The Power of Bold

An entrepreneur's personal brand has only become more relevant in 2019. In this episode of The Power of Bold, Adam discusses personal branding with Leah Gervais. Leah is the founder of Urban 20 Something, the host of the Your Biggest Vision podcast, and your host's fiance. Topics discussed include: 02:50 - Leah's latest work with Urban 20 Something and Your Biggest Vision. 04:42 - Common transformations for those that become full-time entrepreneurs. 06:26 - The biggest roadblocks to entrepreneurial transformations. 09:53 - How to find the courage to take massive action. 10:58 - Creating your personal brand to escape competition. 16:24 - How we can discover who we truly are. 19:13 - Overcoming fear when sharing our stories with the world. 20:35 - Significant mistakes that entrepreneurs make when crafting their personal brands. 23:00 - Some of Leah's favorite personal brands today. 26:08 - The relation between a personal brand and social media. 29:12 - The importance of email marketing when building a personal brand. 34:11 - Future email marketing trends related to personal branding. 35:39 - One thing listeners can do today to improve their personal brands. 39:20 - Favorite books that Leah has recently read. For show notes and a transcript of our interview with Leah Gervais, visit www.thepowerofbold.com.  

As we are in the thick of the final exhilarating season of Game of Thrones, we are delighted to share our discussion with Bruce Craven. Regardless of your interest in the series, Game of Thrones offers a wealth of insights on leadership—from Daenerys Targaryen's quest to "break the wheel" to Sansa Stark's evolution to a leader in Winterfell. Bruce is the perfect person to discuss leadership lessons from Game of Thrones. He has spent decades studying the links between fiction and leadership, even designing his own course (appropriately titled Leadership Through Fiction) at Columbia University. Most recently, he published a book focused on Game of Thrones titled Win or Die: Leadership Secrets from Game of Thrones. In this episode, Bruce shared his thoughts on some of the seminal characters in the series, what we should emulate and avoid from those characters, and his thoughts on the final season of the show. 02:49 - How Bruce built a career bridging topics in fiction and leadership. 09:48 - Why Game of Thrones provides so many lessons about leadership and power. 12:59 - How Sansa Stark transformed from a "piece" to a "player." 17:34 - How we can make a similar transformation in our lives. 20:41 - Why Cersei Lannister, Petyr Baelish, and Samwell Tarly are some of the most adaptable people in Westeros. 25:59 - How we can all become more adaptable. 32:57 - How Daenerys Targaryen (and other incoming managers) can build goodwill with employees. 37:50 - Bruce's take on the most satisfying ending to Game of Thrones (from a leadership perspective). 41:10 - The best and worst leader on the show. 44:14 - One decision in the Game of Thrones universe that Bruce would redo. For show notes and a transcript of our interview with Bruce Craven, visit www.thepowerofbold.com.

Alan Manly is an Australian entrepreneur who founded Group Colleges Australia, a private educational institution based in Sydney. Alan is also the author of The Unlikely Entrepreneur, a story of how Alan, armed with a ninth-grade education, embarked on his entrepreneurial journey. Alan spoke with Adam about his trials and tribulations as an entrepreneur and how listeners can learn from his experience. The conversation begins with Alan explaining how he became an entrepreneur (01:31 - 06:06) and how he analyzed the opportunity to leave a safe, corporate job to start a new venture (06:07 - 08:21). Alan explains whether he would have done anything differently on his journey (08:22 - 10:55), why he chose to focus on the education industry (10:56 - 13:02), and how entrepreneurs can determine the competitive advantage of their new venture (13:03 - 15:00). Alan proceeds to speak about extensive litigation that he faced as an entrepreneur (including his appearance before Australia's highest court) (15:01 - 21:14) and the lessons that listeners can take from his experiences in the legal world (21:15 - 24:35). The interview concludes with Alan sharing why entrepreneurs should be looking for other critical needs that your product or service fulfills for customers (24:36 - 28:49). For show notes and a transcript of this episode, visit www.thepowerofbold.com.

Marc Trestman has dedicated his life to football. Starting as a quarterback for the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers, Marc has traveled across the football landscape. He has served as both assistant and head coaches at some of the most high-profile football franchises, like the Chicago Bears. As the head coach for the Montreal Alouettes and Toronto Argonauts, he won three Grey Cups (Canada's equivalent of the Super Bowl). Most recently, he was named the head coach and general manager of the XFL's Tampa Bay franchise. Marc joined Adam to discuss a wide range of topics, like his early coaching career, how he thinks about risk, and how the XFL fits into the competitive landscape. The conversation begins with Marc sharing his early years with football, including his detour to law school (03:02 - 05:27) and his experience as a volunteer assistant with the University of Miami football team (05:28 - 07:39). He then shares how he navigated that gap between player and coach (07:40 - 10:01) and the sheer complexity of the quarterback position (10:02 - 13:00). From there, Marc further discusses the transition from player to coach (13:01 - 16:28), how he creates buy-in from players and staff (16:29 - 18:52), and he embraces both humility and joy as a football coach (18:53 - 22:05). At this point, the conversation turns to Marc's thoughts on leadership (22:06 - 25:11), how he thinks about competition in such a competitive sport (25:12 - 27:25), the importance of time management (27:26 - 28:49) and how he thinks about innovation in play-calling (28:50 - 34:05). The interview concludes with Adam asking Marc about handling the pressure of being fired (34:06 - 37:09), strategies he uses to shift the momentum in a difficult season (37:10 - 38:52), Marc's new opportunity as the head coach and general manager of the XFL's Tampa Bay franchise (38:53 - 45:38) and the value of a life mission statement (45:39 - 48:36). For show notes and a transcript of our interview with Marc Trestman, please visit www.thepowerofbold.com.

Lyn Graft is a serial entrepreneur who has founded eight companies. One constant in his career, however, is his passion for entrepreneurs' stories. Lyn has filmed over 500 entrepreneurs for television and video, including Michael Dell, Drew Houston, and Tony Robbins. Recently, he released a book titled Start with Story: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Using Story to Grow Your Business. In episode 42 of The Power of Bold, Lyn spoke with Adam about storytelling and how entrepreneurs can become better storytellers. The conversation begins with Lyn sharing his personal story of how he became interested in sharing entrepreneurs' stories (3:16 - 11:11), including his experience filming three billionaire entrepreneurs in Texas (11:12 - 15:18). Lyn then discusses why he calls a good story the "Swiss Army knife of entrepreneurship," (15:19 - 18:38) and why humans are wired to hear stories (18:39 - 21:22). From there, the conversation turns to Start with Story, including Lyn's thesis that storytelling equals experience plus business meaning (21:23 - 26:11) and the most important part of any story (26:12 - 28:33). Lyn then provides a case study of how a story can be formed to grab attention in a "boring" industry (28:34 - 32:44), why emotion is so critical to any story (32:45 - 36:00) and things to think about when crafting the challenge, change, and outcome aspects of your story (36:01 - 39:52). The conversation concludes with Lyn speaking about the delivery of your story (39:53 - 44:26), an underrated entrepreneur who is a fabulous storyteller (44:27 - 45:59), Lyn's contact information (46:00 - 46:55), and Adam's key takeaway from Start with Story (46:56 - 48:16). For show notes and a transcript of our interview with Lyn Graft, visit www.thepowerofbold.com.

We are all looking to become more persuasive and influential in our lives. But did you know that there's a way that we can leverage human nature to accomplish these goals? In episode 41 of The Power of Bold, Adam takes a break from guest interviews and shares his favorite insights from Robert Cialdini's classic book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. Cialdini's book has sold millions of copies and is already being called a modern classic. Anyone can apply Cialdini's lessons in their day-to-day lives, regardless of their age, career experience, or career objectives. The episode begins with Adam sharing news about a new course he has created (including a special gift for listeners) (01:55 - 03:21). From there, Adam discusses the staying power of Influence (03:22 - 05:38) and why anyone can learn from Cialdini's masterpiece (05:39 - 06:50). Adam then dives into why humans are so vulnerable to Cialdini's so-called "weapons of influence" (06:51 - 10:21). The discussion then turns to some of Adam's favorite weapons of influence. The first one is reciprocity, with Adam explaining its power (10:22 - 15:20) and ways that we can say no when someone is using reciprocity against us (15:21 - 16:57). Adam follows the same approach with two more fascinating weapons of influence: commitment and consistency (16:58 - 24:22) and authority (24:23 - 31:23). The episode concludes with Adam's thoughts on how we can leverage some of these weapons of influence in our professional careers (31:24 - 33:34). For show notes and a transcript of this episode, please click here.

We all want to be more courageous in our professional and personal lives. But how do we actually go about it? To answer this question, we're excited to share our interview with Ryan Berman. Ryan is a serial entrepreneur, having started several companies like Courage Brands and Sock Problems. He is also the author of a new book titled Return on Courage: A Business Playbook for Courageous Change. Ryan joined Adam on the podcast to speak about his story and how we can become more courageous—no matter our goals. The conversation starts with Ryan explaining his "negative blessing" in getting fired from a great job in the advertising world (01:50 - 06:43) and how he started learning and embracing his new life as an entrepreneur (06:44 - 10:09). He then provides advice for would-be entrepreneurs who want to take the leap, but are afraid to do so (10:10 - 14:55) and his process when he started his entrepreneurial journey (14:56 - 17:26). The discussion then turns to Return on Courage, specifically how he pitched courageous individuals to help him with his book (17:27 - 20:25), what "return on courage" is (20:26 - 23:51), and some companies that exemplify return on courage, including Domino's Pizza and Nike (23:52 - 28:28). Ryan then explains his five-step process (called "PRICE") to build up our Central Courage System (28:29 - 30:46), including how young listeners can help their organizations become more courageous (30:47 - 34:44). Ryan and Adam wrap up the conversation with a discussion about how we can help our companies confront their weaknesses or vulnerabilities (34:45 - 36:52), what we can think about when persuading someone to buy or product or service (36:53 - 38:46), and the one thing listeners should do right now to become more courageous (38:47 - 40:52). For show notes and a transcript of this episode, click here. 

Fei Wu is an entrepreneur, podcaster, and the founder of Feisworld LLC. She created Feisworld to help small businesses and individuals tell better stories, find new customers, and create new revenue streams. Fei shared her story and how listeners can begin creating products and launching them into the marketplace, whether those products are podcasts, blogs, vlogs, or something else. The conversation begins with Fei Wu and Adam discussing Fei's early days as a creator (02:13 - 03:57), including her choice to create several schools for her friends (03:58 - 05:48). Fei then shares how she dealt with the unknown when moving from China to Maine as a 17-year-old (05:49 - 11:55) and how she knew that she wanted to become an entrepreneur (11:56 - 13:43). She then moves on to discuss her experience in corporate America, including her decision to flex her entrepreneurial muscles (13:44 - 17:42) and how listeners in corporate America can do the same (17:43 - 21:13). From there, Fei discusses the Feisworld podcast and Feisworld LLC, particularly its origins (21:14 - 24:42) and its mission (24:43 - 27:44). The interview then transitions into a general discussion of creating a product, including the importance of iteration (27:45 - 32:28) and whether you should pay more attention to the market or your own creative vision (32:29 - 34:34). From there, Fei and Adam discuss podcasting; specifically, how podcasters can make a living without counting the downloads (34:35 - 39:48) and how podcasters can get their shows listed in China (39:49 - 42:08). The interview concludes with Fei discussing the most serendipitous thing that has occurred after creating Feisworld (42:09 - 43:40), one thing that listeners can immediately do to implement Fei's insights from the interview (43:41 - 46:15) and two of her favorite books for entrepreneurs (46:16 - 47:25). For show notes and a transcript of this episode, please click here.

The Art of War is a classic book on military strategy. But did you know that you can apply the lessons from this classic text to start or scale a business? That's the thesis of Becky Sheetz, my guest for this episode. Becky is the co-founder of Sun Tzu Strategies and is the author of The Art of War for Small Business. The episode begins with Becky describing her initial fascination with Sun Tzu and The Art of War (02:41 - 08:22) and why she thinks war may be a good metaphor for challenges both in your professional and personal lives (08:23 - 11:48). Becky and Adam then discuss the things that readers should know if they pick up The Art of War for the first time (11:49 - 13:50), why entrepreneurs should care about Sun Tzu (13:51 - 20:32) and why many have a minimal understanding of The Art of War (20:33 - 23:44). The interview then turns to The Art of War for Small Business, specifically discussing the passage that entrepreneurs should start with when reading The Art of War (23:45 - 25:10), why entrepreneurs should follow Sun Tzu's advice of understanding ourselves (25:11 - 32:31) and how much attention should be paid to the enemy (competitors) when starting your venture (32:32 - 38:31). The interview wraps up with Becky discussing how to find open ground in your market (38:32 - 40:11), how Marc Benioff successfully leveraged the lessons of deception from The Art of War (40:12 - 44:00), how we can leverage spies to understand competitors (44:01 - 48:12) and what listeners can do today to implement The Art of War in their business lives. For show notes and a transcript of my interview with Becky Sheetz, click here.

Our guest for this episode is Steve Glaveski, an Australian entrepreneur who has founded several growing ventures, including Collective Campus, Lemonade Stand, and the Future Squared podcast. He is also the author of a new book titled Employee to Entrepreneur: How to Earn Your Freedom and Do Work That Matters. Whether you are actively thinking of making the switch from employee to entrepreneur or are mildly intrigued by the prospect of working for yourself, Steve has some unique insights on how you can enter the exciting world of startups. The conversation starts with Steve Glaveski sharing his own entrepreneurial origin story, including how he left his safe job in the financial services industry to start Hotdesk, an Airbnb for office space (02:16 - 07:53). He then goes on to explain why he (and others like him) decided to pursue entrepreneurship rather than a simple job change (07:54 - 10:30) and why he decided to pursue the idea for Hotdesk (10:31 - 13:57). From there, Steve speaks about time management skills when juggling both a full-time job and a side hustle (13:58 - 18:48), the decision at Macquarie Bank that set himself up for success in his entrepreneurial career (18:49 - 22:35), and tips for those who are just about to quit their jobs to become entrepreneurs (22:36 - 25:43). Steve then reflects on his entrepreneurial career, stating the mistakes he made when starting Hotdesk that he hasn't made in successive ventures (25:44 - 32:26) and how a small group of founders can quickly test startup ideas (32:27 - 41:22). The discussion concludes with Steve explaining how entrepreneurs can proceed when their minimum viable product leads to crickets (41:23 - 44:37), why hiring an external developer may be the right move for some entrepreneurs (44:38 - 51:02), and one thing that listeners can do now to start their transition from employee to entrepreneur (51:03 - 54:05). For show notes and a transcript of this interview, please click here.