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Case Interview Preparation & Management Consulting | Strategy | Critical Thinking

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Case Interview Preparation & Management Consulting | Strategy | Critical Thinking
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Now displaying: July, 2022
Jul 27, 2022

Welcome to an episode with best-selling author and Customer and Employee Experience Strategist, Dr. Natalie Petouhoff. Get Natalie's book here: https://amzn.to/3z2fKsU

 

In this episode, Natalie spoke about the need for empathy today and the shift we need to make from focusing on company-centric business strategies to creating employee and customer-centric experiences. She also discussed the importance of customer feedback and how Amazon has used it to thrive. Listening from the other person’s point of view and putting yourself in the shoes of your customers and employees is the key to better human connection and success.

 

Natalie is a Senior Customer Experience Strategist and Business Consultant at Genesys®. Her career spans many years in technology and customer and employee experience, holding positions in and consulting at companies including Salesforce, Hulu, Marriott, General Motors, General Electric, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Weber Shandwick, Forrester Research, PWC Consulting, Hughes Electronics, Pepsi, Verizon, Best Buy, Procter & Gamble, Chevrolet, and Electrolux.

 

Her Ph.D. in Material Science and Engineering from the University of California and years as a “rocket scientist” provide her with the left-brain skills to strategically analyze how things work and redesign the world for a better future.

 

In her endeavors, Natalie has focused on the interplay between the evolution of technology and who we are as humans. From her early days as an engineer, she remains a true believer in “what is good for employees and customers is ultimately what is also good for companies.” As a speaker and participant at Singularity University, she’s captivated by the rapid advancement and impact of exponential technologies and how they are reshaping our lives and businesses.

 

Natalie’s current passion is shifting outdated paradigms by juxtaposing current beliefs with seemingly contradictory ones to reveal insights to drive the future of work, customer’s experiences, businesses and humanity forward. She believes we can imbue technology with our hopes and dreams for a future focused on bettering humanity. We just need to understand what we are optimizing for and why.

 

Dr. Natalie is often quoted in NYTimes, USA Today, Bloomberg Businessweek, CRM Magazine, and Peppers and Rogers 1-to-1 Magazine and is also a featured commentator on TV and radio. As an accomplished public speaker, Dr. Natalie is keynote speaker at conferences, both virtual and in-person.

 

Get Natalie’s book here:

Empathy In Action: How to Deliver Great Customer Experiences at Scale. Tony Bates, Dr. Natalie Petouhoff: https://amzn.to/3z2fKsU

 

Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

Jul 25, 2022

Welcome to an episode with the Chairman of The Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP), Ravi Venkatesan. Get Ravi's book here: https://amzn.to/3J5OwGc

 

In this episode, Ravi shared how he started believing in himself and his capabilities, which led to where he is today. He also spoke about the opportunities laying around challenges and the preparations we need to navigate these changes. The conversation revolved around the importance of perspective and mindset, how it contributes to the way we interact with other people, and how it shapes our reality.

 

Ravi Venkatesan is the Chairman of The Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) launched at COP26 with USD10 billion of committed capital to accelerate investment in green energy transitions and renewable energy solutions. He is also UNICEF’s Special Representative for Young People and Innovation, and the Founder of the Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship (GAME). He serves on the Boards of Rockefeller Foundation, Hitachi Ltd.

 

Ravi was the Chairman of Microsoft India, Bank of Baroda and Cummins India, and served as a co-chairman of Infosys Ltd. He is an alum of IIT Bombay and Harvard Business School. Ravi is the author of What The Heck Do I Do With My Life: How To Flourish In Our Turbulent Times and Conquering the Chaos: Win in India, Win Everywhere. He was voted as one of India’s best management thinkers by Thinkers50 and as Microsoft’s Alumni Hero 2020.

 

Under Venkatesan's leadership between 2004 and 2011, India became Microsoft's second-largest geographic area and one of its fastest growing markets. Microsoft India was rated one of the country's most respected companies, among the most admired brands, and one of India's best employers.

 

Get Ravi’s new book here:

What The Heck Do I Do With My Life: How To Flourish In Our Turbulent Times. Ravi Venkatesan: https://amzn.to/3J5OwGc

 

Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

Jul 20, 2022

Welcome to an episode with best-selling author and dynamic keynote speaker, Don Schmincke. 

In this episode, Don spoke about the counterintuitive insights of successful companies, why some organizations have a lack of performance, and the challenges that CEOs today need to address. He also shared his journey and discovery of Biological Leadership and how it relates to the leadership that organizations apply today.

Don has been accused by a NY press agency of providing “the most provocative and sensational view of business than any other speaker today.”

What else would you expect from an MIT and Johns Hopkins researcher who was nearly arrested as a capitalist spy in the Soviet Bloc, got shot off an aircraft carrier, survived in the Kurdish capital as the Ayatollah held hostages in Tehran, and developed missile inertial guidance systems while his frat brothers took Vegas (later portrayed in the movie “21”)?

Don Schmincke’s irreverent humor and unconventional methods provide audiences with such a refreshing change compared to other status-quo topics that he’s been called the world’s “management renegade.” His patent-pending offerings transcend typical programs via refreshing alternatives to trendy theories, unproven methods, and phony “experts.” The industry agrees.

Don’s renowned books are The Code of the Executive and High Altitude Leadership (with NBC Emmy-nominated climber Chris Warner), which has been published in over 10 languages, endorsed by leading authorities, and recommended by top business schools and featured by CNN, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, MSNBC.com, and more than 60 industry publications annually.

Don has been the host of the Executive Insights TV series and The Leader’s Code radio program, and he has been acclaimed as a Top 10 speaker for the world’s largest CEO organization.

The high failure rates of pop-management theories drove Don’s research using anthropology, evolutionary genetics, and biology to dispel the “program-of-the-month” syndrome that has frustrated CEOs and HR managers for so long. By using Don’s science-driven leadership methods, companies experience accelerated results in sales, employee satisfaction, and cultural alignment. He admits, “Our work is politically incorrect but scientifically accurate.”

Get Don’s Books Here:

High Altitude Leadership: What the World's Most Forbidding Peaks Teach Us About Success: https://amzn.to/3aUCMcF

The Code of the Executive: Forty-seven Ancient Samurai Principles Essential for Twenty-first Century Leadership Success: https://amzn.to/3xs4TYy

Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

Jul 18, 2022

Welcome to an episode with Judi Hays. Judi is a sought-after LinkedIn expert for turning underperforming LinkedIn profiles into prospect-attracting powerhouses. She helps business executives identify their audience and elevate their LinkedIn profiles and personal brands. Watch this episode on YouTube.

In this expert session, Judi speaks about the best ways to present and elevate your personal brand through LinkedIn. She shares how to nurture connections, build networks, and grow your business exponentially. Judi conducted an in-depth live LinkedIn profile check to show how to better utilize LinkedIn. Throughout the session, we are expected to learn:

  • How to use your personal LinkedIn profile to grow your business
  • The most common mistakes that you must avoid on LinkedIn that are costing you business and your reputation 
  • How to upgrade your LinkedIn profile and set a stage for how you want to be perceived
  • The difference between a resume-style LinkedIn profile and a resource-style LinkedIn profile
  • How to nurture your connections and grow your network
  • How to leverage company pages on LinkedIn
  • How to use LinkedIn beyond the obvious
  • How to build a routine on LinkedIn
  • Bonus hacks and tips to master LinkedIn

Judi consults with businesses in 30 different industries, all selling high-ticket products and services in high-trust selling environments. She guides them on building authority, credibility, and trust, which ultimately leads to increased revenue.

As a Forbes contributor and author of Elevate, Expand, Engage, a Refreshingly Different Approach to Winning on LinkedIn, Judi’s proprietary methods are shared through workshops, trade industry associations, seminars, consulting, and white glove “done-for-you” services for her clients.

She is a frequent podcast guest and speaker. She has presented training and seminars for Forbes Business Council, FENG (Financial Executive Network Group), CoreNet (Commercial Real Estate Network), Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce, NWBC (National Women’s Business Council), NAWBO (National Association of Women Business Owners), SBA (Small Business Administration), SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives), NAPO (National Association of Professional Organizers), and Baruch College.

Get Judi’s book here:

Elevate, Expand, Engage - A Refreshingly Different Approach to Winning on LinkedIn: Elevate Your Brand, Expand Your Network, and Engage Your Most Powerful Relationships. Judi Hays. https://amzn.to/3ATtPeN

Grab a free chapter of Judi’s book here.

Jul 13, 2022

Welcome to an episode with a Certified Forensic Interviewer, Michael Reddington.

In this episode, Michael shares his knowledge as a CFI and how interviewing skills can be translated to the business world with the Disciplined Listening Method, an approach which he developed. He also spoke about the mindset shift that leaders and organizations need to take to gain a better understanding and awareness of other people's perspectives and reasoning.

Michael Reddington CFI, is a certified forensic interviewer and the president of InQuasive Inc., a company that integrates the key components of effective nonconfrontational interview techniques with current business research for executives. 

As a Certified Forensic Interviewer, Michael achieved the highest professional designation available in the field of interview and interrogation and spent over a decade training investigators around the world on the successful application of nonconfrontational interview and interrogation techniques. Never one to be satisfied with his achievements, Michael arrived at two key realizations while expanding his observation and persuasive skill sets. First, the very best leaders and interrogators capitalize on the same two core skills - vision and influence. Second, the cognitive processes that lead customers to commit to saying, "I'll buy it," employees to commit to saying, "I'll do it," and suspects to commit to truthfully saying, "I did it" are all nearly identical. These realizations caused Michael to recognize he could teach executives how to reduce missed opportunities and increase commitments to action. As a result, he developed the Disciplined Listening Method, transitioned to serving as an executive resource, and founded InQuasive, Inc. Michael created the Disciplined Listening Method by integrating current business communication research and best practices with components of four nonconfrontational interview and interrogation techniques. The resulting educational content represents a new and in-depth approach to applying strategic, ethical observation and persuasion techniques across the spectrum of business conversations.

Companies have invited Michael, government agencies, and executive groups to facilitate his programs across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. He has led over one thousand programs and educated over ten thousand participants from over 50 countries. He leads programs and advisory sessions designed to teach participants to activate the truth in the areas of leadership communication, sales, negotiation, conflict resolution, customer service, candidate interviews, family conversations, and public speaking/influential instruction.

Michael goes well beyond facilitating and advising. He applies customized content specifically designed to meet the needs of each participant with a humorous and intelligent delivery style. His diligent preparation, attention to each participant's concerns, and added context coalesce to drive home the learning objectives. With Michael, it's never a presentation, seminar, or advisory session; it's always an experience.

Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

Jul 11, 2022

Welcome to an interview with former Indiana University athletic director, Fred Glass. Get Fred's book here: https://amzn.to/3tCY7hj

In this episode, Fred discussed how Indianapolis managed to keep the Colts, its strategy to sustain it, and the impact and advantages that the team provides to the city. This podcast will make you think about the economics of business in sports and understand the deep thinking behind the scenes that makes it all possible.

Fred served as a law clerk for U.S. District Court Judge S. Hugh Dillin, also an IU alumnus. From 1989 to 1993, he was chief of staff to former Indiana Gov. Evan Bayh, and, in 2000, helmed the transition team chief for former Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson.

Peterson appointed Fred, then a partner in the law firm of Baker & Daniels (now Faegre Baker Daniels), to the city's Capital Improvement Board, which oversees Lucas Oil Stadium, the Indiana Convention Center, Conseco Fieldhouse, and Victory Field.

Fred negotiated a number of sports-related wins for the city, including: adding Indianapolis to the permanent hosting rotation for the NCAA Final Four Tournament; laying the groundwork for the city's successful 2012 Super Bowl bid; and putting together the strategy and plans for development of Lucas Oil Stadium.

In 2008, President McRobbie appointed Fred as Indiana University's vice president and director of athletics. Since assuming the role, Fred has worked tirelessly to ensure IU returns to its rightful place as one of the premier athletic departments in the country. His tenure has been marked, in part, by a deep commitment to the wellness, development, and achievement of the students under his charge.

His 24 Sports, One Team philosophy has brought together student athletes from all IU sports, encouraging them to attend each other's games, support one another, and function as an extended IU family.

Get Fred’s Book here:

Making Your Own Luck: From a Skid Row Bar to Rebuilding Indiana University Athletics by Fred Glass: https://amzn.to/3tCY7hj

Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

Jul 6, 2022

Welcome to an episode with a well-recognized professor, Ben M. Bensaou. Get Ben's book here: https://amzn.to/3xpI9Zb

Many people think that you need a genius leader or need to become a start-up to innovate. But we all have the potential to innovate.

In this episode, Ben speaks about everyone's role in innovation and how it can be performed like a habit in our everyday lives. He also discussed the need to develop a deeper understanding of customers and create a culture of collaborating with customers to offer the ideal combination of performance, attributes, price, and other characteristics that customers need and want, or produce a product and service with a powerful market appeal.

Ben M. Bensaou is a Professor of Technology Management and Professor of Asian Business and Comparative Management at INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France. He served as Dean of Executive Education in 2018–2020. He was a Visiting Associate Professor at Harvard Business School in 1998-1999, a Senior Fellow at the Wharton School of Management in 2007-2008, and a Visiting Scholar at the Haas School of Business at the University of California Berkeley in 2013-2015.

He received his PhD in Management from MIT Sloan School of Management, Cambridge, US, and his MA in Management Science from Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo, Japan; his Diplôme d’Ingénieur (MSc) in Civil Engineering and DEA in Mechanical Engineering from respectively the Ecole Nationale des TPE, Lyon and the Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble, two Grandes Ecoles in France.

His research and teaching activities focus on: (1) how to create innovating capabilities and competencies as a way to build an innovating organization and culture; (2) Blue Ocean Strategy and value innovation implementation, and roll out processes across the whole organization; (3) how to build social capital within firms; (4) new forms of organizations, in particular networked corporations, strategic alliances, joint ventures, and value-adding partnerships; and (5) the impact of information technology on innovation. Professor Bensaou addresses these issues from an international comparative perspective, with a special focus on Japanese organizations. Professor Bensaou's research on buyer-supplier relations in the US and Japanese auto industries won him the Best Doctoral Dissertation Award in the field of information systems and a finalist nomination for the Free Press Award for outstanding dissertation research in the field of business policy and strategy. His case studies on innovation won the 2006, 2008 and 2009 ECCH Best Case Awards (with Kim & Mauborgne). His publications include papers in Academy of Management Journal, Management Science, Information Systems Research, Organization Science, Strategic Management Journal, Journal of International Business Studies, Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review, book chapters and conference proceedings. He has been a member of the Editorial Board of Information Systems Research, MIS Quarterly and MISQ Executive. He has been listed in the Who’s Who in the World since 1998.

He has been consulting for Asian, European and US corporations since 1993. At INSEAD, Professor Bensaou developed two new MBA courses: 'Managing Networked Organisations' and 'Understanding Japanese Business.' He also teaches courses on Competitive Strategy, Innovation, Blue Ocean Strategy and Value Innovation, Information Technology and Comparative Management (in English and French). He was a Visiting Professor at Aoyama Gakuin University, Tokyo, where he taught his 'Information Technology and Corporate Transformation' course. He has also been teaching (in Japanese) in Executive Education programs at Keio Business School, Tokyo, Japan.

Get Ben's book here:

Built to Innovate: Essential Practices to Wire Innovation into Your Company’s DNA. Ben M. Bensaou: https://amzn.to/3xpI9Zb

Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

Jul 4, 2022

Welcome to an episode with the CEO of Tournesol, Alicia Hare.

In this episode, Alicia spoke about a new and unique approach of leadership calledthe lead brighter approach, which focuses on improving the quality of people's lives through things that really matter and make a difference. A brighter future is about shared prosperity, quality, connection, discovery, and joy.

Alicia is the founder and CEO of Tournesol, a leadership consulting firm that partners with CEOs, senior leaders, and their teams in times of significant change. Tournesol's unique lead brighter approach helps leaders harness the full power of their platform to elevate performance and improve the quality of people's lives. 

Alicia's clients include CEOs and senior leaders at Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies. Among others, she's worked with: the CEO of a multibillion-dollar healthcare company to use his platform to transform health and healthcare in America, improving the health of millions; the CEO of one of the world's largest global hospitality companies to address social isolation, bettering the lives of millions of customers while driving business performance; and the President and COO of a global entertainment company to reset the company's strategy for worldwide growth and impact. Her efforts have resulted in large-scale organizational transformation, sustainable business results, and meaningful social change.

Before founding Tournesol, Alicia was a president at SYPartners; strategy executive at Target; head of business transformation for Sensis, an Australian media company; and principal at Destra Consulting Group, an organizational effectiveness consulting firm. She earned her B.A. from Rice, M.Ed. from Harvard, MBA from The Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, and Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

Alicia is the author of The Unfolding Path: A Way to Live and Lead in Our Times, which inspires and guides leaders to do the deep inner work required to step up and lead others to a brighter future.

Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

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