make your offerings clear.

Your first brand promise should be your basic, core offering. The second brand promise should be a differentiator and highlight what makes you better than the other options. And for Bill, the third brand promise is all about fun. That may not be a fit for everyone, but it is perfect for the customers that Bill wants to do business with.

Once you have figured out your core customer, ask them what they consider different or better about you. Their answers will help you hone in on and avoid holding onto your anti-brand promises. Doing so can set you apart as a differentiated, profitable business.

If you’re having a hard time identifying your brand promises, write down what you know and ask AI to help you distill your offerings down to just a few keywords that will highlight what your brand promises are.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Success in the NFL and in Building a Business with Chris Gronkowski

Wed, 03 Jan 2024 11:00:00 -0400

Nothing easy is ever handed out for free, but the challenge of working for what you want most is always worth the reward.

After playing for the Dallas Cowboys, Indianapolis Colts, and Denver Broncos, Chris Gronkowski ventured out to build a product with the aim to alleviate the challenges athletes experience with the standard protein shakers. Owner and inventor of the Ice Shaker, Chris has joined the Scaling Up podcast to share the highs and lows of his business growth.

One of five brothers, Chris was raised in a business-minded family. Always racing each other and always challenging each other to see who was faster and stronger, Chris learned how to compete — and win — at an early age. From his first paper route job, through college, and all the way to the NFL football field, Chris learned the lessons of hard work that he has used to build a successful business.

Time with the NFL doesn’t last forever, but Chris was able to carry over his passion for sports and fitness from the field into his business Ice Shaker. His big break in business came after being highlighted on ABC’s Shark Tank, where millions of viewers saw the product, investors including Mark Cuban were brought in, and their success skyrocketed.

On the flip side, Chris admits that the first three years of building his business kept him awake every night. Learning how to delegate and actually allow others to take over aspects of a business was a huge aspect of his eventual success. From sponsors and investors to what it was really like to compete on Shark Tank and QVC, Chris shares his insights into what it takes to build a successful business.

Interview Links:

Ice Shaker

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Your Core Customer

Tue, 02 Jan 2024 11:00:00 -0400

Do you know who your core customer is? The core customer is the buyer that you want to focus on. Your core customer loves working with you, would heartily recommend you, and willingly pays your full price. Your core customer is the top 20% of your clientele.

Consider the essential qualities of your core customer and take time to learn more about what makes them who they are. The more qualitative factors you have about them, the more you will understand what you need to do to more effectively engage with them.

For Bill, the core customer is highly motivated, open to growth, and a good personality fit. Give your core customer a distinct name to set them apart from your average client. By identifying just two or three clear characteristics of your core customer, you will be able to increase your effectiveness and engagement all around.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

“Maximize the Value of Your Business — Nick Arellano”

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

The Best of Scaling Up 2023

Wed, 27 Dec 2023 11:00:00 -0400

In this week’s episode, Scaling Up has lined up eight fan-favorite episodes from 2023. In case you’ve missed any of these classics, we have compiled a quick recap of each of the episodes and the guests below. Thank you for listening to the Scaling Up show!

How can you get the most for your company and maximize the value of your company? The value of your business comes from how well the business can run without you. Nick Arellano is an award-winning M&A veteran who helps business owners get the most money from the sale of their companies. This conversation is filled with key moves that company owners need to consider when strategizing their sale, negotiation considerations, and what owners can realistically expect from the sale.

Empathy is a leadership skill and an essential cultural practice that matters more today than ever before. Rob Volpe is an astute observer of life and a master storyteller who brings empathy and compassion to the human experience. As CEO of Ignite 360, he leads a team of insights, strategy, and creative professionals serving the world’s leading brands across a range of industries. He is the author of the Silver Benjamin Franklin award-winning book, Tell Me More About That: Solving the Empathy Crisis One Conversation at a Time. You don’t have to look very far to see that there is an empathy crisis in our world today. Rob’s focus is on the how-to of empathy. Once you see that there is a problem what can you actually do about it?

The United States is losing over 100,000 people and experiencing over half a trillion dollars of economic impact each year due to opioids, including fentanyl. That’s more than a 737 crash per day. This public health and national security issue is a supply-and-demand problem that, unlike previous epidemics, our nation is failing to resolve. Guest Admiral Winnefeld graduated from Georgia Tech with a degree in Aerospace Engineering and served for 37 years in the United States Navy. He flew the F-14 Tomcat and served as an instructor at TopGun and as senior aide-de-camp to General Colin L. Powell.

What can we learn from sports about making the right calls? Sally Jenkins has been a Washington Post columnist and feature writer for nearly 30 years. She was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2019 and the winner of the Associated Press Red Smith Award for Outstanding Contributions to Sports Journalism in 2021. For sports fans, business leaders, and anyone who wants to elevate their game — whatever that game may be — Sally joined the podcast to share what it takes for ordinary people to achieve extraordinary results.

Real connections win out over canned messages every single time, but how can you amplify your brand narrative through organic content that makes those meaningful connections? Morgan Ingram is the founder behind Ascencion Media Productions (AMP). He’s a sales educator and content creator and has been named one of the Top 50 Sales Leaders to Follow by LinkedIn, a Top 25 Sales Development Thought Leader by Inside Sales, and a Four-time LinkedIn Top Sales Voice. Technology has enabled people to be lazy at scale, which can have a massive negative impact on your potential audience.

Just as professional pilots, doctors, and golfers regularly return to the fundamentals, it is just as essential in the business world to continually return to the basics of the performance platform. This episode of the Scaling Up Podcast features Verne Harnish, a world-leading expert, speaker, author, and entrepreneur in the field of business growth. Together they offer insights into Altman’s Maxims, Jobs’s doers vs. dreamers, the power of asking, daily routines, remote work, and much more.

A sales playbook is designed to help deliver the kind of results you are aiming for. Morné Smit has spent his life elevating respect for sales and marketing professionals in dozens of companies across 28-plus industries on three continents. Developing from a salesperson to leading sales teams in six different industries, including spearheading a 10X growth outcome over five years in a mid-market property company, Morné gained invaluable insight, knowledge, and experience over two decades that brought him to found Emerse in 2017.

As second in command, COOs are often in place for a reason or a season, but rarely for the lifetime of a company. Cameron Herold is the mastermind behind hundreds of companies’ exponential growth and has earned his reputation as the business growth guru. He has built a dynamic consultancy with clients that include a monarchy and a Big 4 wireless company. Cameron discusses his new book The Second in Command.

How can bad language enhance the way you connect with others? There is power in language. As a leader, the way you articulate your company’s value and vision matters. There is power in using language intentionally and connecting with others with the words you use. Professor Valerie Fridland is a Professor of Linguistics at the University of Nevada, Reno. The goal of her research is to better understand how variability in speech production relates to variability in speech perception and how social identity affects speech.

Interview Links:

“Empathy — Tell Me More About That with Robert Volpe”

“Admiral Sandy Winnefeld — Losing a 737 Every Day”

“Bet on You — How to Make Every Decision THE RIGHT CALL — Sally Jenkins”

“Social Selling 2.0 with Morgan Ingram”

“Insights with Verne Harnish”

“Morné Smit — Sales Playbook for Greater Sales & Profit”

“Cameron Herold — "The Second in Command — Unleash the Power of Your COO"

“Dr. Valerie Fridland — The Good Side of Bad Language”

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Inspiring Conversations

Tue, 26 Dec 2023 11:00:00 -0400

Great leaders inspire other people. There are a number of ways to inspire, but if all of your excitement and passion about your business only lives in your head, it’s not really doing much good at all. You want to light other people up about what your business can do and where it is heading.

Inspiring conversations start with sharing your purpose, your BHAG, your vivid vision, and the solutions you have to the problems that you see in the world. Talk about the moment that you committed to getting involved in the business and how you have been transformed as a result.

When you can share your vision with others, you will be better at hiring and retaining team members. You will be a better partner, a better salesperson, a better fundraiser, and eventually better at selling your company.

Map out your vision, share emotions out loud, and improve your storytelling skills. You don’t have to be perfect at it, but you do want to develop your inspiring storytelling skills so that you become the leader that people truly want to hear from.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Ask of Your Needs and Share of Your Abundance with Curt Bear

Wed, 20 Dec 2023 11:00:00 -0400

Everyone likes to say they come from a place of abundance, but who really means it? And what happens when people are vulnerable enough to ask for their needs?

Today Bill is joined by Curt Bear, founder of LoCo Think Tank, a small-business peer advisory group founded in 2014 in Northern Colorado to help business owners be more confident leaders and grow their businesses faster through perspective, accountability, and support.

From small business banker to mobile food trailer owner, LoCo Think Tank was born out of Curt’s desire to facilitate peer advisory at an affordable price point. His group asks tough questions, addresses blind spots, and makes a positive impact on their community.

There are givers and takers around the world, in every business, and every community. Sharing your abundance is something that some people are wired for, and volunteering can have just as much meaning as consulting or working for pay. Curt’s group includes a dozen high-achieving small business veterans who are in a place of abundance and want to share what they have been given.

Asking for your needs is an essential step to success. Surrounding yourself with a support group or think tank that can help you identify your priorities will help you get what you need, even when you don’t recognize it yourself.

Curt highlights his own experience with wanting to operate a food truck while also recognizing via his mentors that he was not going to achieve the success he wanted in life by continuing down that path. Identify the appropriate people that you can share your needs with, and you just may find the solutions that you didn’t think of yourself.

Interview Links:

Curt Bear

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Your Vivid Vision

Tue, 19 Dec 2023 11:00:00 -0400

Once you’ve established the purpose of your work and identified your BHAG, you need to create a vivid vision of your near future. Where do you want to be in 3‒5 years? What do your company, your team, your customers, and your product look like?

Set aside some time when you can be uninterrupted, calm down, and look at the vision of your future. What does the business you are working so hard to build look like? What does your day look like when you’ve reached that 3‒5-year mark?

Write down what will be said about your future company. Write your vision and identify specifics that will help you create this vivid vision of your future. Creating a rich picture in your mind is a powerful tool that walks you through your future success and motivates you to take the necessary steps to craft the business you are dreaming of.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Hiring Veterans and Why They Make Excellent Team Members & Business Owners

Wed, 13 Dec 2023 11:00:00 -0400

In honor of Veteran’s Day, Bill has gathered an elite group of military veterans, including Jason Simas, Dustin Zroka, and Betsy Feaster, for a conversation about hiring veterans and why they make excellent team members and business owners.

From Air Force investigation to Exxon executive, Betsy Feaster now works as the CEO of Dog Training Elite. Her military experience trained her in problem-solving, work ethic, and teamwork, and gave her a great understanding of what is required to get a mission accomplished.

Retired Master Sergeant U.S. Air Force Jason Simas had over 20 years of service in culinary arts, acquisitions, and negotiations, all of which led him to become an oyster bar franchise owner. His military experience trained him in effective communication with leaders, taking orders at times, and at other times pushing back for better results.

Dustin Zroka is the current CEO of TruBlue Home Service Ally. He also served for four years of active duty in the Navy, did a two-year stint in the Army National Guard, and returned to the Navy Reserves in 2015. As a franchise operator, Dustin’s military experience has underscored his resiliency, and the majority of his technicians are veterans.

In the military, you make the best of whom you’re given to work with, whether it’s senior leadership who talk down to everyone under them or those who treat others with civility regardless of rank. In civilian life, veterans have the opportunity to choose who they work with as well as the work they are willing to do.

These veterans share the lessons they have learned and advice for their younger selves, including taking risks, navigating budgeting differences, flexibility in taking on new adventures, and recognizing and fulfilling your duty in whatever task you are faced with.

Interview Links:

Betsy Feaster

Jason Simas

Dustin Zroka

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

BHAG

Tue, 12 Dec 2023 11:00:00 -0400

A BHAG — a Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal — can play to your strengths. It’s not meant to be reasonable in any way; instead, it’s designed to inspire you to transform into something interesting.

A BHAG also isn’t meant to be a financial goal. No one really cares that you want to be a billion-dollar company. But you can accomplish a compelling BHAG if you can translate that financial goal into something that is aligned with purpose. Take your financial goal, figure out what your impact will be on the world, and create a goal that pumps up your ego and ignites your passion.

Once Bill set — and started talking about — his BHAG goal of reaching 5 million leaders before retirement, he found opportunities through podcasting, public speaking, and engagements beyond what he ever could have originally imagined. Ten years later he is actually on track to reach his BHAG and is proof that pushing yourself far outside of your comfort zone is the key to reaching even your most outrageous goals and turning your dreams into reality.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Don’t Give Up on “The American Dream” — R.T. Custer

Wed, 06 Dec 2023 11:00:00 -0400

Contrary to popular belief, the American dream, as well as the classic statement wristwatch, are not a thing of the past. Today’s guest shares an incredible story of bringing both to life while legally battling an industry supergiant along the way.

R.T. Custer is a Colorado-based entrepreneur, speaker, and co-founder of Vortic Watch Company. He helps founders create a life of freedom through community, connection, and mentorship and is on a continual journey toward the American dream. Today he shares his "David vs. Goliath" story as he took on Swatch.

Watches are not currently made in the United States, but after learning that millions of pocket watches were created in the U.S. between 1850 and 1950, R.T. designed a way to create a 100% American wristwatch by upcycling an antique American-made pocket watch. The idea was crowdfunded and appeared to be a viable business model until Swatch served Vortic with cease and desist papers and a threat of copyright infringement.

A six-year legal battle ultimately resulted in victory, and R.T. learned a lot along the way about what it means to take on an industry giant and stand firm in what you believe in. The law is rarely as cut and dry as most of us assume it to be, and corporate bullying combined with navigating an unprecedented refurbishing business led to a landmark case that eventually won in court. This proved that the American-made dream is still alive and that fighting for something new and different just may be the key to finding the success you’ve been dreaming of.

Interview Links:

R.T. Custer

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Purpose and WHY

Tue, 05 Dec 2023 11:00:00 -0400

The purpose of your company is the why or the what. There is something that you care deeply about that is motivating you to keep working toward your goal. At that motivational center you’ll find decision and action arise in the brain.

What are you proud of? That is where you will find the why of your work. Consider a person that matters a great deal to you – what you would tell them about the work that you do? That is the why behind your efforts.

Too many people get stuck on getting their purpose just ‘right’ but, trust me, just good enough is a perfect place to get started. Don’t let perfectionism stop you from getting started in the first place. Just start working with a draft and let it evolve naturally as you continue along your path toward success.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Do You Sell, or Do You Help Your Customers Buy? — April Dunford

Wed, 29 Nov 2023 11:00:00 -0400

Good sales pitches aren’t about what you have to offer. An effective sales pitch is all about what you have to offer that the other guys don’t have. When you can identify that selling point, you’re headed in the right direction to close the deal.

April Dunford is an executive consultant, speaker, and author who helps technology companies make complicated products easy for customers to understand and love. She is a globally recognized expert in positioning and market strategy and has launched 16 products to market across her 25-year career as VP of marketing at a series of successful high-growth startups. April advises leadership, sales, and marketing teams through training, workshops, and keynote talks.

April offers invaluable insights from her latest book Sales Pitch: How to Craft a Story to Stand Out and Win. She goes deep into the art of effective pitching and selling and shares the specific framework she has used to successfully pitch products at companies like Google, IBM, Postman, and Epic Games.

Nobody likes buying insurance. Shopping for B-to-B software is nobody’s favorite pastime. And when it came time for April to buy a new toilet, she learned just how painful buying can be. Sorting through features is overwhelming, and the sheer number of decisions that have to be made around making one single purchase can be enough to make anyone give up and head in the opposite direction.

40 to 60% of B-to-B tech purchase processes end in no decision. When buyers are overwhelmed by their options and feel that they don’t have access to the information they need to make an informed decision, the easy answer is to prolong the decision altogether and not buy anything.

Overwhelmed buyers need a guide — not a pushy salesperson — to help them identify the most critical elements of their purchase and make a decision. Customers don’t really care about the features themselves, they care about what those features are going to do for their business.

There is always an alternative to solving a problem, and customers need to clearly see that their best option is to buy from you. The question you are trying to answer isn’t “why pick us,” it’s “why pick us over the other guys.” Identifying the key differentiators and highlighting that value to others is a critical first step to closing the sale.

Interview Links:

April Dunford

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Applying to Self and Mastery and Flow States

Tue, 28 Nov 2023 11:00:00 -0400

When we become a master of something, it naturally flows through us. We feel powerful and effective. Flow state happens in peak moments of mastery, and these two are greatly interconnected.

The beginning of mastery is to give up the idea of ever finishing. Bill is still deeply at work in the areas of his life that he is mastering. When we say we are done with something, we want to put it behind us. Instead, consider what it means to never be done learning more about the things you want to master.

Leaders who are engaged and mastering leadership and applying those skills to all areas of their life will find themselves regularly in flow state, and that is a powerful place for a great leader to be.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Finding Common Ground — Keld Jensen

Wed, 22 Nov 2023 11:00:00 -0400

Everything is a negotiation. From the boardroom to the lunchroom, finding common ground is critical to getting what you want.

Keld Jensen has more than 30 years of experience in international management, negotiation, and communication from his post as managing director of a listed Scandinavian company. He is the founder and former CEO of Centre for Negotiation, a consulting and training organization that has worked with private industry and governmental bodies in Europe, Asia, North America, and Africa.

Keld is also the author of the book, Negotiation Essentials: The Tools You Need to Find Common Ground and Walk Away a Winner, detailing common business interactions that you didn’t know were negotiations–and, how to approach them.

You might think that only CEOs are great at negotiations, but Keld will tell you that is wrong. Every single person has to navigate 8‒10,000 negotiations a year, and it’s not only in contracts. It's just as much about where to go for lunch as it is about how to move to the next step in striking a deal.

Keld shares a variety of experiences that he has had with negotiations. Too many people think that negotiations mean confrontation or conflict or that there can only be one winner. By changing your perception of what negotiation is all about, you can consider the possibilities of what everyone can gain from negotiation.

From pausing negotiations for a client who is dealing with cancer to the success of those who uphold the Golden Rule, Keld highlights the ways that effective negotiations can be the secret weapon that leads to success.

Interview Links:

Keld Jensen

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Passing the Baton

Tue, 21 Nov 2023 11:00:00 -0400

If you insist on hanging onto your business for too long, you are keeping it weak. If you insist on hanging onto your team too tightly, you are keeping them weak.

Too many leaders hire helpers and then micromanage them, or stay at their jobs for too long each day and week. They don’t vacation often enough and they don’t retire soon enough.

Great leaders pass the baton firmly to their team. It’s a powerful function of leaders who create groups of leaders that they can trust. Give people opportunities to make mistakes before you are completely gone.

This creates powerful leaders who appreciate what you have done for them and builds not just one good thing in your business, but a lasting organization of a great team and a legacy and culture of leadership that is unstoppable.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

F*ck the Slides – Creating A Winning Pitch Using Storytelling with Nir Zavaro

Wed, 15 Nov 2023 11:00:00 -0400

Your slides aren’t working in your favor. The key to selling is the stories that you tell, and your pitch needs stories that engage people so that you can connect in ways that close the deals.

Nir Zavaro is an entrepreneur, author, and speaker. He regularly tours the world, on a mission to help as many people as possible become better storytellers. Using his experience, storytelling fundamentals, and methods, he brings a fresh perspective on how to implement these into businesses, working with founders and CEOs in over 30 countries.

Every person on the planet has a unique story to tell. Too many people lean on slides as a crutch to get through a presentation, but slides should be the bonus, not the basis of your pitch. YOU are the presentation and you need to connect with the audience and tell your stories — with or without slides.

How can you determine if a pitch or a session was a success if you aren’t able to recognize the emotions and feelings of those that you are interacting with? Storytelling isn’t the soft skill that so many say it is, it is an essential skill that needs to be continually practiced and honed.

Niv and Bill share a variety of situations that can create connection by tapping into the emotional aspect of storytelling, from skiing to handling crises in the emergency room and understanding the language of different cultures. The stories you tell have the power to draw people in and connect with them in a way that a slideshow never will.

Interview Links:

Nir Zavaro

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Getting the Rhythm Right

Tue, 14 Nov 2023 11:00:00 -0400

Do you know how to do the kind of planning that makes a real difference? Most of us spend more time working on the less important things that happen in between planning and then push off the planning that really matters for a future day that never comes. This results in sloppy actions and random results.

Bill recommends scheduling out annual, quarterly, weekly, and even daily planning. Every scheduled planning event matters. Get consistent with your planning, and then let everything else fill in between.

The plan itself doesn’t matter as much as the act of regularly planning. When you get the rhythm right, you’ll be a great leader who is able to run things with ease.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

The Leap to Leader: How Ambitious Managers Make the Jump to Leadership – Adam Bryant

Wed, 08 Nov 2023 11:00:00 -0400

The playbook for navigating the transition from manager to leader has only become more difficult in recent years. Today’s guest understands the challenges leaders face and what it takes to be an effective leader in today’s workplace.

Adam Bryant is the senior managing director of The ExCo Group, a leadership development and executive mentoring firm. He is a respected and noted expert on executive leadership who has interviewed more than 1,000 leaders for the “Corner Office” series he created at The New York Times and for his four current leadership series on LinkedIn — with CEOs, CHROs, board directors, and prominent Black leaders.

After years of interviewing CEOs about their business strategies, Adam pivoted toward what he found to be a much more interesting topic — how leaders get to where they are. The key distinctions between managers and leaders are highlighted in Adam’s new book, The Leap to Leader. Adam encourages anyone who is considering making the leap to write down three questions — what is the difference between management and leadership, do you really want to lead, and who are you as a leader? The answers to each of these questions will help identify your strengths and potential as an effective leader.

There are three key currencies of effective leadership. Insights, storytelling, and framework are the languages that leaders speak to connect with and inspire their teams. Leaders are the chief storytellers who provide a sense of alignment and shared narrative for the team. If your team can quote you or copy what you are always saying, you’re doing your job right.

Quiet quitting, return to office, and the great resignation have posed incredible new challenges for leaders. The human element of leadership requires leading from the front unless you are told to lead from the back. The contradictory advice that comes to leaders abounds, and Adam’s advice is to remain cautious and simplify — but not oversimplify — the challenges of leadership.

Interview Links:

Adam Bryant

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Dealing with Rejection

Tue, 07 Nov 2023 11:00:00 -0400

How do you react when you hear “no”? People usually view no as a setback, take it personally, and get triggered or angry.

But if you can learn to be loose and playful with every no you hear, you will find that you aren’t so deeply affected by it. When you approach no with curiosity, you might find that you can turn it into a “yes” in the future.

Great leaders know how to be playful with a no. Whether they’re trying to hire someone, supply something, or pitch an idea, leaning into possibilities with curiosity and playfulness can get the answer they’re looking for. If not now or with this situation, then in the right situation and in the very near future.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Developing an Exponential Mindset to Lead in a VUCA World – Mark Divine

Wed, 01 Nov 2023 15:19:48 -0400

How can you learn to stay calm and deal with a VUCA — volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous — world? Perspective is the number one tactic, and today’s guest is a special operator and leader who has the developmental skills and methodologies that can assist anyone in dealing with a VUCA world.

Mark Divine is a former Navy SEAL Commander, best-selling author, and leadership expert. After a 20-year career in the Navy SEALs, he was tasked with creating a leadership program for the SEALs, which later extended to corporate, sports, and academic settings. Mark Divine is the author of five best-selling books, hosts a top-rated podcast, Mark Divine’s Unbeatable Mind, and has founded five successful companies. He believes in unlocking 20X performance through the right training and tools.

From terrorist attacks and global wars to the COVID-19 pandemic and technological advances, the capacity for great violence to happen quickly is prevalent in today’s VUCA world. The need to remain adaptable, flexible, and controlled under such stress is critical to survival.

Mark and Bill both share experiences of trauma from their lives and the lessons they have learned as a result. Having the tools needed to navigate the trauma of life is what sets a leader apart in moments of crisis. However, teams are not always looking for a calm and composed leader. Acknowledging apparent chaos can be the best first step in building trust and respect.

Everyone on a SEAL team is a leader, so egos get checked at the door. Each team member is prepared to step up when they are called on to lead. There is no hiding in an elite culture environment, there is only the expectation that you’re going to bring your “A” game every single day. Those who learn the techniques to do so are earning the respect and trust of their team, controlling their mind and emotions, and preparing for whatever chaos the VUCA world might throw their way.

Interview Links:

Mark Divine

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Being Bold

Tue, 31 Oct 2023 10:00:00 -0400

A brief summary of this episode

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

JC Hite — Unlocking Success & Scaling Your Agenda to New Heights

Wed, 25 Oct 2023 10:00:00 -0400

Too many companies struggle to scale because they are stuck reinventing things that just don’t need to be reinvented. The companies that succeed are the ones that focus on and refine systems in a disciplined way that makes them better than they have ever been before.

JC Hite is the visionary Founder and CEO of Hite Digital, the fastest-growing digital agency in the U.S. With a deep-rooted passion for empowering small businesses, JC is dedicated to driving their growth through the realm of digital marketing.

There are times when building any business is just really difficult. Within six months of launching Hite Digital in Nicaragua, the company found itself in the middle of a civil war. As they have scaled, they have had to learn how to survive physically, financially, and mentally during the harder seasons of growth.

JC highlights some of the hurdles Hite Digital has faced, including political insecurity, addressing limited education in Nicaragua, the pandemic, and the recession. They have fine-tuned hiring the right fit for their agency, the range of services they provide, and the key to a successful franchising model.

This conversation is filled with insights into the lessons learned from JC’s mistakes, his luckiest breaks, and what happens when entrepreneurs and business builders are willing to position themselves in the right places and focus on the right things at the right time.

Interview Links:

The Hites

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Handling Upsets Through Deep Listening

Tue, 24 Oct 2023 10:00:00 -0400

When people are really upset, there is a simple way to turn things around and bring them back into the game. Deeper listening is the key to understanding what is going on behind the complaint.

The complaint itself is rarely the problem. More often it’s the personal value that they care deeply about that has been attacked or triggered. When a leader can identify the value that is behind the upset, they can diffuse the situation. Call the value out and give it a name to create a reset that then allows the upset person to get back into the game.

This approach can make a powerful, immediate change that, often, people can’t even see or articulate themselves. But great leaders know how to highlight the values that mean so much and turn a complaint into an empowering conversation.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Don’t Wait for Someone Else to Fix It: 8 Essentials to Enhance Your Leadership Impact at Work, Home, and Anywhere Else That Needs You, by Doug Lennick and Chuck Wachendorfer, with Kathy Jordan, PhD

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Turn Your Career Setback Into A Growth Experience — Doug Lennick

Wed, 18 Oct 2023 10:00:00 -0400

No matter how successful you are, at some point, you may encounter a career setback. Instead of being devastated, you can turn that setback into a growth experience. Doug Lennick, co-author of DON’T WAIT FOR SOMEONE ELSE TO FIX IT, is the founding CEO of think2perform, a high-performance leadership development firm serving small and large organizations in a variety of industries. He has been in leadership roles for nearly 40 years and is widely recognized as an expert in the science of human behavior.

Obstacles happen to all of us, but the person who actually makes it to where they want to go doesn’t consider obstacles “in the way” but “on the way.” The winners are the people who know how to handle whatever comes their way. The premium isn’t on knowing what will happen — because no one does — the premium is knowing how to deal with whatever happens and then not waiting for someone else to do something about it.

Doug shares his early career setback of being cut out of a publishing company, and the successes he experienced as a result. He shares the three value buckets that encompass people around the world, the top three values of people around the world, and the importance of reflecting on those values before making significant decisions. Whether the setbacks you face are political, global, personal, or professional, there is immense value in turning those challenges into growth experiences.

Interview Links:

Doug Lennick

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

What Can Go Wrong and What Probably Will

Tue, 17 Oct 2023 10:00:00 -0400

Great leaders tend to be optimistic and positive, but that can come at a very real cost. When you don’t think about or listen to what could go wrong, you’re setting yourself up for guaranteed failure. There is value in giving a voice to the negative possibilities.

Bill once made a $2 million mistake by not considering what could go wrong. He quickly learned to balance his naturally positive approach with realistic and even negative possibilities. A great leader knows the value of empowering the voices on their team to play devil’s advocate once in a while.

No plan survives contact with the enemy, or, as Mike Tyson said, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.” Business has a way of punching us in the face on a regular basis. If you want your team and your business to be more successful, don’t shy away from conversations about the biggest things that could go wrong, and what you are going to do about it.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

The Art of Persuasion — Laurie Zoss

Wed, 11 Oct 2023 10:00:00 -0400

When you can determine what your clients, donors, or sponsors want, you can persuade them to help you get what you need.

Lori Zoss Kraska, MBA, CFRE is Growth Owl, LLC’s Founder and CEO. She possesses over 22 years of expertise in revenue generation management, corporate sponsorship support, corporate cause marketing, fundraising, corporate social responsibility, nonprofit consulting, executive sales management, training, and marketing strategy roles earning her a reputation for establishing pathways quickly to exceeding revenue/fundraising goals, building high-performance teams, developing relationships quickly, and outpacing expectations.

Lori’s company, Growth Owl, works with purpose-driven organizations to help with fundraising and sponsorship dollars. That is an effort that requires a lot of persuasion, but Lori’s previous 10 years with PBS and NPR gave her the experience that has made her an expert in persuasion. Lori’s goal in starting Growth Owl was to apply the principles that are utilized in public media to a wider variety of purpose-driven companies.

The art of persuasion is not a simple one to master, and in this conversation, Lori shares a host of tactics that work. First, understand that while emotions are used in decision-making, facts-based language will earn a greater response than feelings-based language. People are more likely to be persuaded when they hear supporting facts and numbers than when they hear how you feel about it.

Lori recommends connecting with people at the lowest level of Maslov’s Hierarchy of needs possible. By doing so, you will be able to connect with more people at a more basic level. Highlighting the fears of a company is another angle that can be used, as long as it is coupled with an action-based solution.

Bill recommends connecting with people who actually care about the things that you care about. It will be difficult to persuade someone who is not interested in feeding homeless dogs to donate funds that will be used to buy dog food. And it will be easiest to work with the people who do care when you are speaking in their language.

Lori suggests using the “5 not 50” approach to persuasion. Choose five highly qualified decision-makers, learn as much as you can about them, and approach them. By keeping a greater focus on a smaller number, your chances of effectively persuading them are much greater. Don’t spam everyone in your entire email list, instead connect with those who have engaged with you in relevant ways.

Identify your objective in reaching out before your first communication. Are you trying to sell something right off the bat? More likely you are just trying to get a conversation started. Asking for a five- or six-figure donation is not going to happen over one email with one attachment. Be succinct, be respectful of others’ time, and be ready to engage in ways that get the answers that you are seeking.

Interview Links:

Lori Zoss Kraska

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

What Gets in the Way of YES

Tue, 10 Oct 2023 10:00:00 -0400

For most of us, when looking to hear “yes,” what gets in the way is us. Our thoughts and feelings get in the way of our ability to effectively communicate with other people. When we’re stuck inside our heads, we worry that we may be too much of something, or don’t have enough skills in a particular area, and we dread hearing “no.”

All of these things are happening internally, and they all keep us from talking to and connecting with the other person in a way that encourages the “yes” we’re seeking. If you can get out of your head and get over what you think the other person is thinking, the more naturally you will get your “yes.”

Instead of worrying about what might be going wrong in the conversation, focus on the other person. What about your conversation is of interest to them? Imagine the conversation going well. Get curious about what they want and ask more questions. When you do, you’ll find that you can hire, sell, fundraise, partner, and engage with greater ease.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Fearless Success: Beyond High Performance

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Fearless Success — John Gucci Foley

Wed, 04 Oct 2023 10:00:00 -0400

Today’s conversation is all about being awesome, and there is no better teacher than John “Gucci” Foley, the legendary former solo pilot for The Blue Angels who flew in the original movie Top Gun, who continues to inspire organizations to High Performance through a GLAD TO BE HERE mindset, operational excellence, team improvement, and high trust!

John is one of the Top 10 most sought-after keynote speakers and trainers on leadership, high performance, teamwork, trust, and a GLAD TO BE HERE mindset!

From the night he watched the first moon landing in 1969 and the visceral energy he felt at his first air show, John knew from an early age that he was meant to be in the sky. Over time his dreams turned from astronaut to lead solo pilot, with a stop in college football along the way.

There is a huge difference between having a vision and executing it. Success happens when you are able to keep a dream alive, formulate a plan, and act on it consistently over time in a way that turns your dreams into success.

Obstacles are an inevitable part of every success story. Resilience is key, and success is much more likely to happen when you are able to get others to buy into your vision as well. Don’t just dream about your success, surround yourself with a team who also believes in your dream.

John’s life has been filled with failed attempts and pivoting plans and the lessons he has learned along the way. He shares his stories of flying for Top Gun, misfiring a missile, and the many points at which he had to advance fearlessly to reach his goals.

Too many leaders don’t perform at their full potential, they perform at their belief level. Leveling up is essential for fearless leaders, and that performance will either be enhanced or limited by the beliefs we have in ourselves. If you are willing to meet your obstacles head-on, fearless success is guaranteed to come your way.

Interview Links:

John “Gucci” Foley

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Vulnerability is Power

Tue, 03 Oct 2023 10:00:00 -0400

Most of us have learned to control our emotions. We’re expected to look strong and be stoic. In the early years of his career, Bill was told to calm down and stop showing so many emotions when he was excited about possibilities at work.

So how is it possible that vulnerability can be powerful? Showing your vulnerabilities requires courage and strength. Whether people believe it or not, emotions are at the root of every decision we make. Even the rational, logical decisions we make also touch our feelings.

When leaders can get in touch with all of their feelings — good and bad — they have access to powerful vulnerability. Yes, it takes courage to get in touch with your feelings, but when you can share those feelings with other people in a way that results in greater connections, the results are always powerful.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

The Structure of Success: A Framework to Help Build Your Business Better

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

The Structure of Success — Patrick Esposito

Wed, 27 Sep 2023 10:00:00 -0400

What does it take to be successful? The underlying structures of your business craft the foundation that will make or break your success.

Patrick Esposito is an entrepreneur, business executive, attorney, advisor, and board member. He has helped to found, lead, and advise small- and medium-sized businesses in technology, consulting, retail, banking, real estate, and other sectors, as well as U.S. government organizations, for more than two decades. During his career, Esposito has advised start-up executive teams, family business owners, large publicly traded company executive teams, and leaders in the U.S. Department of Defense. He recently launched Initiative Labs LLC to help small- and medium-sized business leaders apply the approaches, methodologies, and tools from his book, The Structure of Success, to create the conditions for success in their business ventures.

A self-proclaimed jack of all trades, Patrick learned early on that, when it came to scaling up, employing the wisdom of an independent who knew how to scale was one of the most beneficial aspects of his journey toward success.

While reflecting on his experiences with various companies, Patrick highlights two key categories of wisdom. First, the general business wisdom that is required for growing a company. The outside perspective from a general scaling expert is essential, but the second piece of wisdom is equally as critical — the industry-specific, specialized knowledge that promotes internal growth. Successful scaling up is not just about money and it’s not just about execution, it’s also about crafting an effective ecosystem structure.

From tech to financial service companies, tires to banks and environmental services, Patrick’s experiences have made him an expert in his work. When it comes to scaling, he has learned that making the right structural and scaling investments that benefit growth and underline profitability is the key to success.

Interview Links:

Patrick Esposito

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Natural Listening for Growth

Tue, 26 Sep 2023 10:00:00 -0400

There is one simple secret to helping your team get unstuck. Powerful listening is the key to showing your team that you are interested in where they’re coming from, who they are, and what they need to do to level up.

The best way to get stuck people re-engaged is to listen to what they are saying to you. Listening leaders don’t leap into solving problems. Great leaders have engaged teams and can listen for ways to bring to light new approaches, better solutions, and ideas on how team members can get themselves unstuck.

When a leader shows curiosity and a willingness to listen, they create a team that is filled with future leaders that they can someday pass the baton to. So listen longer, listen deeper, and take the time to show your team that you genuinely hear them and see them not only for who they are now, but who they have the potential to become.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Hospitable Healthcare: Just What the Patient Ordered!

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Exceptional Customer Experiences — Stowe Shoemaker, PhD

Wed, 20 Sep 2023 10:00:00 -0400

Great customer service is something that we can expect from restaurants and hotels, but rarely do we expect it from hospitals or emergency rooms. Today’s guest is on a mission to change that.

Stowe Shoemaker has served as an advisor to numerous hospitality service providers over the course of his career including IGT, British Airways, Accor, Hilton, Landry’s, and Hyatt. He has published two marketing textbooks and his newest book, Hospitable Healthcare: Just What the Patient Ordered! introduces hospitality principles to the healthcare industry.

Hospitality matters in every industry. Consider the last time you needed medical care. Did the customer service enhance your experience, or did it only make a hard situation worse? Healthcare needs to be fixed in more ways than one. Stowe and his coauthor aim to address the changes that need to be made in their new book.

Hospitality customer service standards are currently much higher than in the healthcare industry. A survey Stowe conducted indicated that healthcare ranks last in the hospitality experience when compared to restaurants and hotels. What can be learned from the hospitality industry that could be used in healthcare?

There are five principles that create an exceptional customer experience and systems that can be implemented to make these principles an effortless part of the customer experience.

Prepare, anticipate, engage, evaluate, and reward.

When each of these principles is achieved, a patient begins to feel less like an inconvenience to the company and more like a loved family member. And loyal customers will become lifelong, repeat clients who spend more money and create positive word of mouth for the business.

Interview Links:

Stowe Shoemaker

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Planning with the End in Mind

Tue, 19 Sep 2023 10:00:00 -0400

If you were heading to the moon for the first time, or launching a brand-new product, you wouldn’t plan it in the same way routine events are planned. Achieving a brand new level of performance requires a different level of planning.

Stephen Covey called this beginning with the end in mind. Where do you want to be and what do you want to have accomplished? What would come just before that? And before that?

If you don’t consider how you want the end to look, you might end up tackling the wrong problems or working on things that are better left alone or dropped altogether. Planning with the end in mind frees you up to work on what matters most. And with the right plan in place, great leaders can let their teams get their work done.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Honest SEO: Demystifying the Google Algorithm to Help Get You More Traffic and Revenue

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Honest SEO — Jason Hennessey

Wed, 13 Sep 2023 10:00:00 -0400

Search engine optimization can make or break your business presence online, but getting it right isn’t always easy.

Jason Hennessey is an entrepreneur, internationally recognized SEO expert, author, speaker, podcast host, and business coach. Since 2001, Jason has been reverse-engineering the Google algorithm as a self-taught student and practitioner of SEO and search marketing.

Jason shares the three key steps to optimizing your SEO. First, make sure your website is technically sound so that Google can easily access it. Second, create content that people actually want to consume. Solid content satisfies the problem people are looking to solve. And third, utilize backlinking to help boost the popularity of your website.

Ultimately, SEO comes down to helping people find the thing they are searching for. There is also an ROI attached to it, but it serves as a connector for people who need specific services with the people who can service that need.

AI and ChatGPT play a role in optimizing SEO as well. While it’s not recommended to translate your website into Vietnamese if no one in your office can speak or write the language, AI can be used to summarize the main points of a call or email. Jason recommends avoiding using AI to write articles on behalf of your company that will poorly reflect on your business. Use AI to help you articulate your points, but not to replace the human element of your content.

Consider the assets that you have — whether it’s time or money — and put them to work to improve your SEO in ways that will benefit your company and your bottom line.

Interview Links:

Jason Hennessey

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Listening for Wants

Tue, 12 Sep 2023 10:00:00 -0400

You want things and you need things, but Bill knows that there is a much easier way to get what you want than employing trickery, manipulating, or coercing. When you look for ways to hear yes, simply listen for what other people want.

When you listen for and think about what other people want, your proposals will go effortlessly because you will naturally be able to offer them what they are looking for. You’ll spend less time stressing about what you want because you know it will come to you while you are helping people get what they want.

When Bill naturally connects what he wants with what other people want, everything works out. That’s the way to pass the baton and the way to be an inspiring, natural leader.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Admiral Sandy Winnefeld — Losing a 737 Every Day

Wed, 06 Sep 2023 10:00:00 -0400

Admiral Winnefeld graduated from Georgia Tech with a degree in Aerospace Engineering and served for 37 years in the United States Navy. He flew the F-14 Tomcat and served as an instructor at TopGun and as senior aide-de-camp to General Colin L. Powell. He commanded a fighter squadron, the amphibious ship USS Cleveland, the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, a carrier strike group, two NATO commands, the United States Sixth Fleet, the United States Northern Command, and the North American Aerospace Defense Command. He retired after serving as the ninth Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Admiral Winnefeld is a frequently-published author and a director or advisor to companies operating in a broad spectrum of business sectors.

Growing up in a military family, Admiral Winnefeld’s younger son Jonathan developed anxiety and depression in middle school and eventually spent 15 months in a treatment center. HIPAA privacy laws kept his parents from knowing about his opioid addiction, and despite his successful graduation from treatment, Jonathan died from an overdose just five days after starting college.

Fentanyl is so deadly because it can take a life the first time someone uses it. This deep societal problem pays no heed to the rich or poor, black or white, educated or not, male or female. It can take the life of anyone, even if it's the first time they’ve ever used drugs.

Public stigma is public enemy number one in the fight against fentanyl, but Admiral Winnefeld isn’t letting that stop his mission. Shortly after his son’s death, he and his wife recognized that they had the opportunity to prevent this tragedy from affecting more lives. In the SAFE Project, he aims to increase public awareness, improve full-spectrum prevention and responsible medical prescribing, improve law enforcement and justice, increase treatment and recovery, and improve family outreach and support.

The goal of the SAFE Project is to save a life every single day. Admiral Winnefeld shares actionable items that can help reach that goal, from supporting and educating family members to having NARCAN® available to quickly treat an overdose. Companies have an obligation to face this crisis alongside individuals, families, and society at large. The responsibility of addressing the problem and finding solutions to the epidemic is the duty of every one of us.

Interview Links:

James A. Winnefeld

SAFE Project

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Sharing the Vision

Tue, 05 Sep 2023 10:00:00 -0400

Do you ever wish people were more inspired by you? Bill has a simple formula for leaders who want to light others up. When you share the vision of your company the right way, it is guaranteed to get other people excited about it too.

The formula is simple. First, talk about the problem area that you deal with in the world. Then, share what the predictable future will look like without change. Finally, talk about why you’re involved in solving the problem and the vision that you have for a new future.

Employ storytelling, using real names, details, and feelings. Practice this recipe and keep sharing it wherever you can. Employees, investors, partners, vendors, customers, and the media will all benefit from hearing your story, and when they do, they will catch your vision and be more inspired by you.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Tali Rapaport — People and Time

Wed, 30 Aug 2023 10:00:00 -0400

People are by far the most important, the most essential aspect of any business. People are also the hardest to find a perfect fit, but successful leaders know how to attract and focus on the right people in the right way.

Tali Rapaport is the co-founder of Puck, the people-first recruiting CRM. Puck helps businesses tell their team’s story and hire better, faster. Prior to Puck, she was the VP of Product at Lyft for nearly four years. During her tenure, Lyft grew 20x to become a big part of how people get around in North America. In 2017, Tali was named one of Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People. She graduated from Harvard College with an AB in Applied Math and a Master’s in Environmental Engineering. She was on the Dean’s Cabinet for Harvard’s Engineering School from 2018-2020.

Tali worked with Lyft when they were in the middle of onboarding a million drivers. She witnessed the human side of employment and the reasons that people are motivated to take on this kind of work. Flexibility in scheduling and access to easier, reliable technology are still two of the major sticking points that are keeping people from getting hired and getting a job done. Getting inside the head of your prospective employee is essential to meeting people where they are and understanding what they need from their employer.

A recruiter’s job today is to sell a brand and experience and to highlight what it means to be part of the tribe of a company. When hiring companies can highlight the motivation of their business with the motivation of the new employee, both are much better off.

When scaling a business, it can be easy to focus on the things that are urgent and forget about the things that are important. Tali shares the experience she had with a Cambridge water study and the lessons she learned about finding new opportunities when they might be least expected.

Interview Links:

Tali Rapaport

Resources:

Scaling For Any Economy

Scaling Coach

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Be a Coach, Not a Drill Sergeant

Tue, 29 Aug 2023 10:00:00 -0400

People don’t need managers, they need great coaching. No one really likes being managed — they like being led and supported by effective coaching.

Often people want to work out their own problems with the support of their leaders. Rarely do they want to hand over their problems and expect the leader to create the solution. When people come in with a problem, they should come out with a project.

A coach cheerleads, encourages, listens, and appreciates. They remind their team why they’re excited about the work they’re doing, they coach their successors, and they delegate powerfully.

As a result, you as a leader have to work less hard. When you work less hard, your team rises. Coaching people — not managing or dominating them — is the source of powerful leadership.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Elevate Your Team: Empower Your Team To Reach Their Full Potential and Build A Business That Builds Leaders, by Robert Glazer

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Robert Glazer — Elevate Your Team

Wed, 23 Aug 2023 10:00:00 -0400

You’re always working to elevate your company, but how can you get your team to come along for the ride? Today’s episode focuses on the intersection of people, leadership, and execution, especially in remote companies.

Robert Glazer is the founder and Chairman of the Board of Acceleration Partners, the premier global partner marketing agency that has won over 30 awards for its world-class company culture. He leads a fully-remote team of over 270 people.

Robert is the Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author of books on topics such as peak performance, personal growth, partner marketing, and excelling in the world of remote work.

A lot of companies are playing defense in their team strategy right now. After the exhaustion of the pandemic, companies are struggling to focus on healthy, sustainable growth. How can you build your team up holistically in ways that benefit the individual as well as the company?

Pandemic hangover is still very much present, so how can leaders get their teams back to a place of enthusiasm for growth? Robert’s new book highlights examples of leaders who have failed by going 100 miles an hour. The message that a leader sends out makes a huge difference in the actions and attitudes of the team.

In addition to the physical aspect of leading a team by example, emotional leadership is key. Leaders who are willing to show vulnerability and authenticity create a safe space for their team to show up as their whole, emotional, and spiritual selves as well. As Robert says, the only way to be a Level 5 Leader is with exceptional self-awareness and authenticity about the ways that you lead by your values.

Interview Links:

Robert Glazer

Resources:

Scaling For Any Economy

Scaling Coach

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Good Planning Today Beats a Perfect Plan Tomorrow

Tue, 22 Aug 2023 10:00:00 -0400

Stop trying to create a perfect plan. Bill doesn’t believe clients who tell them that they’ve thought of everything. There is no way to create a perfect plan, so just stop trying.

Things are going to happen tomorrow that you can’t even comprehend today. The act of planning is the most valuable tool, not the plan itself. A simple plan created today and acted on consistently in the future will make a real difference.

Bill has seen it over and over again — a perfect plan is nothing more than a fantasy. Let go of the fantasy and get to work on creating a planning rhythm that creates a good plan that works today and in the future.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Topgrading Prescreen Snapshot

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Foolproof Hiring with Dr. Brad Smart

Wed, 16 Aug 2023 10:00:00 -0400

The hiring process continues to be more complicated than ever before, but finding the right fit for your position doesn’t have to be a long and cumbersome process. You just have to be willing to put the work in to find the top performers.

Dr. Brad Smart is widely regarded as a world expert on hiring and is a renowned consultant to many leading companies and SMBs. He is the creator of Topgrading and the author of Foolproof Hiring: Powerful, Fully Proven Keys to Hiring Mostly High Performers.

Dr. Brad was shocked to learn in the early years of his career that only one out of three employees at his company were considered top performers. He knew there had to be a better way to identify and hire more top performers, and Topgrading was born.

Employers save time and money by using the Topgrading approach. The robust and thorough process provides a prescreening snapshot that sifts out the best applicants and gets A players hired.

The job scorecard is another critical piece of the effective hiring process. Break down what the job entails and make sure that you know what you need before you start hiring someone who may or may not be a good fit for the requirements.

After the basic sort, ask three open-ended questions that candidates can answer before you have an in-person conversation. Each of these steps will help you identify and hire the high performers that you want on your team.

Interview Links:

Resources:

Scaling For Any Economy

Scaling Coach

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Engagement Leads to Commitment and Action

Tue, 15 Aug 2023 10:00:00 -0400

Do you wish you could get people more engaged? Bill has heard it time and time again. Effective leaders are always looking for ways to get their team more engaged.

Engagement is commitment. Someone has said yes to something and they are acting to make it happen. You know when people are engaged because they are putting their hearts and minds and all of their effort into their work. Engaged people don’t only say things, they are doing things.

Easy engagement starts with leaders who see what matters to their team. When a leader knows what their team is great at, who they are, and what they want in life, engaging them in work they want to do is natural. But when a leader doesn’t know their team or have a connection with them, all of the work they put into getting that yes is nothing more than manipulation.

Natural leaders pay special attention for ways that they can connect with their team, and as a result, their invitations are natural and they get an easy YES.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Admiral Sandy Winnefeld — Sailing Upwind: Leadership and Risk from TopGun to the Situation Room

Wed, 09 Aug 2023 10:00:00 -0400

Whether you are leading only a handful of people or a team of thousands, challenges are an inevitable part of leadership. Today’s guest offers leadership advice from his time serving with the best of the best.

Admiral Winnefeld is a frequently-published author and a director or advisor to companies operating in a broad spectrum of business sectors.

One of the greatest influences on Admiral Winnefeld’s time as an instructor at TopGun was positive peer pressure. He and his fellow instructors and pilots knew they were the best in the Navy and the community, so instead of constantly competing with each other, they held each other to a higher standard and helped each other reach it. Effective leaders not only support people where they currently are, but they also motivate them to become their best.

The first of the 5 Anchors of Leadership is Leading Yourself. Leaders must have a mission in mind and a desire to accomplish something, but that alone isn’t enough. The best leaders Admiral Winnefeld ever worked for exhibited integrity, courage, and genuine humility. Effective leaders never stop learning about their profession and refining their leadership skills.

Admiral Winnefeld highlights some of the challenges that are outlined in his new book Sailing Upward: Leadership and Risk from TopGun to the Situation Room. From difficult discussions to the changing demands of leadership style at various levels, he shares the experiences and evolution of his approach to leadership. He offers tactics for enhancing a company’s culture, the behavior of a leader that will elicit change, and how he could tell within the first 10 minutes whether a ship and its crew was a good one or not.

From the hardest leadership challenge he has faced to the best leaders he worked for and the advice from Colin Powell that shaped his entire approach to effective leadership, this conversation is filled with leadership advice from the best of the best.

Interview Links:

James A. Winnefeld

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Inspiration, Not Perspiration

Tue, 08 Aug 2023 16:42:02 -0400

Inspiration is all about breathing life into something. When people are excited about things, you don’t have to persuade them. Inspiring leaders are great at getting others to be excited about something, especially when it pertains to the future. They get people to a positive emotional state again and again by being intentional with their own emotional state, by sharing their vision for the company, and by engaging people by being bolder.

If you want people to be more inspired and work less hard, then you’ll get good at getting other people to feel good about the future. Be bold, share your vision, and use emotion to inspire others.

When you have people in an inspired state, everything else comes easier. From pitches and proposals to action with teams, everything is easier when you start with inspiration.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Building High Impact Boards — Katy Trost

Wed, 02 Aug 2023 10:00:00 -0400

If you’ve gone through any number of rounds of funding you probably have a board of directors that you have to and get to interact with. How can you make those interactions more effective?

Katy Trost is a coach and advisor to CEOs and founders at Series B and beyond. She aids CEOs in becoming more effective leaders and navigating the challenges of scaling people and operations. Her clients include some of the fastest-growing companies in both the U.S. and UK tech ecosystem backed by leading investors including SoftBank, First Round, Felix, Octopus, Inflexion, and more.

A board can be a blessing or a curse. Different objectives, political or otherwise, and different expectations can create boards that are offering poor advice to CEOs, who often feel they have no choice but to follow that advice blindly.

A board is meant to be a strategic tool for the CEO. Creating a board that is an invaluable asset starts with setting the expectation for the potential of the board to help the business. Katy highlights several experiences she has had advising CEOs and boards. Under her coaching with a UK fintech, the entire structure of the reporting process transitioned from a grueling two-day firing off of questions to an effective strategic discussion.

Taking charge of the agenda is key to more effective interaction with the board. Key issues, focus areas, and upcoming priorities should all be addressed by the CEO before the board meeting. Katy recommends giving the board a job to do before they have the chance to make up a job for themselves.

Setting expectations, asking strategic questions, and recognizing the importance of mutual trust, along with developing personal relationships and soliciting feedback as needed, will all make a critical difference in the effectiveness and impact of any board.

Interview Links:

Katy Trost

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

The Four Secrets of Natural Leadership

Tue, 01 Aug 2023 10:00:00 -0400

Do you ever wish leadership came more naturally to you? Or maybe you are a great natural leader, but you recognize that effective leadership still takes work and effort. On this Tuesday Tip Bill is sharing four secrets that create effortless leadership. These four skills, when you do them again and again, can make a profound difference in your life as a leader.

First, inspire and encourage excitement and emotion in your team. Next, engage others and commit people to take action. Then, plan and coordinate. Consider not only what could go right but what could go wrong. And finally, coach and retain to keep people in the game and keep them leveling up. Bill shares his experience with taking each of these actions and how it has changed his impact as a leader.

If you do these four actions, in that order, you will build a great team. Developing these actions will result in being a more natural, effortless leader who is leading others toward the bigger and better. Ultimately, leaders pass the baton, take time off, and practice these four actions again and again.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

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Sustainability to Attract Talent, Employees, and Investors — Chris Caldwell

Wed, 26 Jul 2023 10:00:00 -0400

Sustainability may be the greatest challenge of our generation. At its heart, sustainability is designed to improve life for everyone involved. It is also a great wealth creation opportunity that implies profitability. But how much time and effort are you investing in mastering sustainability?

Using the experience he has obtained as a corporate lawyer, an investment banker, and a team leader, today’s guest, Chris Caldwell, has spent the last decade acting as CEO of United Renewables and its sister companies, leading all aspects of the businesses including providing strategic direction, fundraising and day-to-day management of operations.

In his sustainability-focused efforts, Chris is working not only to build renewables but also to increase the logical momentum necessary to make real change. He describes sustainability as the long-term strategies that will allow humans to survive and thrive well into the future.

Chris highlights the importance of stopping the showstoppers that lack any focus on sustainability. He also examines the relationships that sustainability enhances, from employees and suppliers to investors, regulators, and customers. There might have been a time that businesses didn’t know any better regarding practices surrounding sustainability, but those days are long gone. Today, there are few excuses for not focusing on enhanced sustainable practices.

Forty-two percent of the incoming generation of employees value purpose over profit. They are looking for companies that align with their values and offer more than just a place to earn a paycheck for the next 30 years. Do your company offerings address this?

Chris highlights the story of Dick’s Sporting Goods changing their approach to guns in order to increase customer loyalty with sustainability. In any competitive market, companies have to strategically pick their customers and work to serve them, because there is very little chance that they can effectively serve everyone. From BP to Tesla, electric vans and wind manufacturers, and the jewelry market to Patagonia, there are examples of increased sustainability in every sector of every market. The companies that are going to benefit from the profits of sustainability are the ones that are willing to dedicate their time and resources to increasing sustainability now.

Interview Links:

United Renewables

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Great Leaders Take Vacations

Tue, 25 Jul 2023 10:00:00 -0400

Do you ever feel like you’re working too hard? Working too hard makes us feel stressed and tired, impacts our personal relationships, and even results in weak teams and weak companies. And oftentimes, the harder you work, the more you are keeping your team from leveling up.

Bill once coached a large company with a Superman CEO that was setting a horrible example for his team with long working hours, midnight emails, micromanaging, and constant chaos mode. Another team he coached was led by a very intense CEO who worked out constantly, worked long hours every day, and set the example of intense focus on work at all hours of the day and night.

That might produce some results, but it comes at a cost to your personal well-being and the well-being of your team. People get micromanaged when you work too hard, but great leaders know how to build strong teams of capable leaders without pushing everyone to the brink of burnout.

If you’re working too hard, that might mean it’s time for a vacation. Step away from the office, take time away from your team, and challenge yourself to pass the baton. Make sure you know when it’s time to lean in and work harder, and when it’s time to step back so someone else can step up.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

The Learn-it-all Leader: Mindset, Traits and Tools

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

The Learn-it-all Leader — Damon Lembi

Wed, 19 Jul 2023 10:00:00 -0400

Are you a know-it-all, a learn-it-all, or a little bit of both? Whichever way you tend to lean reveals plenty about the kind of leader you are and the level of success you can achieve.

Damon Lembi is the CEO of Learnit, a global leader in corporate training solutions that has upskilled more than 1.8 million professionals in the past twenty-seven years. After dedicating the initial 22 years of his life to the pursuit of becoming a Major League Baseball player, Damon pivoted in 1995 to help his father, Walt Lembi (Founder of Learnit), by investing his heart and soul in Learnit. His aim was to help individuals gain the knowledge and confidence they needed to attain their professional goals through the value of education.

Long before his brush with fame in a hotel room party with Axl Rose of Guns N’ Roses, Damon was drafted by the Atlanta Braves out of high school. A series of events eventually led him back to the family business, where he found himself unsure of the skills he was bringing to the table. He recognized that while business was in his blood, he had a lot to learn about every aspect of the work.

After years of incredible success, Damon’s key life takeaway is that there is immense value in being your true, authentic self. Whether you work for a billion-dollar business or a startup, the way you treat people matters. Life doesn’t always turn out the way you expected it to, but when it’s time to pivot — whether it’s from baseball or business — the more you are willing to learn from people who are smarter than you, the more successful you will be.

Damon recognizes that he is a know-it-all when it comes to sales, but he is also very open to learning more when it comes to scaling up. He shares the lessons he learned from the pandemic, where he turns when he is ready to learn something new, and the value of approaching leadership in curious and humble ways.

Interview Links:

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Flow State from Couch to Triathlons

Tue, 18 Jul 2023 10:00:00 -0400

What would it look like if you brought your effective leader ideas into your life? Flow state is the way to make it happen.

Years ago, Bill was focused solely on work and had a premium membership at the gym that he only occasionally used. When he admitted that he was not paying attention to his health, he knew that change needed to happen. A triathlon sounded like a good BHAG, so he went for it. By implementing an effective flow state, he became a shining example of a healthy and active lifestyle.

If you can apply the flow state principles to all areas of your life, you can get inspired, create a plan, find coaching, and meet your goals. It worked for Bill, and it can have a massive impact not only on you but on the people you work with as well.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Tell Me More About That: Solving the Empathy Crisis One Conversation at a Time

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

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Empathy — Tell Me More About That with Robert Volpe

Wed, 12 Jul 2023 10:00:00 -0400

Empathy is a leadership skill and an essential cultural practice that matters more today than ever before.

Rob Volpe is an astute observer of life and a master storyteller who brings empathy and compassion to the human experience. As CEO of Ignite 360, he leads a team of insights, strategy, and creative professionals serving the world’s leading brands across a range of industries. He is the author of the Silver Benjamin Franklin award winning book, Tell Me More About That: Solving the Empathy Crisis One Conversation at a Time, recognized by the independent publishing industry as one of the Best Self Help books of 2022.

You don’t have to look very far to see that there is an empathy crisis in our world today. There is a diminished ability to understand and communicate with other people, and it is limiting opportunities for meaningful connection. Rob’s focus is on the how-to of empathy. Once you see that there is a problem what can you actually do about it?

Understanding other people starts with listening. The more we can sit back, ask questions and truly learn about others, the more empathy we will feel for their experiences. Start by taking a ‘curious breath’, which gives you the opportunity to change your perspective and your approach.

Rob’s new book is filled with examples of practicing empathy. He highlights interactions about cats, chips, sex, and travel. Each example showcases the power of asking questions and showing empathy in the interactions that we have with people who are like us, and, more importantly, the people that are nothing like us at all.

In every aspect of life, from your personal interactions to growing your business, empathy is the key component to improved communication and ultimate success.

Interview Links:

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

One Thing Leads to Another

Tue, 11 Jul 2023 10:00:00 -0400

The Leadership Flywheel is designed to level up your leadership, and within it, one thing leads to another. First by inspiring others and engaging them and then by taking action; the key is to help them see the opportunities that are available to them.

The third piece of the flywheel is all about planning. What is the end goal and what are you doing now to get there? The final piece addresses ways to keep people in the game through coaching. By helping people deal with setbacks, you’re inspiring them to get back in the game, and the flywheel starts over again.

If you can set this flywheel in motion for leaders of leaders, you can become a leader who scales infinitely.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

JC Hite — Unlocking Success & Scaling Your Agenda to New Heights

Wed, 05 Jul 2023 10:00:00 -0400

Too many companies struggle to scale because they are stuck reinventing things that just don’t need to be reinvented. The companies that succeed are the ones that focus and refine systems in a disciplined way that makes them better than they have ever been before.

JC Hite is the visionary Founder and CEO of Hite Digital, the fastest growing digital agency in the US. With a deep-rooted passion for empowering small businesses, JC is dedicated to driving their growth through the realm of digital marketing.

Interview Links:

The Hites

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Creating Leaders vs. Followers (and Going to Italy)

Tue, 04 Jul 2023 10:00:00 -0400

Are you creating followers or leaders? If you have a huge following, you’re probably still working too hard as a leader. If you’re creating leaders (who create leaders who create leaders), then your leadership skills can transform the planet.

Bill considered himself an effective leader, but he still struggled to leave the office for even a week. He wanted to create more leaders, but that wasn’t a quick or simple task. He started passing the baton to his followers by asking them, “What are you going to do when I’m not here?” Little by little, he coached his team into becoming leaders and was able to empower his team to take action on their own.

If you can become a leader who creates leaders, you will be able to transform your efforts, and possibly take a great trip to Italy as Bill did as well. You’ll be able to create better people, a better organization, and a better life for yourself.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

The Life Is Too Short Guy: Strategies to Make Every Day the Best Day Ever

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Scott White — The Life is Too Short Guy

Wed, 28 Jun 2023 10:00:00 -0400

Who doesn’t want to know the secrets of how to be happier? In business and life, everyone is faced with opportunities to find and enjoy greater happiness every single day. But where and how can you start?

Scott White is the happiest guy you will ever meet. After spending fifteen years on Wall Street, he took a chance and became an entrepreneur and business builder. Today he is Chairman and CEO of a public real estate company. Scott is on a mission to make the world happier, one smile at a time. With his endless energy, he motivates and inspires everyone he meets to focus on happiness, gratefulness, and positivity.

As a ten-year-old child, Scott was faced with the morbid facts of life and decided then that he was going to take chances, smile, and make the most of every day he was given. For Bill, the moments he gets to spend with his newborn granddaughter are among the happiest of his life.

Scott’s book is filled with ten principles that encourage readers to make deliberate choices that will lead to greater happiness. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to happiness, but there is a guaranteed way that you can make each minute matter more.

Even on the days when you’re feeling sad, you can strive to make today the best day ever. Happiness is not an absolute scale, it’s a relative scale. If you’re faced with a day that would rank as a 1 on your happiness scale, what can you do to make it a 1.5? As Scott says, life is too short to let a single day pass by without finding the happiness in it.

Minutes matter, the people around you matter, and taking chances and not putting life off matters. Because happiness someday really never comes — all you get to work with is today.

Interview Links:

Life Is Too Short Guy

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Deeper Listening to End the Upset

Tue, 27 Jun 2023 10:00:00 -0400

Deeper listening makes a powerful difference when you are dealing with upsets. There are fundamental values and concerns behind every upset, and when you stop to listen to those concerns, you can get to the root of the problem more effectively.

Bill and his wife used to argue about whether there should be a TV in their bedroom. As soon as he put himself in her shoes, he realized what the upset must have felt like from her perspective, and effective change immediately happened.

If you want to handle and transform upsets forever, go deep. Look for what the other person isn’t saying and address it. Deeper listening is key to not only personal relationships but in your business relationships as well.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Raising Venture Capital — Kate McAndrew

Wed, 21 Jun 2023 10:00:00 -0400

Many start-up companies scale up by leveraging venture capital, but what are venture capitalists looking for in the companies that they choose to invest in? Even if you aren’t interested in securing funding, this episode highlights the differentiators that will set your company apart at every stage of scaling up.

Kate McAndrew is a co-founder and General Partner at Baukunst. In addition, she is the founder of Women In Hardware. Kate previously was a Partner at Bolt, where she built the firm’s venture capital practice and community presence over two successful funds. She has over nine years of experience as a first-round lead investor & board member with a focus on companies that are evolving the cultural conversation.

When Kate first encountered an accelerator program, she thought it was the most insane thing she had ever heard. She also absolutely loved the idea of empowering entrepreneurs with capital and quickly found herself in the deep end of the venture capital pool.

Many entrepreneurs may think their solution or offering is what makes a startup company special, but it’s really the people that make the difference. Special people have special ideas, and exceptional people can execute them.

Kate highlights her experience with Bobbie Baby, including what she was looking for from their offerings and what it takes to succeed in the venture path. Bobbie was a multibillion-dollar idea with incumbent players and a customer base that was going out of their way to get their hands on the product. The critical components of Bobbie’s success were the passion and experience of the team, their unique solution to a major problem, and the innovative business model for their brand.

Kate also highlights the power and danger of debt-side funding, pre-seed funding, and the best money you can have in funding a venture capital — revenue. At Fyto, venture capital helped to address a broken system with major environmental and social impacts. They reimagined the way a system was architected with the passion of a founder who was ready to completely change big problems in the ideal location. That is what it takes to make venture capital work.

Interview Links:

Baukunst

EO Accelerator Program

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Coaching Flexibly vs. Rigidly

Tue, 20 Jun 2023 10:00:00 -0400

How do you keep people in the game? It’s all about coaching. This is where you can remind people about the inspiration and action that brought them to where they are today.

Powerful coaching is rooted in powerful listening. Bill once coached a man who was overly rigid in his approach to his team. As he got more curious and set aside what he thought he already knew about his team, he realized that the team was better able to change and evolve.

The best place to start being a great coach is to stop having so much to say. Listen, rather than talk. Show curiosity rather than offering endless solutions. You can be a far better coach when you close your mouth more often.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Build the Fort — Chris Heivly

Wed, 14 Jun 2023 10:00:00 -0400

Build the fort! Ideas that seemed simple when you were a kid may seem insurmountable as an adult, but scaling up and building out your dreams really doesn’t have to be that hard.

Dubbed “The Startup Whisperer” by startup community enthusiasts, Christopher Heivly is a life-long entrepreneur and multifaceted investor who spent forty years working as, for, and with entrepreneurs. Prior to becoming a successful startup community builder and consultant, Chris co-founded MapQuest — which sold to AOL for $1.2 billion. He currently serves as a managing director of The Startup Factory and is a highly sought-after public speaker.

Building a fort is a metaphor for all of the things that are required to hack away at a vision. Get rid of the noise, stop overanalyzing, and simplify your approach. How would you have tackled a project as massive as building a fort when you were 10 years old? Whether you’re building a startup or scaling up your business, Chris takes an approach that feels as simple as building a fort.

Chris shares several stories that highlight his simplified approach to upping your game and building out your dreams. From building out the life-changing (at the time) MapQuest to the work that he has done with Written Word Media founder Ricci Wolman, he has seen the power of creating a community, fostering successful founders, and learning the ways that will make your company work.

There are a thousand ways to mess up your company, but experimenting is a critical component of success. Whether you are facing company, campaign, or hiring failures, just assume that you’re going to make a bunch of mistakes and then go back to the simplicity of building a fort. Embrace failure, learn from the mistake, and just keep trying. It’s really not that complicated.

Interview Links:

Build the Fort

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Execution With a Regular Rhythm

Tue, 13 Jun 2023 10:00:00 -0400

Great execution has a great rhythm. It’s all about proactive talking, planning, and making things happen.

Years ago, Bill had to create annual plans and quarterly reviews on a corporate job that worked beautifully. With his own business, he would often forget his annual plans and so added in a mid-year check-in. Even then, they still forgot about the plans. A quarterly review combined with weekly meetings and daily huddles, and Bill now knows the power of executing plans proactively with a regular rhythm that works.

The key to success here is to consider when each plan is going to take place. Keep it consistent, keep it regular, and watch the progress happen.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Demystifying Stakeholder Capitalism — Kent Gregoire

Wed, 07 Jun 2023 10:00:00 -0400

What is stakeholder capitalism and why should you care about it? If the work that you’re doing doesn’t help you sleep better at night, there just might be some room for improvement in your efforts in stakeholder capitalism.

Kent Gregoire is a serial entrepreneur and the co-founder of Stakeholder Business. He is on a mission to help entrepreneurs transform their companies for maximum impact. In his consultancy work, he is known as the “CEO to CEOs” who focuses on a win-win approach that delivers exponential value to all stakeholders.

Kent’s efforts over the years have evolved from conscious capitalism into stakeholder capitalism, which focuses on building a socially and environmentally sustainable world. When companies begin to create value and optimize that value for their stakeholders — not just their shareholders — they become stronger, more resilient, and more profitable.

Stakeholders are a 360-degree group, including the customers, investors, employees, community, environment, suppliers, business partners, and more. Every one of these has an impact on a business. And companies that consider the role of each of these players are shown to be more resilient and more profitable. Kent highlights the realities of stakeholder capitalism in the coffee industry, and how strategic moves can benefit not only the company but its stakeholders as well.

Kent details the success of Interface, a carpet company that has successfully maximized stakeholder capitalism and changed the carpet industry worldwide. Bill shares ways that he has intentionally increased customer connections and Kent highlights the efforts that have solved major challenges with suppliers and securing even more business, all with a greater focus on becoming a stakeholder business.

Interview Links:

Stakeholder Business

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

What Goes Wrong? Optimists Vs. Pessimists

Tue, 06 Jun 2023 10:00:00 -0400

We all view ourselves and the world around us in either optimistic or pessimistic ways, but really, we need both views to get a clear picture of reality.

Planning for what is most likely to go wrong has great benefits because things are going to go wrong. Focusing on what might go wrong doesn’t guarantee that thing will happen, it just gives you the opportunity to prepare for that possibility.

Bill once made a mistake by not preparing for what could go wrong and ended up wasting several million dollars on materials and production that he wouldn’t need for years. Don’t make the same mistake he did, just consider what could go wrong and what you can do to prepare for it.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Bet on You — How to Make Every Decision THE RIGHT CALL — Sally Jenkins

Wed, 31 May 2023 10:00:00 -0400

For sports fans, business leaders, and anyone who wants to elevate their game — whatever that game may be — Sally has joined the podcast today to share what it takes for ordinary people to achieve extraordinary results.

Sally’s new book The Right Call highlights how people make the right decisions under pressure. Sally grew up with a front-row seat to some of the greatest sporting events of all time and watched how leaders make decisions in real time. Her book examines the commonalities of decisions made under stress and the methodologies that lead to making the right call.

Making the right call starts with approaching each day with an organized method. Too often we drift through our days without any real intention, but successful athletes don’t waste a single minute of their day. They make micro-decisions down to the minute that make all the difference in their success.

Sally shares the example of Peyton Manning’s practice with wet footballs that led to the Indianapolis Colts Super Bowl win against the Chicago Bears. Preparation diffuses pressure. Pressure is what happens when you don’t know what to do, but taking the time to prepare can immensely reduce that pressure.

When preparing for a meeting, take time to consider what you will say when you don’t have much time, when you’re in adverse conditions, or when you’re dealing with a hostile audience. If you can handle less-than-ideal conditions when practicing, you will be more prepared when it’s time to perform.

There is plenty that the average person can’t replicate about professional athlete performance, but there is more than you may think that can be replicated. As Laird Reynolds once said, “We spend a lot of time seeking comfort, and comfort is not the only thing we are seeking.” There is a time for relaxation and self-care, but there is so much more to success than that. Pushing yourself to adapt to the stress that comes before success will give you the personal power that you need to succeed.

Interview Links:

Sally Jenkins

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Planning Issues Vs. Future State

Tue, 30 May 2023 10:00:00 -0400

Where is the best place to look to do great planning? Too often businesses look only at the here and now of the problems and issues they’re facing.

Bill worked with a contractor a few years ago who had a well-developed cadence of weekly “issue discussion” meetings. While they were solving a lot of short-term issues, they made little progress on their bigger, strategic goals. If you only focus on present issues, you’ll never have a chance to make progress in the future.

Start with the end in mind. What is your BHAG? Break it down and figure out what you can do this year to reach it. When you put your intentions further out, you are far more likely to reach your biggest goals.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Bet on You — How to Win with Risks — Angie Witkowski

Wed, 24 May 2023 10:00:00 -0400

Whether or not you consider yourself a risk taker, life requires taking risks every single day. From relationships and parenting to the financial and careers we pursue, we all take risks, bet big, and hopefully win often. We are surrounded by risk, and how we look at it, relate to it, and leverage it makes all the difference.

Angie Witkowski is the NY Times best-selling author of the business books SPARK, Bet on You, and Leading From the Front. She’s been a coach inside the world’s best businesses and has shared a keynote stage with some of the most influential leaders of our time. Angie served as an officer in the Marine Corps and holds a BA and MBA from the University of Michigan.

Too often we celebrate overnight successes while overlooking the years of hard work and risk that went into making the success happen. Taking your time, fully understanding your financial situation, and relying on your ability to make good decisions will all have a major impact on the outcome of the risks you take.

Consider first how much time you are willing to invest in your risks. You can take the short-term route if that is where you feel most comfortable, or you can dive in head first and see what happens. The truth is, you can always make more money if this risk fails.

Angie and Bill share their process for approaching and evaluating risk. Bill aims to first look for the opportunity, then consider the worst-case scenario and create a coping mechanism from there. Angie tends to see opportunities everywhere but asks herself two questions when considering risk: Do I have the bandwidth to make this happen, and do I actually want to do this? The answers to these questions will make the next steps clear.

Interview Links:

Angie Witkowski

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Rejection and Tension in Business

Tue, 23 May 2023 10:00:00 -0400

What happens when you hear “no’”? How do you handle that rejection?

Bill once coached a woman named Debbie who was in conflict with her business partner. She wasn’t handling the rejection very well, and it was clear that she hadn’t considered what her business partner possibly thought about her. When she was able to think more openly about the other side of the conflict, she realized that she was also contributing to the tension.

At Bill’s recommendation, when she showed more interest in her partner’s project, she got the results she wanted. With just one shift in her actions, the partner magically changed. Simply put, if you can shift the way you handle rejection, change can happen.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Social Selling 2.0 with Morgan Ingram

Wed, 17 May 2023 10:00:00 -0400

Real connections win out over canned messages every single time, but wow can you amplify your brand narrative through organic content that makes those meaningful connections?

Morgan Ingram is the founder behind Ascencion Media Productions (AMP). He’s a sales educator and content creator and has been named one of the Top 50 Sales Leaders to Follow by LinkedIn, a Top 25 Sales Development Thought Leader by Inside Sales, and a Four-time LinkedIn Top Sales Voices.

Technology has enabled people to be lazy at scale, which can have a massive negative impact on your potential audience. Consider the thousands of emails you have sent out without doing your homework first, and how many of those recipients marked your unwanted email as spam. Or the impersonal connections you’ve tried to make on LinkedIn without even reviewing a person’s profile first. These impersonal efforts are not only a waste of your time, they have the potential to damage any future opportunities you might have otherwise had.

Personalization is key to connection. Read their profile, listen to their podcast, and review their website. Take proactive steps to connect in meaningful and sincere ways. Consider what you can document and share in your efforts that can help you make better connections with others. Don’t be afraid to occasionally show the less polished, perfect version of yourself along the way.

Morgan shares when and why he made the switch from black-and-white tactics to a more real evolution of his content, and how he was able to make more connections as a result. He has learned that the only way to effectively scale up is to continually expand the universe that you have created in your business.

Interview Links:

AMPCreative.io

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Nick Stopped Worrying About Himself — Can You?

Tue, 16 May 2023 10:00:00 -0400

Something always seems to get in the way of a perfect pitch. What you are worried about is tripping you up more than what’s going on with the other party. What gets in the way of a perfect pitch is YOU.

Bill coached Nick through setting his worries aside so that he could more effectively focus on his pitch. He was able to pause his worries, the board loved his pitch, and the company was improved by his input.

Stop worrying, set yourself aside, and think more about your client than you are about yourself. That is the key.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

How to Market More Efficiently

Wed, 10 May 2023 10:00:00 -0400

What makes great marketing? Marketing that is efficient, cost-effective, and memorable isn’t easy to come by, but it can make all the difference in growing your business.

Brandon is CEO of Win BIG Media, and formerly, as the COO, Brandon is a leader in the marketing world. He is SPHR Certified and is an experienced operations professional who has worked with various teams to improve processes, advance team engagement, and create winning cultures with great success.

The data about a company reveals the story that the marketing needs to tell. Off-cycle marketing might be the ticket to changing the message altogether, and the creative components of company branding can help pinpoint the information the customer needs to see.

Many companies today are tightening their budgets in preparation for an impending recession, but whether another recession arrives or not, the lessons learned from the recession of 2009 can benefit businesses today. Studies have revealed that many companies that cut or eliminated marketing in 2009 are no longer around today, while those who increased their marketing efforts and dollars during the recession captured market share in the years since.

Although Win Big Media is a digital marketing agency, they don’t always push clients toward digital marketing. In a furniture store case example, with a few strategic tweaks, Brandon’s team was able to create a $1.8 million return on a direct mail ad spend with a 23.17 ROI.

Brandon highlights the key components of successful marketing. First, test your ideas. Don’t put your entire marketing budget into one avenue if it hasn’t been proven yet. Second, tailor and customize the creative. Identify what your customer needs and then market directly to those needs.

Ultimately, when you understand your customer, utilize the data, and shift your creative approach, you may not even have to spend more advertising dollars to reach more of your target audience and level up your marketing efforts.

Interview Links:

Win BIG Media

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Get What You Want By Listening For What They Want

Tue, 09 May 2023 10:00:00 -0400

How can you hear more “yes”? Be more engaging. When someone is engaged with you, they will then commit to action.

Hearing “yes” in action has less to do with how effective your pitch is and much more to do with how effectively you are listening for what matters to the other person. If you really pay attention to what they are saying, it will be much easier to find a way in your proposal to meet their needs.

So listen carefully. Because when you do, you’re much more likely to hear “yes.”

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

“How to Be Successful,” by Sam Altman

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Insights with Verne Harnish

Wed, 03 May 2023 10:00:00 -0400

This week, Bill talks with Verne Harnish, a world-leading expert, speaker, author, and entrepreneur in the field of business growth. Together they offer insights into Altman’s Maxims, Jobs’s doers vs. dreamers, the power of asking, daily routines, remote work, and much more.

Everyone will tell you it’s important to focus, but Sam Altman, founder of ChatGPT, advises in his 13 Maxims that we would do well to step back and determine what it is that we should focus on. You don’t really have a strategy if you’re not doing everything differently anyway. The key is that the ambitious goals are not simply linear, they are exponential.

Have overconfidence in yourself. Be bold in your goals. Surround yourself with people who challenge your thinking and push you higher. When you get too comfortable with your success, you are limiting yourself. Instead, employ Matthew McConaughey’s definition of humility and recognize that there is always more to learn.

Verne highlights his four-step process for innovation, which includes preparation, incubation, inspiration, and finally, verification. Each step is a critical point in making real progress in the work that you are aiming to do.

The most important words in any language are “Can you help me?” That is what separates the dreamers from the doers. Whether you are Steve Jobs or an early-stage entrepreneur, finding ways to ask for the help you need is the ticket to making your aspirational dreams come true.

Interview Links:

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Being Bold (Not) Surfing Waimea

Tue, 02 May 2023 10:00:00 -0400

Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. As a child, Bill lived on the north shore of Oahu and was invited to surf Waimea Bay. He was brave enough to paddle out but then talked himself out of every wave as it came along. He was lit up by the bold audacity of being able to say he had surfed these famous waves, even though he never actually caught a wave.

Being bold can also mean being frightened. There is power in going for what you really want. A BHAG (big hairy, audacious goal) is not a small thing, it’s a thing that is meant to frighten you into action!

Of course, there is a balance between ridiculous and extraordinary, but when you strike that balance, you will find success. Being scared (in a good way) is key to powerful boldness that inspires.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Neil Littman — Investing in the Future of Health

Wed, 26 Apr 2023 10:00:00 -0400

The future of health matters to every one of us. From biotech to the latest innovations, we are all impacted by the rapid transformations that are happening in healthcare.

Neil is the Founder & CEO of Bioverge Ventures, an investment platform democratizing access to enable individuals to diversify their portfolio with private biotech and healthcare investments for the purposes of long-term wealth creation.

Between surviving a plane crash and watching helplessly as his grandmother battled cancer, Neil realized that biotechnology was the perfect way to create more tools for more doctors to help more patients. He highlights his experience with an almost sci-fi-like cure for a genetic disease with the use of novel biotechnologies and recognizes that the future of biotech is happening today.

But what does this mean for investors? The pandemic proved that when biotech needs to move fast it is entirely capable of doing so. Neil points out that the loss ratios in biotech aren’t as high as it is for software companies, making it an appealing choice for investors.

Bioverge aims to understand the science behind technologies to highlight key risks and milestones for potential investors. By investing at the seed stage, they bear the greatest risk as well as the potential for the greatest reward.

From growing human organs to creating 3D models of working lungs and growing stem cells, the future of biotech in the healthcare industry — and the benefit of investing in it — is happening today.

Interview Links:

Bioverge Ventures

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Self-Awareness and Courage for Alex

Tue, 25 Apr 2023 10:00:00 -0400

Do you have a range of emotional expressions? We’re often taught to keep our emotions in check and not be expressive, but there is power in sharing your emotions. Even if you’re having a bad day, you can express yourself as a leader and leave people with an inspiring thought about your stand on an issue.

Bill had an experience with a man named Alex who was ready to quit his job as a CEO. He decided it was time to move on after a setback on a project, but after an effective coaching session, he found the strength to share his experience and emotions with his team. When he did, he found even better solutions and engaged his team in a way that he wouldn’t have been able to if he hadn’t had the courage to express his emotions.

All leaders experience a full range of emotions; the best ones are those who are willing to express themselves in ways that engage and inspire others.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Dr. Valerie Fridland — The Good Side of Bad Language

Wed, 19 Apr 2023 10:00:00 -0400

Professor Valerie Fridland is a Professor of Linguistics at the University of Nevada, Reno. She received her Ph.D. in Linguistics, with a specialization in Sociolinguistics, from Michigan State University. As a sociolinguist, Professor Fridland’s main focus is on varieties of American English. The goal of her research is to better understand how variability in speech production relates to variability in speech perception and how social identity affects speech.

The pattern of our speech has a huge impact on our behavior toward others, how persuasive we are, and how we are perceived by others. Often we use language not simply to fit in, but more impactfully, to stand out. Novel speech draws others in, in ways that basic words simply don’t have the power to do.

The words you use have the power to either make others sit up and take notice of you, or dismiss you without a second thought. Yet it is self-consciousness about language that paralyzes too many leaders. Valerie highlights the value of novelty in language and how it can be used as a power to stand out in a crowd.

Many of us cringe at the “umms” and “uhs” that slip out in our business conversations, but there is no scientific evidence that using those phrases has a negative impact on our message, especially when using unfamiliar or larger vocabulary. Valerie shares how to increase perceived authority with your voice pitch and how your language can increase the impact of your message.

Interview Links:

Valerie Fridland

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

What’s Your Story and Vision?

Tue, 18 Apr 2023 10:00:00 -0400

Inspiring leaders are the best kind of leaders to be around, and all of us have room to be more inspiring. What inspires you? And what will inspire other people? Ask yourself what you care about, and the answers will come easily.

Bill heard a captivating story from an inspiring leader who did a beautiful job of articulating his future vision. The formula here is simple — share what your story is, how you got started, and why you care about the work you’re doing. Paint a picture of scalability and what the world would look like if your vision was carried out.

Sharing your vision is a simple powerful way to captivate your audience and, more importantly, inspire them as a leader.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Charlene Li — The Disruption Mindset

Wed, 12 Apr 2023 10:00:00 -0400

How do you build something cool enough that it becomes a disruptor? It starts with a vision for the future and is carried out by leaders who are both strong and vulnerable.

Charlene Li is an expert on disruptive transformation, leadership, customer experience, and the future of work. Her perspectives from advising hundreds of companies ranging from Adobe to Southwest Airlines and 14 of the Dow Jones Industrial 30 companies provide insights to support a winning strategy for disruptive growth, and a plan to identify and seize an opportunity no one else has the audacity or confidence to reach for.

Charlene rode the wave of the disruption back in the 90s as journalism was majorly disrupted by the revolution of the Internet. Traditional media as we knew it would never be the same.

Charlene knows that disruption has to be viewed as a positive force, no matter how hard it might be. Leaders who can see disruption as growth are the ones who will benefit from all that stands to be gained by the change.

The key is to see the future and what can be before anyone else. Charlene highlights the disruption that happened at Adobe, and the importance of taking the customer where they need to go.

At T-Mobile, the vision of leadership was the driver behind the disruption. Followers are the key to building a culture like the one at Southwest to the disruption moving forward, because a movement only becomes a movement when it can go on without you.

Interview Links:

Charlene Li

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

What’s Missing For You? It Was Connection For Me

Tue, 11 Apr 2023 10:00:00 -0400

You’re already strong, but what’s missing from your life and your leadership? Bill highlights the four critical skills that can make all the difference for leaders.

The first skill is knowing your purpose. What is the why for you and the why for your business?

Second is engaging people with effective proposals and offers, but more importantly, being able to listen to people so that you can help them commit and act.

The third skill is planning and the fourth and final skill is coaching. Coaching keeps people in the game, even when they get discouraged or want to quit.

Figure out where your strengths are and where you have room to develop and go deeper. When you do, you have the potential to level up and combine those strengths with what fulfills both your personal and life’s purposes.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Greg Alexander — Grow & Scale Your Boutique Services Firm

Wed, 05 Apr 2023 10:00:00 -0400

What is the best way to grow and scale professional service firms? Today’s guest sold one company for $162 million. He has the experience and the answers.

Greg Alexander is the founder of Collective 54, the first mastermind community dedicated exclusively to thriving professional services firms with big aspirations. He authored the best-selling book “The Boutique: How to Start, Scale, and Sell a Professional Services Firm,” and founded the company Collective 54, an EO that is focused on a single industry.

If you’re thinking about pricing from a cost basis, you’re thinking about yourself like a commodity. With a shift in mindset, you can consider the value that you’re creating and the problem that you’re solving. Thinking about it from that standpoint can change everything.

Greg calls pricing an underleveraged lever, especially in professional services. Rather than throwing out a number and hoping that your client is willing to pay it, talk with them about the total value they will gain from your services and work out what percentage they are willing to share with you. If you can start top-down rather than bottom-up you will end up making a lot more money.

Sell painkillers and cures, not vitamins. When “nice to have” services become “must haves,” sales go up. And if you can solve someone’s pain point, they will be more inclined to pay for your maintenance plan later on. But it is essential to tackle the most pressing issues first, with the goal of developing long-term support over time.

Greg shares several examples of ways that he has found a focus area for a client and subsequently been able to fine-tune his services. Then the collective efforts of the entire company can support and scale up in ways that wouldn’t be possible without finding that niche.

Interview Links:

Collective 54

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

We help leadership teams with the biggest decisions around People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash so that they can Scale Up successfully and beat the odds of business growth. Scaling Up is based on Verne’s original best-selling business book, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits.

Did you enjoy today’s episode? If so, then please leave a review! Help other business leaders discover the Scaling Up Business Podcast so they, too, can benefit from the ideas shared in these podcasts.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

The Beginning of Mastery

Tue, 04 Apr 2023 10:00:00 -0400

Mastery begins with giving up that you’ll ever be finished. When Bill gave up thinking that he would one day become a superhuman who could stop working on himself, he committed himself to a lifetime of learning and development.

As a result, he recognized that he would never be finished.

Never finished means working on improving yourself until you take your last breath. There will always be someplace or way that you can improve yourself, and you will only begin to master yourself when you recognize that your efforts can never fully be done.

Embrace the discomfort that comes with growth, because when you feel it, it only means that you are about to learn something new.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Robert Glazer — Elevate Your Team

Wed, 29 Mar 2023 10:00:00 -0400

Robert is the Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author of books on topics such as peak performance, personal growth, partner marketing, and excelling in the world of remote work.

Interview Links:

Elevate Your Team : Empower Your Team To Reach Their Full Potential and Build A Business That Builds Leaders , by Robert Glazer

Robert Glazer

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

The Leadership Flywheel

Tue, 28 Mar 2023 10:00:00 -0400

There isn’t only a flywheel in business, there is a flywheel for you as a leader as well. There are four key skills that leaders can employ at every stage of growth.

First, start with your why. What is the deep meaning that helps you grow the company? Purpose and vision are inspiring and can help people get excited about what the future could be.

Second, consider what’s in it for you. Engagement is a decision in action. People who are engaged not only know their role in what can be done, they are ready to make it happen.

Next, bring effective planning practices into the game. Start with the end in mind, consider what could go wrong, and deal with setbacks.

And finally, offer great coaching. A great coach listens more, providing a space for insights, and reminds their team of the reasons they were inspired in the first place.

If you’re feeling stuck, consider where you are in the leadership flywheel, where you can jump back in, and how you can create leaders who create leaders.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Morné Smit — Sales Playbook for Greater Sales & Profit

Wed, 22 Mar 2023 10:00:00 -0400

What is a sales playbook, and how can it change the way you develop a powerful company culture? A sales playbook is designed to help deliver the kind of results you are aiming for.

Morné Smit has spent his life elevating respect for sales and marketing professionals in dozens of companies across 28-plus industries on three continents.

Developing from a salesperson to leading sales teams in six different industries, including spearheading a 10X growth outcome over five years in a mid-market property company, Morné gained invaluable insight, knowledge, and experience over two decades that brought him to found Emerse in 2017.

Too many fledgling companies have figured out how to grow fast but without a decent profit or a predictable growth trajectory. With an effective sales book, you can not only grow sales fast but profitably and predictably too. Systematic, repeatable sales — not rockstar salespeople — are the key to top-level performance.

Morné highlights the successes he has seen from companies that are willing to utilize a playbook that includes skipping over the “let me go talk to my manager” bureaucracy. The power of the playbook comes from empowering your team to change the narrative of their interactions and setting aside the salesperson ego to recognize and celebrate the successes of the entire team.

Interview Links:

Emerse Sales

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

What Really Matters in the End

Tue, 21 Mar 2023 10:00:00 -0400

Leading from purpose is the one thing that makes the greatest difference. What you care about and why you do the work you do matters more than just about anything else.

Your company has its purpose, but that is most likely not the same as your life purpose. In late 2001, Bill had accomplished every one of the goals he had set for his life, but he was still feeling miserable and stuck. With the help of a coach, he began considering what he really wanted to be known for at the end of his life. How do you want to be remembered?

When you know your why, it becomes much easier to evolve into a leader who makes a difference. By using your strengths and also highlighting the things that bring the greatest fulfillment, you will be able to focus on what really matters to you in the long run.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Joanna Bloor — Potential

Wed, 15 Mar 2023 10:00:00 -0400

Consider your potential, the potential of your people, and the potential of your company. If you’re not looking for ways to develop potential all around, chances are you are missing out on major opportunities.

Joanna Bloor is a career futurist, multi-time TED speaker, and author of Tales of Potential: The Cinderella Story You Haven’t Heard. She has joined the podcast to discuss tactics for unlocking potential to become the best version of yourself as a leader or draw out the best in your team.

The nature of the workforce is continually changing, but one badge of honor always seems to stick — being busy. Too many people consider being busy the greatest measure of their productivity, but what if we can transform perceived busy-ness into harnessing greater potential?

In Cinderella’s story, the key to her success wasn’t the appearance of her fairy godmother. Her preparation, consistency, and leadership skills laid the foundation for her success long before she was faced with a pumpkin that turned into a coach or had to make the split-second decision to leave her glass slipper behind.

It becomes infinitely easier to be an effective leader when you begin to view others not as a charity case that needs to be fixed, but as a “princess” with potential that an effective leader can help unlock. Listen in as Joanna highlights different potential leadership styles that harness the strengths that are already there and just need to be brought to light.

Interview Links:

Tales of Potential

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Passing the Baton

Tue, 14 Mar 2023 10:00:00 -0400

Are you willing to pass the baton on to the next leaders of your company? Or are you hanging on too long? Empowering leaders develop leaders who can develop leaders. If you’re hanging on too much or micromanaging your team, you are not developing yourself or others into effective leaders. If you want a strong, thriving company, you need to work to develop leaders that you can pass the baton on to.

Years ago Bill was doing a lot of things right in his business, but he still couldn’t manage to break away for any extended period. Still, he was committed to a family vacation, so he asked himself regularly to become more hands-off. For a year, he worked to ask his team how they would solve their problems if he was not there.

By empowering his team to come up with their own solutions, he was effectively passing the baton. Without micromanaging leaders to do all of the work, teams are empowered to thrive.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Dr. Robert Hernandez, Leading with EQ

Wed, 08 Mar 2023 11:00:00 -0400

Wake up your emotional intelligence so you can be a better leader. If you want to develop your business, you have to be willing to develop yourself. Emotional intelligence goes hand-in-hand with successful leadership.

Dr. Robert Hernandez is a Jungian-trained, licensed psychologist who helps HR departments identify, assess, and develop strong, emotionally intelligent leaders. His work focuses on ego-Self axis leadership through the lens of emotional intelligence.

Authentic, not overpowering, authority is the leadership style that will connect you with your team in meaningful ways. Projecting higher, louder energy isn’t nearly as effective as simply projecting a passion for the work and change you are working for.

To tune into your passion, consider the following questions: What do you like about the message you are trying to share? What excites you about the possibilities associated with your message? What do you care about? If you don’t have clear answers, you need to listen to the suggestions in this conversation that will increase your connections and rev your passion back up.

The way that you manage and harness your emotions and your passions can make all the difference in your effectiveness as a leader. When you are connected with your emotions you can become an excellent and charismatic leader.

Interview Links:

influens .com

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Handling Angry People

Tue, 07 Mar 2023 11:00:00 -0400

Leaders in action occasionally get upset and want to quit. How can you handle angry people with big complaints? Deeper listening is the key.

Bill had a client who got into a fight with another manager. After listening deeply to his grievances, Bill was able to explore curiosity around the other manager in the fight, which then gave space for the angry manager to do so as well. When he did, he was able to go deeper and consider why the other manager might have gotten so upset. With greater compassion, he was able to address the real issue at hand.

Behind every complaint is something virtuous. When you can point to the virtue amidst the complaint, understanding and effective change can take place. If you can stop fighting for your own position and consider what the other person is asking for, the underlying virtue can be addressed.

Dealing with upset people can rapidly be shifted when you listen for and name the unspoken value that they are fighting for.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Coaching Without Causing Resentment

Tue, 28 Feb 2023 11:00:00 -0400

Effective coaches have to be able to help people level up without having them reject that coaching. But how can you do that?

Bill had the opportunity to coach a CEO who was completely burnt out on his work. By showing genuine curiosity about the cause behind the leader’s change of heart, Bill was able to help him find new passion and purpose in the work he was doing. Rather than just pumping a leader up, curiosity can create a space for a leader to receive coaching without feeling like it’s being forced upon them.

A great coach is looking for growth. Take it from Anthony Nelson at Premier Restoration Hawaii — leaders have a great vision that they are excited to share with their team. They’re looking for ways to help level their people up beyond what they can see for themselves at any given moment.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Erin Diehl — Succeeding With Improv

Wed, 22 Feb 2023 11:00:00 -0400

Business, like life, has a great way of handing you a smack upside the head. It can throw you off, but improv is all about embracing what is instead of resisting it.

Erin Diehl is the founder of improve it!, a unique professional development company that pushes others to laugh, learn, and grow. They bring improv and more to companies to help them level up.

How can improv help you improve your day-to-day business? The opportunities for improv and humor in general can be found throughout your workday. Whether someone is heckling you during a presentation or throws you off with an unexpected question during a pitch, staying sharp will get you through whatever comes your way. Improv is simply a way to postpone the judgment of yourself first. You do have the answers, and you can use humor to create an energy and bond with your audience.

When you free up more room for play in your mind, you have less room for self-doubt. Even if you are in a room full of executives, if you can listen and respond in a humorous but truthful way, you will find more success and have more fun along the way. According to Erin, you will find your truest self when you can let go of self-judgment and just be you.

Interview Links:

Improve It !

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Getting the Rhythm Right

Tue, 21 Feb 2023 11:00:00 -0400

“Plans are of little importance, but planning is essential.” We may agree with Winston Churchhill, but how is this possible? How can plans themselves be of such little value but planning is indispensable?

Plans have a purpose — they bring the team together and begin the execution process, but then things inevitably change. Ideally, we are constantly creating new plans because it is in the act of planning that plans are made.

Finding the balance between planning and executing is essential to getting the job done and growing your business. Don’t worry about figuring it out yourself, just follow the footsteps of so many who have come before you. Annual strategy planning, quarterly updates, weekly adjustments, daily huddles, and one-on-one coaching are all part of an effective planning process.

The secret to planning success? Getting the rhythm right. If there isn’t a predictable cadence to your meetings, you aren’t going to experience the success that planning can offer. Create a predictable rhythm that your entire organization moves to.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Cameron Herold — "The Second in Command — Unleash the Power of Your COO"

Wed, 15 Feb 2023 11:00:00 -0400

Cameron Herold is the mastermind behind hundreds of companies’ exponential growth and has earned his reputation as the business growth guru. He has built a dynamic consultancy with clients that include a monarchy and a Big 4 wireless company. Cameron discusses his new book The Second in Command.

As second in command, COOs are often in place for a reason or a season, but rarely for the lifetime of a company. The COO takes care of everything that the CEO doesn’t love (or isn’t good at) and they serve as their main confidant. Like the yin and yang, the COO works not to duplicate, but to counterbalance the efforts of the CEO.

From his early days at 1-800-GOT-JUNK to his work with scaling up million dollar companies, Cameron has defined the second in command as a partner who has a shared vision but not the same strengths.

Cameron highlights the steps CEOs need to take to build out and identify their second in command based on the current needs of the company and the long-term vision of the company. Bottom line, if you are struggling with any aspect of leading your company, the answer may not be to learn how to do it better yourself. The answer may be to hire someone else to get the job done.

Interview Links:

The Second in Command — Unleash the Power of Your COO

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

What Could Go Wrong?

Tue, 14 Feb 2023 11:00:00 -0400

“Everyone has a plan until they are punched in the face.” Wise words from Mike Tyson, but too many entrepreneurs are afraid to talk about all of the things that can go wrong when scaling up. This is a mistake.

Consider the Apollo 13 mission. Earlier probing and considerations about failure are what made it possible for the astronauts to return safely back to Earth. Without those conversations and preparations for possible failure, Apollo 13 would not have turned into the success story it was.

Don’t avoid the possibility that something is going to go wrong, because something IS going to go wrong. Probe deeply about it and create a contingency plan to prepare for it. If there are people on your team who are constantly questioning what could go wrong, thank them! Empower them to help expand the vision of success by giving a voice to their concerns, and then enjoy the results of that planning when things go off script.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Topgrading Prescreen Snapshot

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Foolproof Hiring with Dr. Brad Smart

Wed, 08 Feb 2023 11:00:00 -0400

Hiring today seems more complicated than ever before, but finding the right fit for your position doesn’t have to be a long and cumbersome process. You just have to be willing to put the work in to find the top performers.

Dr. Brad Smart is widely regarded as a world expert on hiring and is a renowned consultant to many leading companies and SMBs. He is the creator of Topgrading and author of Foolproof Hiring: Powerful, Fully Proven Keys to Hiring Mostly High Performers.

Dr. Brad was shocked to learn in the early years of his career that only 1 out of 3 employees at his company were considered top performers. He knew there had to be a better way to identify and hire more top performers, and Topgrading was born.

Employers save time and money by using the Topgrading approach. The robust and thorough process provides a prescreening snapshot that sifts out the best applicants and gets A players hired.

Interview Links:

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Planning for Success

Tue, 07 Feb 2023 11:00:00 -0400

When you’re planning to scale your business in a way that’s never been done before, you have to follow Stephen Covey’s advice — begin with the end in mind. Start your planning from a future state where you can look back at how you got there.

Planning for the first moon landing began in the 1950s, long before those first steps were taken in 1969. No matter how extraordinary your vision of success is, it has to start with envisioning that mountaintop and how exactly you are going to get there.

Bill had an experience with a company that was only working toward the goal of selling their company. Once they looked beyond that to consider the long-term vision and success of those who bought the company, they were able to create a much more compelling story for investors and buyers. Not surprisingly, the company’s valuation increased as a result.

Even if you have an endgame that you’re attached to, try to look beyond that. Play through to create an even better long-term vision of where you want your company to go.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Handling Rejection

Tue, 31 Jan 2023 11:00:00 -0400

Leaders love to hear yes, but they have to be comfortable hearing no. Even the expectation of hearing no can throw you off and result in more nos, so how can you get more yeses? Bill has a few ideas.

Michael Jordan, Steve Jobs, Vincent Van Gogh, and countless other success stories are littered with multiple rejections, and yet they still succeeded, in part because they didn’t give up the first time they heard a no. Do you really need to get offended when you are rejected? Or take it personally? Or can you use it as an opportunity?

If you’re expecting to hear no, create different scenarios in which you can expect to hear a yes, or even a maybe. Get to a place where you can play with the doors that open up from hearing no. When you’re in a place where you can be playful and engaging in the face of no, you will be more prepared when you finally hear yes.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

“Never Hire a Bad Salesperson Again” — Dr. Christopher Croner

Wed, 25 Jan 2023 11:00:00 -0400

One of the single biggest frustrations and financial losses many companies face is selecting sales candidates who interviewed well, only to flame out when placed on the line. Today’s guest uses his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology to figure out who is most likely to win in sales.

Dr. Chris Croner is an entrepreneur, sales psychologist, and author. He has developed a system for identifying salespeople with the drive to succeed, helping businesses build better sales teams while avoiding underperformers.

Too many managers hire salespeople who are motivated by money when they should be looking for someone who is motivated by excellence. Much like an athlete looks at the score on the scoreboard as a reflection of how well they’ve done, the best salespeople consider the money they make nothing more than a byproduct of their achievements, not the achievement itself.

One of the most important human needs is fulfilling a purpose. That personal drive is a much more compelling reason to get out of bed in the morning than just meeting required sales numbers and then calling it good.

Optimism, resilience, passion, and purpose all add up to the kind of salesperson that you want on your team. Ask for stories in interviews that highlight these characteristics, and when you hear the stories, you’ll know you’ve found the right person for the job.

Interview Links:

The Drive Test — Free Assessment

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

How to Get More Action

Tue, 24 Jan 2023 11:00:00 -0400

What is the number one thing that gets in the way of successful leaders? Surprise — the answer is you. Too often leaders are the reason that commitment and action just aren’t happening.

If you want more action out of your people, partners, and customers, set your fears and doubts about yourself aside. Bill had a conversation with a CEO who was struggling to raise his rates but was also struggling with his perception of himself based on his childhood experiences. Bill’s suggestions for this man gave him the opportunity to see himself in a new light, which resulted in success all around.

Too often our personal doubts and concerns get in the way of our success. When you’re focusing on yourself and not on the people you’re trying to do business with, you just can’t be nearly as effective. But when you are comfortable with yourself and focused on the other person, success is almost guaranteed.

Increase your self-awareness. Deal with your insecurities, but set them aside whenever you are supposed to be focusing on the other person.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

The Power of Listening

Tue, 17 Jan 2023 11:00:00 -0400

Leaders need to hear YES. Yes to the proposals, the offers, the pitches, the suggestions, the hiring offers. But how can you get more of those yeses?

Bill has the answer. Whether you’re raising money or partnering with someone, the secret to hearing yes is knowing what the other person needs. Knowing what people needed (even before they did) was the key contributor to the success of Steve Jobs and Apple.

If you want to hear yes, show more interest in other people. Offer commitment and action. Set your pitch aside and consider what is really going on with the other person. What is their world like? How can you improve it? What advanced research can you do to get the information you need? And how can you give them what they want?

The key is rarely what we say but how well we listen to what the other person is saying. Become a good listener. Be curious about other people, and you are going to hear yes far more often.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Maximize the Value of Your Business — Nick Arellano

Wed, 11 Jan 2023 11:00:00 -0400

Many business owners are surprised to learn that selling their company is much more complex than selling property. Unlike selling a house or a car, selling a business takes significant time and preparation to optimize value. Nick has experienced both the buying and selling side, as well as the risks associated with the deal.

By integrating your exit strategy with your overall business strategy, you can limit your risk and increase your company’s value. If you are working with a team to plan your exit now, you’re adding millions of dollars to the eventual sale of your business.

This conversation is filled with key moves that company owners need to consider when strategizing their sale, negotiation considerations, and what owners can realistically expect from the sale. Nick shares what has worked (and what hasn’t worked) for his clients, and highlights his top moves for getting ready to maximize and sell a company.

Interview Links:

Your Legacy Partners

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

The Power of Being Bold

Tue, 10 Jan 2023 11:00:00 -0400

There are two ways to double your business. One is really hard, and one is significantly easier, and the difference is boldness.

It can take a long time to double your revenue, but 10X thinking can change everything. When you think on a 10X level, it becomes easier to reimagine everything. Boldness brings with it an excited kind of terror, but are you ready to play a big, bold game? If so, you need a BHAG.

Your BHAG needs to challenge you to think bigger than ever before. Consider Kennedy committing the U.S. to winning the race to the moon or Daniel Burnham’s invitation to do something truly awesome that has the magic to stir men’s (or women’s) blood. That is the kind of inspiration that people can get behind.

There is power in declaring your vision boldly, but there is also a balance that has to be met. It has to be something that has never been done before, it has to be something worth doing, and it has to be aligned with your purposes. But it has to be declared within reason. Bill Galagher might not be the next man in space; Elon Musk is a more likely candidate. Be awesome, but don’t be absurd.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

“Getting Real with Michael Solomon — 10X Management”

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

The Best of Scaling Up 2022

Wed, 04 Jan 2023 11:00:00 -0400

In this week’s episode, Scaling Up has lined up eight fan-favorite episodes from 2022. In case you’ve missed any of these classics, we have compiled a quick recap of each of the episodes and the guests below. Thank you for listening to the Scaling Up show!

Michael Solomon has three businesses today, artist management, freelance software talent management, and compensation negotiation services. He is also the author of the book, Game Changer, which dives into how to get the most out of the talent economy. After an industry change, this business owner saw some interesting parallels that made him realize that people are really the cornerstone of your company’s success.

Chris Ronzio is the founder & CEO of Trainual, an online training resource manual for your company to help train employees, contractors, and more. He was also named EY Entrepreneur of the Year in 2021 and is the author of the new book, The Business Playbook. Chris takes his Business Playbook to a different level and shares how to streamline onboarding in an easy way where it doesn’t overwhelm you!

Dr. Alison Horstmeyer is a talent development consultant, executive coach, and humanistic thought leader. Her research focuses on curiosity and associated mental, emotional, and motivational attributes. Dr. Alison is considered to be one of the pioneering practitioners in workplace curiosity. This episode focuses on how curiosity impacts the world around us today, how to cultivate it, and how more of it within your team helps your business scale and grow.

Jason Forrest became established as a top 1% sales professional in his career and has gone on to train others in the field. Throughout his career, he’s found that the common sales techniques being taught out there put limitations on others. As a result of Jason’s hands-on sales experience, his coaching and consulting work has led sales teams to increase their effectiveness and drive more profit.

Marissa Levin has been an entrepreneur for over 25 years and is a globally-recognized growth strategist. In 1995, she launched her first business and grew it to $13 million in revenue. Her current venture, Successful Culture, is a leadership consulting organization that helps CEOs master the three most critical aspects of business growth: leadership development, strategy formulation and execution, and organizational culture assessment and improvement. In this episode, she answers the questions about fear or anxiety over the unknown future ahead, how you can navigate through something when you don’t know what you don’t know, and how you can scale if you’re not sure where you are in your growth stage.

Jack Daly is a leading Sales Speaker and Trainer and has spent over 30 years of his career helping salespeople and executives succeed. In 2022, Jack released his 10th book, Jack Daly’s Life By Design, which shares with the world his special recipe for life well lived. If you believe you have to burn yourself out or overextend yourself to “have it all,” then this episode is for you. Jack believes yes, you can have it all, but it has to start with an intentional and thoughtful plan, or else it will not be sustainable.

In a panel discussion of Scaling Up Insights, Bill is joined by panelists Neale Lewis, Stacy Eads, and Judy Guido to discuss the latest advancements in the world of Scaling Up. This discussion details the biggest takeaway from the pandemic is that being vulnerable is okay, how to stop “problem-solving” their team’s stress and instead take a step back and get real and vulnerable, and how you can get a job working for Warren Buffet.

Ron Price is the President and Founder of Price Associates, a global leadership performance firm. He is an internationally-recognized business advisor, executive coach, speaker, and author. He is also the author of the new book, Optimizing Strategy For Results, and this conversation is all about strategy! For some leaders, planning ahead can come seamlessly, for others, not so much. You might have run into a problem where you’ve planned a cohesive strategy, but when it comes to the execution, it doesn’t quite turn out the way you’ve envisioned. Ron shares how you can optimize your strategy for maximum impact.

Interview Links:

“Chris Ronzio — The Business Playbook”

“Alison Horstmeyer — Why Your Curiosity Matters”

“Jason Forrest — The Mindset of a Sales Warrior”

“Marissa Levin — Build a Great Advisory Board”

“Jack Daly — Have It All with Intentionality”

“Scaling Up Insights — Coach Panel with Neale Lewis, Stacy Eads, and Judy Guido”

“Ron Price — Strategic Execution”

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

The Power of Vulnerability

Tue, 03 Jan 2023 11:00:00 -0400

Are you willing to show a side of yourself that is anything but strong and in charge? How can you present yourself in a vulnerable way without appearing like a weak or unfit leader?

Over 20 years ago, Bill was faced with threats of bankruptcy in his business and losing his house. Once he realized he was facing his worst fears, he recognized that he was also faced with the opportunity to fight to the end.

When he opened up to his team in an honest and vulnerable way, Bill found himself surrounded by a team who was ready to fight with him. No one quit because he didn’t have a plan and no one accused him of being weak. Instead, within one year they had a major breakthrough and turned the company around.

How is it possible that vulnerability and uncertainty turned out to be powerful leadership? By committing to fight to the end and never quit, Bill inspired his team to stick with him. Vulnerability can be powerful, especially when it’s coupled with the conviction to find a solution that you can reach together.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Systems That Support Rapid Scaling — Katelynn Minott and Herb Cogliano

Wed, 28 Dec 2022 11:00:00 -0400

This episode highlights a company whose growth has more than doubled in just over a year. Bill is joined by Herb Cogliano, Scaling Up Coach, and Katelynn Minott, CEO of Bright!Tax for a conversation about the systems that will help support rapid scaling in your business. They share their scaling-up story and how they’ve grown using a lot of the tools found in the world of Scaling Up.

Bright!Tax is an accounting company that focuses on U.S. Expat tax services. The uniqueness of Katelynn’s business has made it possible for her to both compete and scale in an effective way. Additionally, having a purpose-focused business has created opportunities for the company that wouldn’t be available any other way.

Even with a unique business niche, Katelynn recognized that her company could go significantly farther with the help of Scaling Up coach Herb Cogliano. Together they leveled up her team at a time when they were struggling to find talent. They used a variety of Scaling Up tools to enhance both the client and the employee experience, including the favorite Daily Huddle, hiring A Players, monitoring work-life balance, and bringing curiosity into successes.

Building a culture that is infused with strategy, especially in a distributed workforce, is key to scaling up. Katelynn, Herb, and Bill have packed this conversation full of the tools and tips that can make scaling up a reality for any company that is ready to make it happen.

Interview Links:

Bright !Tax

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Are You an Inspiring Leader?

Tue, 27 Dec 2022 11:00:00 -0400

Again and again, Bill works with leaders who hold back from sharing what is really exciting and inspiring to them. Too many leaders think they need to be responsible and business-like instead of being unleashed and passionate.

In March 1963, in Washington DC, Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered a famous speech that was fueled by the passionate words of legendary gospel vocalist Mahalia Jackson — “tell them about the dream.” Her words changed a good speech into the fuel that launched the civil rights movement forward.

Bill knows a simple formula that will get you fired up about your work. First, talk about the way things are today, then consider where they are headed, and finally talk about your vision and what the future could look like if everyone was working toward that common goal. This formula will not only get you fired up but inspire those around you as well. And no matter what, don’t be afraid to let others see what you are really passionate about.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Scaling Up Insights — Coach Panel with Herb Cogliano and Daniel Marcos

Wed, 21 Dec 2022 11:00:00 -0400

Welcome back to another episode of Scaling Up Insights! For this round, we have guests Daniel Marcos, head of our e-learning platform, The Growth Institute, and Herb Cogliano, a recent podcast guest who shared one of his many client success stories.

In this episode, our panel of coaches discusses leadership change, unreasonable hospitality, managing versus leading, where innovation comes from, how pricing evolves, all that is happening with the economy, and taking care of managing your time.

Bill, Daniel, and Herb each share several stories of unreasonable hospitality — times when leaders have gone above and beyond to connect with and delight the people they are serving.

How have leaders learned to balance the virtual and in-person teams? Daniel and Herb share ideas that they have seen work, including “leg week” and weekly leader update videos. Bill points out that any leader who is forcing their team to get back to work full-time in person is missing the lessons we have all learned from the pandemic. Flexibility is the key to strong leadership in today’s changing work environment.

Growing your business 2X is so much harder than growing 10X. Daniel wants leaders to focus on changing their thinking to be more efficient all around. When leaders don’t get distracted by the little things, exponential growth becomes a perfectly reasonable goal. Creating a 10X and better BHAG is where breakthroughs happen because that’s where leaders start reimagining what is possible.

Despite constant change in the economy, leaders stay focused on the ways that they can help make the world a better place. Leaders focus on quality over quantity, and Herb reminds us of the importance of balancing time because the best ideas rarely appear in the middle of a long meeting in the office.

Interview Links:

Herb: Aspiregrowthadvisors .com

Daniel: Danielmarcos .co

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

What Kind of Leader Do You Want to Become?

Tue, 20 Dec 2022 11:00:00 -0400

What kind of leader are you today? The leader that you’ve evolved into may not be the kind of leader you want to be in the long run. What brought you to this point may not get you to the next level you’re aiming to achieve.

Bill has the secret to becoming the kind of leader that you want to become. 20 years ago he found himself exactly where he thought he wanted to be in his professional and personal life, but found himself feeling miserable and stuck. His coach prompted him to consider the end game — what would the success story at the end of his life sound like?

The kind of leader that you currently are is probably great, but stop and consider where you want to go from here. Then you can start building on those strengths that you want to achieve and start to make real traction with your end-of-life goals.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Are You a Coachable Leader?

Tue, 13 Dec 2022 11:00:00 -0400

The number one leader that you need to work with is you. There is a direct correlation between company goals an the habits of CEOs. The leader and the organization are one and the same, so what the leader does affects the organization, and what the organization does affects the leader, for better or for worse.

Leaders deserve the company they have and have the company they deserve. If there is a problem or something that needs to change, the good news (and the bad news) is that it’s your fault and you have the ability to do something about it.

Bill once worked with a successful but undisciplined leader who was late to every meeting, event and deadline. It was no surprise with that leadership style that the company had plateaued and just couldn’t hit their next level goals. Despite meeting with Bill, this leader wasn’t willing to make the needed changes to improve both his company and himself. And if a leader isn’t willing to change, even with effective coaching, it’s almost guaranteed that the organization isn’t going to change either.

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Kristi Herold — It Pays to Play

Wed, 07 Dec 2022 11:00:00 -0400

“All work and no play make for a dull workplace… and a costly one.”

Organizations that provide opportunities for employees to playfully connect, bond, and build friendships see improvements in retention, engagement, and innovation. Intentional play at work creates a culture that benefits all employees’ physical and mental health and a company’s bottom line.

Kristi Herold helps connect people through play and helps companies unlock profit through play. Kristi’s vision is to get one million people playing annually. Her book It Pays to PLAY was born from the idea that play is a critical component of work.

Kristi spent 25 years connecting millions of people through play, and when the pandemic hit, was faced with the major challenge of pivoting to keep her business alive. What felt like a shot in the dark turned into a major business opportunity that helps connect people as well as helps companies unlock profit through play.

Kristi argues that a strong company culture does not come from having an organized event once a month (or year). There are ways to integrate playfulness throughout everyday work interactions.

No matter how serious your business is, make time to make those connections. When there is permission for bonds to be strengthened, everyone wins.

Interview Links:

It Pays to PLAY

25% off JAM virtual events and a free PLAYbook

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Trivinia Barber — Creating Momentum with Your EA

Wed, 30 Nov 2022 11:00:00 -0400

You might be able to build a $50 million business without the help of an executive assistant, but the work and relief they can offer you just might be the best thing to ever happen to your business. Especially for an entrepreneur who has never had an EA, bringing on an assistant who knows what they can take from your plate is invaluable.

Trivinia Barber is a speaker, author, and leadership consultant who helps entrepreneurs in businesses of all sizes scale growth, sharpen leadership skills, and build teams they can trust.

She founded Priority VA and developed The Momentum Method™ so clients may achieve better synergy between their products, people, and processes for greater growth & efficiency.

At every stage of growth, leaders wonder how to maximize their team, get the best help, and work well with the people that they have recruited. If there are problems, there are only two possible reasons for it — either the people or the process.

Too often leaders hire an executive assistant that wants to become a leader or entrepreneur themselves. Leaders shouldn’t be looking for a way to clone themselves, they should be looking for someone who has an entirely different value-add from their own.

Consistency, trust, commitment, and communication are the keys to finding the right person for the job. The right EA has to be a fit for the leader, and the reverse is true as well. If you like name-dropping or cursing, the sooner you get that quirk out there, the better.

Finding the right fit takes time, but as the success stories that Trivinia highlights show, having the right EA in your corner can make all the difference as you are scaling up.

Interview Links:

Momentum Headquarters

Priority VA

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Owen McGab Enaohwo — Train and Onboard Employees Faster

Wed, 23 Nov 2022 11:00:00 -0400

Getting your processes dialed and optimizing the processes you have to do again and again is key to scale.

Owen McGab Enaohwo is the CEO and Co-founder of SweetProcess, an easy-to-use software that enables company executives and their employees to collaborate to quickly document and/or improve their standard operating procedures, processes, and policies.

“There has to be a better way” is the thought that propelled Owen forward in his mission to improve employee onboarding. He took the time to interview potential customers about what they needed, and how he could provide a solution in the best way possible.

Identifying and documenting recurring processes is a critical first step to scaling up. Determine if they are income-generating tasks or production, behind-the-scenes tasks. Both have to be attended to, but Owen’s advice is to focus on the production side first. If you don’t, you’re not going to be prepared to meet the needs of your customers as they come in.

SweetProcess makes documenting standard operating procedures easy, and can effectively optimize the efforts of employees so that they don’t have to be reinvented time and again. Owen shares several examples of companies that have benefited from using the software consistently over time and highlights the ways that scale happens faster when processes are streamlined.

Interview Links:

SweetProcess

Try SweetProcess free for 28 days

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Lori Michele Leavitt — The Pivot Catalyst

Wed, 16 Nov 2022 11:00:00 -0400

The companies that last are the ones that are willing to pivot and adapt, and that have leaders who know how to lead the way.

Lori Michele Leavitt has coached, consulted, and trained hundreds of leaders around the world to achieve their objectives and generate momentum. She speaks globally on catalyzing momentum, leading, pivoting, and workplace culture change.

Lori is the founder and president of Abrige Corp., which offers the Aligned Momentum (A.M.)® leadership operating system to help managers lead better. She also leads the global 10x!® business & leadership peer groups.

“Pivoting” conjures up the idea of quick change, but the actual change from where you are to where you want to be is never a quick move. Pivoting requires orchestration, which only begins when a moment of pause provides clarity. Lori’s books, The Pivot and Pivot to Clarity, focus on that moment and the clarity that comes before the pivot can happen.

Lori shares several examples of companies that have successfully — and unsuccessfully — pivoted. The difference between the two is the ability to take input, be aware of innovation, and exhibit a willingness to change.

The strategies for pivoting are tried and true, but will only happen effectively when the leader is willing to put those steps into action. Stop telling yourself that you’re special or don’t have to put in the work; just put your head down and make the change happen.

Interview Links:

Lori Michele Leavitt

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Nancy Erickson — Stop Chasing Prospects

Wed, 09 Nov 2022 11:00:00 -0400

What does it take to get prospects to come to you? The transition to becoming a sought-after expert who draws in the ideal audience starts with the story you tell.

Nancy Erickson, The Book® Professor, coaches people who aren’t writers to become authors of high-impact nonfiction books that can change lives, save lives, or transform society. She offers a step-by-step methodology that takes you from your initial idea, all the way to a published nonfiction book. All you need is an idea to get started.

Simply put, a book is not a book is not a book. In other words, when you are writing, you have to put forth your very best effort, your best thoughts, and your best self. Your book should establish you as an expert in your field, it should increase your credibility, and it should help you attract a following. But the surefire way to kill your credibility on page one is to have a poorly-written book.

Nancy has helped an array of business professionals to use their books to drive their speaking engagements and increase their following including author Stephen Denny and Vistage speaker Jim Canfield.

She advises each leader to start by reworking the books they may have written in the past to be relevant in today’s market. Second, know who your audience is so that you know how to best reach them.

Third, identify ways to repurpose each chapter of your book to increase your exposure and use revenue in other avenues, whether it be seminars, workshops, podcasts, blogs, online courses, or your own keynote address.

The truth is, not everyone is going to read a book. The more ways you can connect with your audience, the more ways your effort and the concepts in your book will pay off.

Interview Links:

The Book ® Professor

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Brian Smith — Building a Brand

Wed, 26 Oct 2022 10:00:00 -0400

How do you build a billion-dollar brand? It rarely starts with a billion dollars, that much is certain.

Brian Smith has charted his own course to become one of the great entrepreneurial success stories of our time. In 1978, he imported six pairs of sheepskin boots from Australia, with a dream to build a business where every American would eventually be wearing the product.

That is how one of the world’s most recognizable brands began, and sales of UGG products have exceeded a billion dollars in each of the past six years.

It was a chilly day in California when inspiration struck, but it wasn’t long before Brian learned that his entrepreneurial idea wasn’t going to amount to anything without a profound amount of work.

Brian’s book Birth of a Brand highlights the most fundamental truth of any entrepreneurial idea — just as you don’t give birth to an adult, your fledgling idea won’t immediately appear as a successful, profitable, fully-functioning business either. Breakthrough-breakdown is the cycle that every growing business has to navigate, and Brian has serious wisdom about the growth and branding that took Uggs from tadpole to billion-dollar success.

Despite the moments when Brian thought he had failed, he never gave up. You’re never really defeated until you give up on yourself. Brian shares the experiences he had that taught him what it takes to stay in the game until you’ve changed the world.

Interview Links:

Brian Smith

Spend a Day With Brian

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Faisal Hoque — Everything Connects

Wed, 19 Oct 2022 10:00:00 -0400

When mindfulness, creativity, and innovation come together, the result is powerful leadership and impactful inventions that can change the world.

Faisal Hoque is the founder of SHADOKA, NextChapter, and other companies that focus on enabling sustainable and transformational changes. Throughout his career, he has developed over 20 commercial business and technology platforms and worked with public and private sector giants.

His bestselling book, Everything Connects: Cultivating Mindfulness, Creativity, & Innovation for Long-Term Value (Fast Company), is currently #2 on Wall Street Journal and USA Today.

Faisal grew up in Bangladesh and his world travel has inspired him to write several books with a focus on individual and organizational leadership, creating long-term value, and resilience.

Deep, daily mindfulness about our intentions and actions is essential. Faisal highlights the example of Leonardo DaVinci — he was constantly striving to determine who he was as an artist, sculptor, engineer, and entrepreneur, and then apply it to his real life. Mindfulness about your value-add is absolutely essential as you work to make meaningful contributions in the world.

Generically, mindfulness applies to awareness of where our mind lands, but more specifically it applies to our self-awareness and acting intentionally rather than merely in reaction to external forces. Mindfulness impacts not only you but every relationship you are in.

Faisal calls empathy the foundation of transformational leadership. Leaders are self-aware, they are influential, and they are looking for ways to recognize and utilize the talents of others. Without effective mindfulness of the self, leaders can’t expect to be effective in leading or inspiring others.

Interview Links:

Faisal Hoque

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Happier Hour: How to Beat Distraction, Expand Your Time, and Focus on What Matters Most

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Aaron McDaniel and Klaus Wehage — Going Global

Wed, 12 Oct 2022 13:00:00 -0400

US-based entrepreneurs often underestimate the potential of expanding to other countries, but scaling globally requires an understanding of both company knowledge and local culture.

Klaus Wehage and Aaron McDaniel are the co-authors of Global Class: How the World’s Fastest Growing Companies Scale Globally. They have seen first-hand the challenges that entrepreneurs face in translating their local success into international markets.

Global companies are expected to localize their products and services to each country they are present in, as well as compete with both local and global competition. Language is the first level of how you operate and manage within a company, followed by pricing and marketing. But like an iceberg, there is so much under the surface that is required to operate legally and successfully in each different country.

Global-class companies consider how their values resonate with the culture of each country, the importance or offense of offering feedback, and how technologies can be either a help or hindrance to scaling. The examples of Walmart and DocuSign illustrate that what works in one country might be the reason a company doesn’t succeed in another.

The most difficult and most important effective part of expansion is the team. An overlap of local knowledge and company knowledge is ideal and requires hiring the right people to get the job done. There are spoken and unspoken rules in every country, and understanding these rules is key to successful global scaling.

Interview Links:

Resources:

20,000 Scaleups
Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)
Bill on YouTube
Recruiter.com Short List (use code scaleup)
Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Allan Boyle — Scaling Well

Wed, 05 Oct 2022 19:21:29 -0400

Companies that are scaling well can be faced with hiring large numbers of people at once, but often don’t have the systems in place that train, teach, and keep that new talent in place for long.

Allan Boyle is the founder of Saltwater Consulting, where he helps companies scale well. He gained his “special ops” training at Amazon, and has since focused on leading organizations through transformation, particularly leveraging cloud-based disruptive technologies.

Allan focuses on working with technology companies, which isn’t everyone’s strength. But his product market fit angle can be applied to anyone. There is a good chance that you have a vision for the way you can change the world, but any real effort must include the ability to lead people. To really scale, you have to get good at developing leaders and leaders of leaders.

Too often, scaling companies hire a lot of people quickly, but then fail to fully train their new hires. Typically on Day 1, the new hire is given their laptop and a general overview of the responsibilities, and on Day 2 the hiring manager goes out of town for two weeks, leaving the new hire alone and wondering what they are supposed to do next. With an effective launch plan, the hiring manager has a clear training schedule that can be reported back to HR after a few months. By doing this, a company can accurately determine how well a new hire has been onboarded.

When scaling fast, Allan warns, don’t just focus on acquiring soft talent. Find the right people to help with hiring, and then focus on the new hires for their first three to four months for a more effective hiring process that will help to minimize turnovers.

Allan offers his recommendations for developing a more effective onboarding process, creating an environment where new hires are properly trained, envisioning what the company will look like in the future, and then working toward making that a reality.

Interview Links:

Resources:

20,000 Scaleups
Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)
Bill on YouTube
Recruiter.com Short List (use code scaleup)
Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Cassie Holmes — Happier Hour

Wed, 28 Sep 2022 13:53:48 -0400

We all have the same 24 hours in the day, but leaders know how to use their time more effectively and generally find more happiness along the way.

Cassie Holmes is a professor at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, where she is an award-winning teacher and researcher. Holmes’s work on the intersection of time and happiness has been widely published in lead academic journals and featured in such outlets as NPR, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, and more. Happier Hour is her first book.

A few years ago Cassie found herself so exhausted and overwhelmed that she wondered if she would ever catch up with the pressures of life. She found herself wishing for more hours in her day, but quickly realized that increased discretionary time in her day does not always result in increased happiness.

It’s not about becoming time rich, it’s about making your time spent more rich. We can feel fulfilled and satisfied at the end of each day by investing our time more carefully. The perfect balance is found somewhere between having too much and too little to do. Being time-poor can have just as detrimental an effect on our happiness as not having enough to fill our days up. There was a time when Cassie thought that finding two hours of discretionary time in her day was a dream she would never be able to achieve. While scrolling on TikTok for two hours will never bring satisfaction, that same amount of time spent with children or on a passion project can be the most important hours that we spend in the day.

Cassie shares the research, examples, and cautionary tales that will push you to think about how you are living, and how you want to be remembered. Her message will inspire you to spend your hours well, because they add up to your days, your years, and ultimately, your life.

Interview Links:

Cassie Holmes

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Scaling Up Insights — Coach Panel with Stacey Eads and Daniel Marcos

Wed, 21 Sep 2022 10:00:00 -0400

When your team and your clients feel engaged and connected, great things happen. In this new episode of The Scaling Up Podcast, we have panelists Oklahoma Consultant and Woman of the Year Stacey Eads and Growth Institute Co-founder and CEO Daniel Marcos for a conversation about company culture.

One additional sentence in every email can free up a significant portion of the time that you spend sorting through your inbox. By simply stating whether an email request is a high priority or low priority, or offering a few options for people to reply with, you are clearly stating your request and making it easy for others to respond.

The newest trend in the workplace is “quiet quitting,” and it means different things for different people. Some people are looking for greater work/life balance, while others are quietly disengaging with their jobs as a preliminary move before quitting altogether. This is not a great move considering CEOs have just gotten comfortable with the idea of more remote work, but it’s not good for you or the company to exit in this way. Bill questions the leaders who are either intentionally or unintentionally driving employees away, and offers his advice for a more effective way to engage and retain top talent.

When you are doing good work and making a profit from it, everyone involved feels better about the company. Stacey highlights companies that have demonstrated an alignment of passion, purpose, and products, and Daniel addresses what it means to be engaged in the work that you are passionate about. No matter your position or your focus, the impact that your work has on your team, your clients, and the world at large matters.

Interview Links:

Stacey Eads

Daniel Marcos

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Shane Mahoney — Creating Unbelievable Travel Experiences That Nobody Has Created Before

Wed, 14 Sep 2022 13:00:00 -0400

Great experiences enhance your creativity, help you rest and recover, and restore your soul. Similarly, creating great experiences for the people that you work with, whether it be customers or employees, can be a powerful way to scale up.

Shane Mahoney has propelled luxury travel planning from a service to an art form. As the CEO and creative brain behind Lugos Travel, Shane puts together custom, luxury adventures, and meaningful experiences that are out-of-the-ordinary, thrilling, and a guaranteed delight to his clients.

So much travel now is planned by way of apps and websites, but when Shane learned about the opportunities available to him as a tour operator, he knew he had found the work he always wanted to do (even before he knew it existed).

Shane highlights what luxury travel looks like, how Lugos has pinpointed their travel destinations, and what their customers can expect from their experience. Their goal is to solve problems before their clients even know there is a problem at all.

Now operating in 17 countries, Lugo’s Travel is heavily focused on scaling up. They have identified ways to create a next-level, luxury experience for their customers. From professional photography to local, customized room gifts in upgraded hotel suites, they aim to delight and truly care for their customers.

The world is full of incredible offerings — what could you do for yourself or your team to enhance your efforts, your creativity, and your commitment to creating unbelievable experiences?

Interview Links:

Shane Mahoney 360

Lugos Travel

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Evan Sohn — The Future of Hiring

Wed, 07 Sep 2022 21:20:06 -0400

What’s changed with hiring and recruiting? The short answer is everything. Today’s guest is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Recruiter.com, an on-demand recruiting platform providing flexible talent acquisition solutions that scale from startups to the Fortune 100, and he has great insights into the future of hiring.

Evan Sohn is a frequent contributor to CNBC and Yahoo! Finance and demonstrates expertise in a diverse set of industries, including Wi-Fi, Instant Messaging, data security, customer relationship management (CRM), and much more.

The state of hiring can be broken down into three parts: what was happening pre-pandemic, what is happening currently, and what the future of hiring looks like. Wage inflation means across the board, people are worth more than they were two years ago. Zoom interviews make it easy to connect with your potential new boss, and employees aren’t expected to stay at a job nearly as long as they once were. Every micro-change that has affected the job market over the last few years will never again return to the “normal” way it once was.

It’s predicted that in 2022, the U.S. will spend $50 billion more on hiring and retaining than was spent in 2019. More people are quitting as a result of the Great Resignation, but more people are getting hired as well. In many cases, the firing and hiring are simply a reflection of right-sizing teams.

So what metrics should HR and employees be held to? There needs to be more to the hiring process than just understanding compensation. Employees need to understand what they will be able to do at the end of the job, as well as what the career benefits are within the position.

If employees are willing to walk for a few more dollars, then something needs to change. Companies that have a unique culture, a clear advancement path, and a flexible environment are the companies that are going to be able to hire — and retain — the kind of employees that are going to stick around.

Interview Links:

Evan Sohn

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Shailee Basnet — Dealing with Challenges

Wed, 31 Aug 2022 10:00:00 -0400

Shailee Basnet scaled Mt. Everest in 2008. She then led a historic “Seven Summits Women Team,” which became the world’s first group to scale the highest peak in each continent. She currently leads, “Female Leadership Academy” in Nepal to help train young female survivors of human trafficking.

Growing up with Mt. Everest in her backyard, Shailee saw climbing the mountain as her ticket to adventure. She took on climbing as a way to figure out what her body was capable of doing, and has since worked to lead teams across the 7 Summits.

It takes incredible self-awareness to recognize when something is missing from your life and then take the action to do something about it. As a nearly five-foot-tall woman who started her journey having never trekked before in her life, Shailee had to work extra hard and she earned every single ability that she needed to climb Everest.

Even when Shailee woke up paralyzed, she kept working toward her goals. She recognized that failure is just another emotion that has to be processed and worked through. She reflects on the presence of hospitality in the climbing industry and the differences between men and women in teamwork. As she says, “the clarity to stick together” as a team has been key to overcoming any challenge.

Just as each summit she conquered presented its own unique set of challenges, each challenge you face in your life has to be addressed and handled in its own way. For Shailee, it was a simple pair of mittens; for you, it could be something as simple as a sales call that can go completely awry if you don’t give it the full attention that it deserves. Every challenge you face requires your full attention and just may become your next great conquest.

Interview Links:

Shailee Basnet

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Sean Castrina — Founder of The Weekend MBA

Wed, 10 Aug 2022 10:00:00 -0400

What are the core things you are forgetting in your scaling-up journey? Too often entrepreneurs get distracted by their passion projects and forget the essential principles of success.

Sean Castrina is the founder of The Weekend MBA, a serial entrepreneur, having started more than 20 companies over the last 20 years, and still seeks to launch a new venture annually.

He is the author of four bestselling business books including 8 Unbreakable Rules for Business Startup Success, The Greatest Entrepreneur in the World, Developing The Entrepreneur Within and World’s Greatest Business Plan.

Sean’s entrepreneurial journey began when his first dream job told him they were “going in a different direction.” As a result, he looked around for a need and founded a very unsexy car wash business that made $30,000 in the first year. He has since repeated his simple startup formula again and again for over 30 years and has no problem building companies that he doesn’t feel passionate about.

Entrepreneurs don’t have to be passionate about the business they start, they just have to be willing to be objective about the business opportunities that are presented to them.

A desire to be passionate about your business is the first mistake entrepreneurs make in what Sean calls the Bermuda Triangle of business-building. The second mistake is hiring friends and family, which often leads to mediocrity from the start, and the third problem is with the personality of the founder themselves. Unlike Steve Jobs or Elon Musk, most founders need to have a winning personality in order to win in their business objective.

Finding a problem and figuring out how to solve it — in a way that’s better than anyone else — is the key to startup success. Sean shares several examples of his startups that did something different that worked, from an onsite car wash service to handyman work and digital marketing.

If you know what to look for, you can always find an opportunity for a successful startup business. The right business proposition combined with the willingness to take risks and bet on the right people to work with just might be all it takes to achieve next-level success.

Interview Links:

Sean Castrina

8 Unbreakable Rules for Business Startup Success

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

David Zelman — Designing the Future YOU

Wed, 03 Aug 2022 10:00:00 -0400

Today’s conversation is all about designing the future you! Who are you? Who are you going to be? What stories are you telling yourself today that are shaping your future success?

Founder and president of Transitions Institute, Inc., David Zelman has served as a corporate and business coach to millionaires, billionaires, royalty, and other top professionals who want to bridge the gap between professional accomplishment and personal satisfaction. His unique approach to fully expressing one’s humanity has empowered people to step beyond what is predictable and create truly extraordinary lives.

From near-illiterate high school dropout to college graduate to corporate consultant and business coach, David knows a thing or two about making successful transitions. When he realized he was headed down one dead end, he found the courage to pivot toward something better. Dying with your potential intact is not a good idea! The game isn’t to fulfill your potential, it’s leaning into it. That’s what the trajectory of designing a second life is all about.

We all have unlimited potential, the challenge is to figure out how to access it. What we dedicate our time and efforts to is what we are committed to. If you want to tap into your future potential, you have to be committed to it!

Too many people don’t understand the full nature of commitment. The internal conversations we have that excuse us from commitment become our reality, so we have to be very careful about what we tell ourselves. No matter what happens, commit now to being one of the finishers who doesn’t give up!

Interview Links:

Transitions Institute

David Zelman

If I Can , You Can : Transformation Made Easy , by David Zelman , Ph .D .

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Victoria Lebalme — Risk Forward

Wed, 27 Jul 2022 10:00:00 -0400

Are you so certain of what you (think you) know that you’re missing out on the possibilities that only come with embracing the unknown? Taking risks and presenting yourself in powerful ways are both key concerns of effective leaders.

Victoria Labalme harnesses principles from Broadway, Hollywood & Television to help entrepreneurs, artists and leaders Risk Forward® and Rock The Room®. She’s a WSJ bestselling author, Performance Strategist & Hall of Fame Speaker.

Victoria found her most impactful stage as a coach to CEOs and leaders around the world. From her own experiences with 9/11, terminal cancer and the pandemic, she has learned as well as anyone the value of embracing the unknown and utilizing the performing arts to present your best self.

When you present yourself from within, you harness a current that is followed by your authentic self and the natural energy that you have. Victoria’s programs Risk Forward® and Rock The Room® are both about the authentic expression of one’s self, in leadership, in business, and in life.

Many leaders feel the pressure to always have a clear goal or vision that they are working toward, but don’t actually know what’s coming next. But Victoria argues that it’s in not knowing that our best work and creative innovations appear. When we are willing to lean into an authentic place, we’re opening ourselves up to the possibilities that can only come with the unknown.

Few experiences have created uncertainty like the pandemic and today’s economy. When leaders are willing to lean into the unknown, rather than hold tight to what they think they know, they come alive. Victoria shares four ways to risk forward and reminds us - “don’t let your goals get in the way of your vision.”

Interview Links:

Victoria Lebalme

Risk Forward

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Larry Snyder — Preparing for Your Exit

Wed, 20 Jul 2022 10:00:00 -0400

How and when are you going to sell your company? It’s the biggest sale you’ll ever make, and the one that too many business owners aren’t spending enough time preparing for. But the sale of your business needs your time and attention now in order to really pay off down the road.

Larry Snyder has successfully led businesses for over 40 years. He has been through all four stages of a business — starting one, building the foundation, growing the business, and exiting. He knows the value of being prepared for an exit from Day 1 and how to achieve that for optimal value.

Looking back to his own exits, Larry made several key proactive steps. First, he recognized that a successful exit doesn’t happen overnight. He also identified how to align all invested partners to optimize well before the exit date. Larry has seen firsthand what happens when companies don’t have a clearly-thought-out exit strategy in place. And without one, business owners are setting themselves up to receive a fraction of the sale price that their business is actually worth.

But how can a business owner know if they are on the right track for making a smooth exit? Start by taking a vacation! If you can’t take a two-week vacation without your company falling apart or you constantly having to check in on everyone, you’ve still got some work to do.

Create a clear picture of your exit. What does it look like when you leave the business, regardless if it’s five, ten or twenty years from now? What is your role in the company once you have made your sale? Larry shares several anecdotal experiences where it pays to begin with the end in mind. Most importantly, no matter how far you are from your exit, dedicate some time to structuring it each week, and ask the questions that lead to the insight that you need to be prepared for the optimal exit, whenever it may come.

Interview Links:

Larry Snyder

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Stephanie Paul — Engaging Others with Powerful Storytelling

Wed, 13 Jul 2022 10:00:00 -0400

A great storyteller knows how to craft a story and use it to their advantage. With your team, your investors, your customers, and your partners, the right stories can be incredibly powerful.

Stephanie Paul’s talents take many forms — as an actress who has worked in 10 international TV and Film markets, as an improv, stand up and sketch comedian, a director, producer, writer, public speaker, and most recently the author of Unlock the MAGIC of Story. She began acting at the age of 10 and has spent her life engaging others in powerful stories.

She has learned that the most powerful story you will ever tell is the one you tell yourself. Some stories empower us, and some make us feel limited, but all of the stories can either motivate or paralyze us. Actors use these stories to harness the brain chemicals that make for good entertainment, and we can hack our own biology — for better or worse — with storytelling.

Your brain will complete an unfinished story, even without the facts to support it. Stephanie explains how our brain jumps to conclusions and that affects our narrative and our behavior in ways that aren’t actually consistent with our values or beliefs. The way you show up and how you tell your stories to others can be incredibly effective on others.

Bottom line, if you’re not having fun, then neither is your audience. Passion shines through more than any other measure of preparation. At the end of the day, the buy-in is biological and the story influences the decision-making. The stories you tell have the power to make or break your business, your customers, your investments, and your life.

Interview Links:

Stephanie Paul

Unlock the MAGIC of Story

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Research Institute for Risk Intelligence

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Jim McCormick — Intelligent Risk-Taking Advice from a Skydiver

Wed, 06 Jul 2022 10:00:00 -0400

People who are willing to take more risks are more likely to experience greater success, and the only difference is that they are willing to try, and occasionally fail.

Jim McCormick is the president of the Research Institute for Risk Intelligence, a world-class, Hall of Fame skydiver, and author of The Power of Risk. With over 5,200 skydives to his name, Jim knows plenty about the value and thrill of intelligent risk-taking. He took his first jump when he was 32, and immediately found that satisfaction that comes with conquering his fears.

But how important is risk-taking in reaching your goals? Jim shares the fears of deep-sea exploration and the value that leaders have by sharing their expertise with non-experts. Humans do not like to feel vulnerable, and risk makes us vulnerable, but that doesn’t mean it should be avoided altogether.

Everybody is happy when innovation works out, but what happens when companies take a risk and it doesn’t work out? Jim explains the 350 Rule, which celebrates failure while still focusing on and aiming for success. No enterprise can expect every risk to result in reward, but those risks are generally still worth taking.

After every single jump, Jim reviews footage and reflects on what went well and what can be improved for next time. With a culture of permission, companies and leaders can embrace failure and encourage intelligent risk-taking.

It’s incredible to consider how much effort some people put into taking risks out of their lives, but that is rarely the path that leads to the greatest success. Playing it safe, or reflexive risk aversion, often limits the success you can experience. With 3.67 million skydives made in the U.S. last year and only 10 fatalities, it’s clear that our perception of risk and the actual risk we face often vary widely.

Interview Links:

Jim on LinkedIn

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Jonathan Domsky — Becoming Aligned with Your Life’s Purpose

Wed, 29 Jun 2022 10:00:00 -0400

At the intersection of work and home, we find life — who we are and where we find purpose amidst all the things we deal with. There are frameworks to deal with in every aspect of life, and this week’s guest understands the challenge of trying to manage it all while finding and fulfilling our life’s purpose.

Jonathan Domsky is the founder of Kidorable and is now a full-time coach. He calls himself an accidental entrepreneur who started with the simple goal of gaining more control over his time. When he realized he couldn’t dedicate any more of his life to work that didn’t light him up, he transitioned to coaching — what he calls the best journey of his life.

Even though Jonathan didn’t know anything about coaching, he did have the desire to take action. With that dedication and a clear vision of the kind of coach he wanted to be, Jonathan started on his new path and has experienced great joy along the way.

When we don’t know who we are or what our core values are, it’s impossible to know if we’re achieving meaningful progress in our careers or lives. But work that is aligned with your purpose is naturally joyful, and Jonathan outlines the steps required to become more fully aligned with your life’s purpose.

Your why and your how point the direction toward the purpose of your life, but your life is really about the what. It can take some experimentation to find out the what of your life, and Jonathan shares some of the exercises and experiences that have helped his clients discover and define their life’s purpose.

Interview Links:

Untangled Coaching

Jonathan on LinkedIn

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

315: Richard Shaull — The Three Key Roles of a CEO

Wed, 22 Jun 2022 10:00:00 -0400

As the CEO, do you ever feel like you get a little sidetracked? Do you feel you’re too in your business instead of focusing on what you’re actually good at? This week’s guest knows how to offboard those troublesome tasks so that you can get more productive CEO work done.

Richard Shaull is the Founder of Unleashed, a company that helps visionary CEOs free up 30 hours per week by training their COO counterpart, which then allows CEOs to focus on tasks that propel their company forward. After almost killing himself through two business ventures, Richard made it his mission to help other entrepreneurs never go through the same struggles again.

As a newly-married man and running two businesses at the same time, Richard couldn’t take it anymore. He was suffering on a level he did not know he could. He ended up losing investor money, got defrauded by the U.S. government, sued, you name it, Richard experienced it.

As Richard reflects on what he could have done better, he realizes that his fatal flaw was his leadership ability. Everyone external thought his company was doing great, but internally, nothing was working right. Everything was falling apart.

Richard had to take ownership. Everything rises and falls with leadership and he was the root source of the problem. He realized a little too late that what got him here was not what would get him there, and that was how the cookie crumbled.

Interview Links:

Unleashed .ceo

Richard on LinkedIn

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

314: John Robertson — How to Leverage Crisis

Wed, 15 Jun 2022 10:00:00 -0400

When you’re scaling your business, fires are likely to pop up and get your mission detailed. Business owners often face the problem that they’re unable to utilize their people effectively in times of crisis. Today’s guest has wisdom on how to keep culture aligned and have everyone’s mental stamina primed and ready for action.

John Robertson is the Founder & President of Fortlog Services. He built his services with an encouragement-based approach, resolving root causes at the source as opposed to treating crisis in the workplace symptomatically. He is a Workforce Wellness Expert and a Cultural Alignment Specialist and helps organizations develop and engage their people.

Why do we make people feel bad whenever something stressful happens in the workplace? The old school “walk it off” model when you’re in pain just doesn’t work. John has seen clients excel greatly in their position, but each and every task they did became a painful stone in their shoe that built up to the point where they no longer could take it. It’s John’s job is to prevent it from ever getting to that point.

“Why do you want to work here?” This is a poorly structured question. Many new hires don’t know how well they’ll be able to fit into your team. The question and all the actions supporting that should be rephrased to, “How can we help you work here?” Telling your team the crisis problem doesn’t exist only makes the bleeding become heavier.

Interview Links:

Fortlog .co

Runtowardtheroar .online

John on LinkedIn

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

313: Marc Reifenrath — Attract & Retain A-Players

Wed, 08 Jun 2022 10:00:00 -0400

How do we attract and retain A-players? And how do we build an A-player culture in a me-over-we environment? Today’s guest knows that the number one asset of any successful company is the people, and he has joined the podcast to share his secrets of company culture success.

Marc Reifenrath is the co-founder and CEO of Spinutech. Spinutech has grown from a university dorm start-up over 20 years ago to a multinational digital agency with 150-plus team members across the U.S.

What does it mean to have the kind of company culture that attracts and retains top talent? From the beginning, Marc and the team at Spinutech aimed to shape their workplace as one that they wanted to work at. Since they aren’t in the business of saving lives, they aim to have fun with the work they are doing.

Leaders give their team permission to act, whether it’s through yelling at employees or playing and having fun while working. As CEO, Marc has had to give up some of his favorite fun parts of his work, but that hasn’t stopped him from striving to exemplify the company vision and motivate his team along the way.

Even a merger hasn’t slowed down the power of this team’s culture. Marc reveals the secret of a successful merger — to treat everyone like it’s their first day again — and the values that keep his company culture running strong. From attracting to retaining superior talent, Marc understands and shares how to find and keep the best person for any job.

Interview Links:

Mark Reifenrath in Twitter

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

312: Becky Margiotta — Scaling Your Leadership Skills

Wed, 01 Jun 2022 10:00:00 -0400

Today’s guest has an array of life experiences that uniquely shaped her leadership skills. From parochial school to West Point, Special Ops to stockbroker, Becky Margiotta has powerful insights into the leadership skills that lead to success.

Becky Margiotta is the cofounder and owner of The Billions Institute, LLC, the author of Impact with Integrity: Repairing the World Without Breaking Yourself, and the host of the Unleashing Social Change Podcast. Becky also directed the 100,000 Homes campaign for Community Solutions, working across 186 cities to permanently house more than 100,000 people.

With her diverse background, Becky was prepared to tackle the biggest challenge of her career — housing the homeless. Over the course of four years, she succeeded in reducing homelessness in Times Square by 87%. She highlights some of the situations she faced during this opportunity and how her leadership skills turned challenges into incredible success.

Over her 11 years working with the homeless, her curiosity and desire for interpersonal connections led her to found The Billions Institute. The aim of the institute is to support large-scale change as a matter of justice and to get solutions to everyone who can benefit from them as fast as possible. They work with social entrepreneurs, change leaders, and C-suite leaders in healthcare, public schools, and more to scale up in a major way.

For Becky, effective scaling as a leader starts with falling in love with the problem. When you love the problem you’re working with, it becomes easier to do whatever it takes to solve it. Dig deep into your personal motivation, be prepared to serve whenever the opportunities arise, and build your business around generosity.

Interview Links:

Billions Institute

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

311: Matt Hulett — Unlocking Market Leadership

Wed, 25 May 2022 10:00:00 -0400

Are the most successful companies just the luckiest ones? Why is it that some companies scale quickly while others never really seem to take off? Today’s guest highlights the real secret to success, and the secret is leaders who are willing to ACT!

Matt Hulett has driven more than $2 billion in value creation as a four-time public company CEO and president and a two-time private company CEO. He is a seasoned technology executive with more than thirty years of experience building and leading world-class SaaS and consumer companies. He has had multiple turnaround successes in the public and private sectors, including Rosetta Stone, RealNetworks, and Expedia. Matt is also the author of Unlock : 5 Questions to Unleash Your Company ’s Hidden Power.

Matt is a man with a particular set of skills, and those skills have taken him far. Rosetta Stone was his most satisfying turnaround, with a clear opportunity for market leadership and increased relevance within a premium market. By looking at technology trends and focusing on a core customer, Rosetta Stone was able to successfully dominate a segment of — but not the entire — market share.

By following the same model, Expedia grew from zero to a billion dollars in just three years. Matt may have suffered a bit of imposter syndrome along the way, but he took advantage of the opportunity to learn from the best in the industry and quickly scale Expedia to the powerhouse that it is today.

He highlights some of the leadership tactics that he has developed over the last two years through the pandemic, and underscores the importance of maintaining a strategic mindset while also managing “team capital.” No matter your position, if you want to do something big, you have to be able to work with other people.

Serendipity, perseverance, network, and capital all play a role in the kind of success that Matt and so many other market leaders have experienced. Zoom’s success did not happen by total chance; neither did Slack’s nor will any other business. The entrepreneur who understands the edge of the business and is willing to pivot makes all the difference. If you’re ready, Matt’s new book is the place to start changing your company’s destiny.

Interview Links:

Matt on Twitter

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

310: Randy Cohen — Secrets of Swagger

Wed, 18 May 2022 10:00:00 -0400

This week’s episode is all about swagger! It’s about you, your attitude, and the impact it can make on you and everyone around you. It’s a leadership conversation with a guest who has a passion for life.

Randy Cohen is an entrepreneur, restaurateur, author, speaker, investor, philanthropist, and successful business owner. Randy founded the online ticket reseller, TicketCity, in 1990. He serves as TicketCity’s Chief Energizing Officer and is one of the most well-known and successful entrepreneurs in the secondary ticket markets. He is the owner of Z Tejas Southwestern Grill, a thriving chain of restaurants in Arizona and Texas.

From his very first sales with TicketCity to a memorable experience at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Randy has been a leader who sets the example of going above and beyond. He is living proof that a leader who is authentic, sincere, humble, and kind is a leader who is going to win.

Randy’s goal is to be the energetic, rising tide that lifts everyone around him, but how he does that may not be the way that you should do it. Everyone brings their own brand of swagger, and when it’s done right, everyone wins.

Adversity is an inevitable part of leadership, but his goal is always to do the right thing long after the feeling of doing it leaves. Even when his company couldn’t deliver the Super Bowl tickets they promised, or when COVID-19 took them to zero ticket sales, Randy has met angry customers head-on with an open heart and a willingness to confront the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Interview Links:

Sponsored by: Bit .ly /clariontech

Randy on Twitter

Email Randy

Secrets of Swagger : How to Own Your Cool in Life and Business , by Randy Cohen

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Did you enjoy today’s episode? If so, then head over to iTunes and leave a review. Help other business leaders discover the Scaling Up Business Podcast so they, too, can benefit from the ideas shared in these podcasts.

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Gazelles Coaching, on how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail. My name is Bill Gallagher, host of the Scaling Up Business Podcast and a leading Gazelles Coach. Gazelles is the term we use for fast-growing companies.

We help leadership teams with 4 Decisions around People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash so that they can Scale Up successfully and beat the odds of business growth success. Scaling Up for Gazelles companies is based on the Rockefeller Habits 2.0 (from Verne’s original best-selling business book, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits).

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

309: Andy Buyting — Increasing Sales without Hiring More Salespeople

Wed, 11 May 2022 10:00:00 -0400

When trying to scale, too many companies think that their only option is to hire more salespeople. But today’s guest argues that adding more salespeople to your team is not the answer at all.

Andy Buyting is a serial entrepreneur, learning junkie, and Scaling Up coach who brings over 20 years of sales, marketing, operations, business development, entrepreneurship, management, and executive experience to his clients. He is the founder of Tulip Media Group as well as various real estate developments and is the author of Double Sales/Zero Salespeople.

Andy has joined the podcast to share his experiences with doubling sales without hiring additional salespeople. Salespeople certainly have a place in growing businesses, especially as the conduit that connects customers to the needs and wants of a company. But in many cases, there are other employees within a company, like digital marketers or production people, that can fill the sales role, maybe even more effectively than a salesperson.

Andy shares an inspiring success story of helping a company increase its sales without hiring more salespeople. Waypoint Insurance used storybranding to pivot from ineffective marketing and branding and tell a better story about their company. They came to understand that when customers don’t like what they see on your website, they’re most likely going to leave and never come back again.

How can you unlock the full potential of your company? By understanding your core customer. If you know what your customer needs and wants, your biggest challenge will become managing growth. Scaling comes much more easily when companies effectively communicate their brand promises and service attributes.

Interview Links:

Sponsored by: Bit .ly /clariontech

Andybuyting .com

Andy on LinkedIn

tm .media /doublesales to download a free chapter of Double Sales/Zero Salespeople

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

308: Ronny Leber — A Memorable First Presentation

Wed, 04 May 2022 10:00:00 -0400

So often, we are pitching our companies to new prospects and potential investors, but the slightest wrong move, especially in the beginning, can throw the whole impression off. This week’s guest talks about how to create a memorable impression that gets people calling you back.

Ronny Leber is an expert on Public Speaking and loves to motivate his listeners and create magical moments that enhance team-building skills. Not only is Ronny a renowned keynote speaker, but he is also a TV host and legacy coach that has entertained millions of people worldwide.

The biggest mistake Ronny sees with new speakers is that they’re way too focused on themselves. The reality is, that people don’t particularly care about your product, company, or who you are until they know you can solve a very critical problem they’re having. The world is not waiting for you!

It begins with a bit of empathy and understanding your clients’ needs and wants first. Part of Ronny’s job is to take the audience through an emotion and create build-up, mystery, and intensity, before giving them the big show. However, in order to do that, you need to be in their heads, hearts, and souls.

How do you create a magical moment for your investor or even your employees? It starts with being able to be in the moment and not in your head. If you’re too in your head, the presentation does not come off natural, and you won’t be able to move with the audience and their needs. It’s important not only to have an outline in your presentation but also to be open to the flow of how people are interacting with you.

Interview Links:

Sponsored by: Bit .ly /clariontech

Ronnyleber .com

Ronny on LinkedIn

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

307: Eric Robichaud — How to Face Barriers and Grow the Business

Wed, 27 Apr 2022 10:00:58 -0400

Today’s entrepreneur shares some of his growth challenges when entering into a booming market that still has some pending legal clarity around it. Everything from not being able to advertise, losing merchant accounts, and not being able to get bank accounts is part of today’s guest story!

Eric Robichaud is a Serial Entrepreneur with over 30+ years of experience in tech, marketing, and business management. He is the CEO of Green Goddess Supply, a cannabis tech accessory brand. Eric has made his transition from traditional “computer geek” to “the weed guy,” and shares some of the challenges that possesses.

Eric is trying to democratize the plant. Medicine should not be for those who can only afford it. He wants to empower people to be able to grow the herb at home and by themselves.

Eric got his start off of Amazon. In the beginning, he had a criterion of what a good product looked like, most of the time it matched five out of the seven checkboxes until one day one of his team members came to him with a “unicorn” product. It ended up being a weed smoke accessory. Fast forward three months later, and nearly all of their best-selling products were from the cannabis industry.

As a marketing guy, Eric could not ignore the facts. He took a deeper look into this growing market and realized that there was real potential here. He identified some missing pieces in the market and decided to fully invest in the brand; he sold his agency and fully committed to the Green Goddess Supply company in 2017.

Interview Links:

Sponsored by: Bit .ly /clariontech

Greengoddesssupply .com

Eric on LinkedIn

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

306: Nathan Beckord — Capital Raising Mistakes: 3 Times the Charm

Wed, 20 Apr 2022 10:00:00 -0400

Nathan Beckord — Capital Raising Mistakes: Third Time’s the Charm

Today, Bill and his guest take an in-depth look at some of the common mistakes startup founders make when trying to raise capital. Having gone through the experience himself a number of times, our guest shares key highlights he’s learned from his extensive career as an interim CFO, Business Developer, and Advisor.

Nathan Beckord is the CEO and Founder of Foundersuite.com, a venture-backed company that provides critical resources for startups looking to raise capital. Foundersuite’s users have raised over $3 billion in seed and venture capital and Nathan himself is also the podcast host of “How I Raised It.”

Nathan got his start in investment banking and was helping companies raise capital. He found that everyone was basing their data and analysis on old-school spreadsheets and proposal docs, but what if he could create a software platform that could provide an all-in-one solution to raising capital? That’s how his company was born.

Today, Foundersuite.com has a database of investors, a CRM built in, pitch deck hosting services, investor update tools, a virtual data room, and so much more. Everything a startup founder might need to attract their ideal investor.

Bill has seen first-hand with his clients how intimidating the “raising capital” process can be. There’s just so much work that goes into it that it can be very daunting for the new Founder to pursue. Not only that, if you don’t know what you don’t know, new Founders are prone to bigger mistakes that they simply cannot afford.

Interview Links:

Sponsored by: Bit .ly /clariontech

Foundersuite .com

Nathan on Twitter

Nathan on LinkedIn

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

305: The Best of Scaling Up 2021

Wed, 30 Mar 2022 10:00:00 -0400

In this week’s episode, Scaling Up has 12 fan-favorite episodes from 2021. In case you’ve missed some of these classics, we have a quick recap of each of the episodes and the guests below. Thank you for listening to the Scaling Up show!

Neil Gordon works with entrepreneurs, executives, influencers, and thought leaders to overcome their messaging struggles. He helps them streamline their message to convey their value in unexpected ways. Prior to his work as a communications expert, Neil worked on the editorial staff of Penguin Random House. He is also the VIP contributor for Entrepreneur with three of his articles making it to the #1 spot on the website’s most popular posts.

Sarah Dawn is a Business Growth Expert and host of The Blissed Biz Podcast. She helps entrepreneurs and professionals create the business of their dreams that supports a lifestyle they love. A seven-figure entrepreneur herself, Sarah was burned out and overwhelmed in the beginning. Despite checking all the boxes, she sacrificed her health to achieve it. Sarah knew she had to forge a more sustainable and fulfilling path for herself if she wanted to successfully scale.

Hanneke Antonelli is an Author and award-winning certified Life Coach with 16 years of experience growing businesses in various industries. Hanneke draws on her business degree, Wall Street sales experience, and her decade as an entrepreneur to help business owners upgrade their leadership skills and focus on sustainable growth.

Andrew Bartlow leads Series B Consulting, a firm that helps companies build their people strategy and accelerate their growth. He is also the Founder of People Leader Accelerator, which is a development program for startup HR leaders, and the co-author of Scaling for Success.

Eric Partaker is a Peak Performance Expert who helps CEOs and Entrepreneurs scale themselves and their companies, while also improving their well-being. Eric is a big believer in the power of threes, and shares why it doesn’t have to be a huge and complex routine to create new habits!

Robert “Bo” Brabo is a retired U.S. Army Chief of HR Operations with the White House Communications Agency and was the Presidential Communications Officer for both Presidents Bush and Obama. Bo has served in several executive positions including most recently Vice President of Human Resources at the National Spine & Pain Centers and Founder of Hail Media Group.

Dan McGaw is an award-winning entrepreneur and speaker. He is also the Founder and CEO of McGaw.Io, an analytics and marketing technology consultancy firm. In 2015, Dan was selected to be a United States Ambassador of Entrepreneurship by the United States Department of State, where he had the privilege to advise the government, universities, and private corporations on how to build entrepreneur ecosystems.

Warren Rustand is a visionary that has led many successful private, public, and not-for-profit entities. He has a passion for family, entrepreneurship, and community. Warren is the author of The Leader Within Us. He is also the Global Chair of WPO and the CoFounder and CEO of several companies.

Nigel Bennett is also the Co-Founder of Aqua-GuardSpill Response Inc., where he and his company recently received the RuleBreaker Award for game-changing innovation in oil spill response technology. Nigel received the British Columbia Institute of Technology’s 2018 Distinguished Alumni Award and he is also the author of Take That Leap: Risking It All for What Really Matters.

David Horsager, MA, CSP, CPAE, is the CEO of TrustEdge Leadership Institute, national bestselling author of The Trust Edge, inventor of the Enterprise Trust Index, and director of one of the nation’s foremost trust studies: The Trust Outlook. David has developed an eight-pillar framework to help build trust quickly.

Erik Qualman is a five-time #1 Bestselling Author and Keynote Speaker and has been voted the 2nd Most Likeable Author in the World behind Harry Potter’s J.K. Rowling. Erik is out with a new book, The Focus Project: The Not So Simple Art of Doing Less Book, which dives into how to keep your mind on one track.

John Warrillow kicked off a revolution in 2011 when he released his bestselling book, Built to Sell: Creating a Business That Can Thrive Without You. A process that helps business owners reframe how they think about the business. John is out with a new book, The Art of Selling Your Business, where he discusses why it’s not luck that certain businesses sell high, and breaks down the “how,” in this week’s episode!

Interview Links:

Sponsored by: Bit .ly /clariontech

“Neil Gordon — How to Tell a Story that Sticks ”

“Sarah Dawn — Happiness Over Burnout ”

“Hanneke Antonelli — Rewire Your Brain ”

“Andrew Bartlow — How to Prioritize Your People During Times of High Growth ”

“Eric Partaker — 3 Simple Productivity Hacks ”

“Bo Brabo — Execute with Precision ”

“Dan McGaw — Leverage Your Marketing Data ”

“Warren Rustand — Tried and True Leadership ”

“Nigel Bennett — Make a Difference ”

“David Horsager — What Makes a Trusted Leader ”

“Erik Qualman — How to Focus in an Unfocused World ”

“John Warrillow — The Art of Selling Your Business ”

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Mentioned in this episode:

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

304: Getting Real with Charlie Bailes — ABC Fine Wines

Wed, 23 Mar 2022 10:00:00 -0400

Charlie Bailes is this week’s Getting Real entrepreneur where he chats with Bill about his entrepreneurial life. He is a fourth-generation wine business owner and the Founder of CB Supplements. Get to know his journey, some of the challenges he faced with filling the past generations’ shoes, and so much more!

Because of the pandemic, Charlie has seen a lot of supply chain issues in his wine business. He buys products from all over the world, so it affects him on a larger scale than one might think. If France is shut down, well, it means he’s going to have a hard time acquiring French wine. He found himself having to ration his liquor supply to help keep things stable.

Also, because of what’s happening between Russia and Ukraine, Charlie has taken all the Russian-made brands off of his shelf to support Ukraine's fight. Though, it’s interesting to note that because we live in such a global world, what really classifies as a “Russian” brand anymore? So many products get sourced all over to create a particular product. If you were to ban a Russian product, chances are you are also banning the non-Russian suppliers, too.

What was it like for Charlie to get grandfathered into a fourth-generation business? Charlie has been actively working in it for 13 years. There are a lot of family members who decided this business wasn’t for them, but Charlie is incredibly happy with the decision to be part of the family business. Charlie oversees a lot of the back-end operations to make sure the business is running smoothly. This includes IT, finance and accounting, HR, and so much more.

Charlie believes the luckiest break the business has had is it’s still a privately-held company. You are given the opportunity to look way beyond the next quarter, which means you can plan for longevity and the next-generation takeover. Charlie’s family has probably rebuilt the business five to six times because of this. This strategy is how they were able to rise above the uncertainties of COVID-19.

Interview Links:

Sponsored by: Bit .ly /clariontech

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Mentioned in this episode:

Q20 Diagnostic Offer

Stuck? Q20 Growth Diagnostic will give you a fresh perspective and it's free. ScalingCoach.com/Q20

Busy is Broken book

Our new book, Busy is Broken, coming this September. Sign up for the release at busyisbroken.com

303: Ron Price — Strategic Execution

Wed, 16 Mar 2022 10:00:00 -0400

This week’s episode is all about strategy! For some leaders, planning ahead can come seamlessly, for others, not so much. You might have run into a problem where you’ve planned a cohesive strategy, but when it comes to the execution, it doesn’t quite turn out the way you’ve envisioned. Our guest shares how you can optimize your strategy for maximum impact.

Ron Price is the President and Founder of Price Associates, a global leadership performance firm. He is an internationally recognized Business Advisor, Executive Coach, Speaker, and Author. He is also the author of the new book, Optimizing Strategy For Results.

Ron comes from an entrepreneurial family. His father became an entrepreneur because he wanted to live out his values. There were a lot of valuable lessons his father had instilled into Ron and it paved a way for him within his business and executive career.

Despite Ron’s diverse career over the last 40 years, he can boil it down to two critical pieces for his success: talent and strategy. Talent plays a big role in the successful execution of a strategy.

However, Ron has always had a love/hate relationship with strategy, and he knows he’s not the only one. He has seen it time and time again that companies typically do parts of strategy really well, but other pieces (like execution) can fall through the cracks. His latest book aims to solve this problem.

Interview Links:

Sponsored by: Bit .ly /clariontech

Thecompleteleader .org

Ron on LinkedIn

Optimizing Strategy for Results : A Structured Approach to Make Your Business Come Alive , by Ron Price

Resources:

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)