Episode 304: Susan Ashford, The Power of Flexing (replay)

This week, we revisit our interview with Wayne Baker. Wayne is the author of the book All You Have to Do Is Ask, and the Robert P. Thome Professor of Business Administration and Professor of Management & Organizations at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business. He is also a Professor of Sociology at the University of Michigan and Faculty Associate at the Institute for Social Research. He currently serves as Faculty Director of the Center for Positive Organizations. His teaching and research focus on social capital, social networks, generosity, positive organizational scholarship, and values.  He has published numerous scholarly articles and four books.  His management and leadership articles appear in venues such as Harvard Business Review, Chief Executive Magazine, and Sloan Management Review. Prior to joining the Michigan faculty, he was on the faculty at the University of Chicago business school. He earned his Ph.D. in sociology from Northwestern University and was a post-doctoral research fellow at Harvard University.

This week, we revisit our interview with Susan (Sue) Ashford, who is an award-winning scholar and Professor at the University of Michigan, Stephen M. Ross School of Business. She is the author of "The Power of Flexing: How to Use Small Daily Experiments to Create Big Life-Changing Growth". Sue's passion for helping people to be maximally effective in their work lives has driven her teaching and research work on self-management, proactivity, change from below, and leadership and its development. Her research has been summarized as advice for managers in the Harvard Business Review, the Harvard Business Review blog, New York Magazine, and The Conversation. Sue is a Fellow of the Academy of Management. She was awarded the prestigious Career Achievement Award for Distinguished Scholarly Contributions to Management by that Association in 2017 and the OB Division Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020.  Sue is a native Californian and the daughter of two native Californians. Sue lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with her husband, also a University of Michigan faculty member, with whom she raised three daughters.

This week, we revisit our interview with Andy Bass. Andy is a consultant, author, and speaker who works with businesses to find and exploit their hidden assets. He has worked with organizations in the UK, US and Far East including International Automotive Component Group, Rolls Royce, L'Oreal, Trimas, Deutsche Bank and The Advanced Propulsion Centre. Prior to his consulting career, Andy was a lecturer at Aston Business School and has also taught at Oxford Saïd, Warwick and Strathclyde Business Schools. Andy has a PhD in Software Engineering and describes himself as a geek who learned to wear a suit (to the point where he can pass undetected in the C-suite - usually). He is author of Start With What Works: a faster way to grow your business, Committed Action: The three-step method to inspire your people to take action, and The Performance Papers: Incisive Briefings for Busy Leaders.  Outside work, he played lead guitar in a Rush tribute band, and is a failed standup comedian. For free book chapters and presentations, visit: bassclusker.com.  

This week, we interviewed Ken Sher, who is an Executive Coach, Career Coach, Keynote Speaker, and, most recently, an author. Ken spent more than 25 years at Johnson & Johnson in leadership roles across Sales, Marketing, Recruiting, Training, and Leadership Development. Through his experience, Ken has seen that technical skills alone don't make leaders successful. The best leaders are compassionate, authentic, and know how to build strong, trusting relationships that help teams thrive. He brings these lessons to life in his book, What's TRUST Got to Do with It? Transforming Leadership, Culture, and the Job Search, where he shows how trust becomes the foundation for meaningful relationships and how those relationships drive results.  

 This week, we interviewed Dr. Andrew C. Denton, President of Crown College. Andrew is the 17th president of Crown College. His vision, directed by the Lord, is for Crown to be the boldly Christian college of the Midwest. He provides a high level of vision, strategy, and execution to Crown while remaining deeply committed to leading Crown to be a boldly Christian, academically excellent college that fosters a lifelong, authentic community.  Since beginning his presidency, Dr. Denton has led Crown through nearly $ 20 million in capital investments across campus, including the construction of SPBI Hall, the first new building in nearly two decades. Crown's commitment to the Lord's vision and investment in campus initiatives resulted in over 20 percent enrollment growth since Fall 2021.  Dr. Denton holds a Ph.D. in Higher Education Leadership from St. Louis University and an M.B.A. from Missouri State University. He and his wife, Linda, have been married for 26 years and are the proud parents of three children: Lexie, Ashlyn, and Drew.

This week, we interview Amir Abolfathi. Amir is an experienced innovator and medical device executive with a proven record of building and scaling successful enterprises.  He was a founding team member of uLab Systems, Tusker Medical (acquired by Smith and Nephew), and Sonitus Medical. Amir also served for 6 years as an Officer and Vice President of R&D at Align Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: ALGN), the creator of a unique, invisible orthodontic product. Previously, Amir was the first member of the senior management team at Embolic Protection Inc. (acquired by Boston Scientific), where he was a consulting VP of Operations. In early 1995, Amir co-founded EndoTex Interventional Systems (acquired by Boston Scientific), developers of minimally invasive solutions for the treatment of carotid artery disease. Demonstrated strength in capital strategy and fundraising, with over $280M raised since 2006 and prior contributions to securing $300M from 1995 to 2006, supported by deep venture capital, banking, and strategic partnership networks. Inventor of more than 100 issued patents, with significant contributions in M&A, IPOs, and corporate spin-offs. Served as a public officer of a publicly traded company, bringing broad governance, compliance, and investor relations expertise. Currently, focusing on executive mentorship and board leadership, guiding entrepreneurs and next-generation executives to realize their vision, while serving as a trusted advisor and executive coach.

This week, we revisit our interview with Pam Fox Rollin. Pam coaches executives and top teams in Silicon Valley and globally. Pam also facilitates technology and healthcare organizations to succeed in strategic transformation, executive development, and culture change. Her bestselling books -- Growing Groups into Teams and 42 Rules for Your New Leadership Role -- are described as indispensable for leaders at all levels. Pam and her team at Altus Growth Partners work with highly capable people to take on their next round of leadership and strategic growth. Pam's MBA is from Stanford University's Graduate School of Business (GSB), where she later served as Guest Fellow in leadership and Master Coach for executive education.

This week we revisit our interview Joe Mandato. Joe holds a Doctor of Business Administration degree from Case Western Reserve University, where his research focused on the evolving role of boards in ensuring effective corporate governance.  He was a 2011-2012 Fellow of Harvard University's Advanced Leadership Initiative and served as Co-Chair of Harvard's Advanced Leadership Coalition. He is a Managing Director at DeNovo Ventures, Senior Advisor at Apercen Partners, Advisor to Sonder Capital, and 15-year Lecturer at Stanford University.   He has served on more than 20 public and private boards focused on technology and the life sciences, including Align Technology (NASDAQ), Avedro, Axogen, Inc. (NASDAQ), Hansen Medical (NASDAQ), Insound Medical & Vynca Health.  He also serves on the boards of Case Western Reserve University, Headstart, and Save the Children.   He was a seed investor, board member and advisor to the founders of Align Technologies and has served as CEO of five life sciences companies, which resulted in significant shareholder value.  He was a member of the founding management committee of Guidant Corporation (NYSE) and was an entrepreneur-in-residence at Mayfield Fund, a Silicon Valley venture fund.  He has authored or co-authored thirty articles on healthcare and governance and the book The Entrepreneur's Journey.

This week, we revisit our interview with Fouad Al Noor. Fouad is the Co-Founder and CEO of ThinkSono. Prior to ThinkSono, Fouad was an entrepreneur with Entrepreneur First, where they created a medical software startup.  Fouad has also worked as a Research Assistant at Imperial College London, where they worked on the design of data logging and battery optimization circuit for a portable EEG sensor. This device is used to help with sleep monitoring using brain signals.  Before that, Fouad worked as a Software Engineer at SAP, where they worked on front-end UI for a large manufacturing project. Fouad has also worked as an Events Manager at Cafe Parfait, where they helped design a night out for the club. Fouad has also interned at SPI Lasers as an Electronic Engineering Intern and was the Opinions Editor at Wessex Scene. Fouad Al Noor has a Master of Engineering (MEng) in Electronic Engineering with Nanotechnology from the University of Southampton.

In this week's episode, we revisit our interview with Shawn McCormick. Shawn has 30 years of financial expertise and operational experience in the medical device and life sciences industry. Most recently, he was the Chief Financial Officer of Aldevron, a private equity-backed CDMO. Shawn joined Aldevron in 2020 and remained until February 2022, following the sale of the company to Danaher, Inc. in 2021. He served as the Chief Financial Officer of Tornier N.V. and Tornier, Inc. from September 2012 until the completion of the merger with Wright Medical in October 2015. He also served as Tornier's Principal Accounting Officer. Mr. McCormick served as Chief Operating Officer of Lutonix Inc. from April 2011 to February 2012, when Lutonix was sold to C.R.Bard.  He served as Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President of ev3, Inc. from January 2009 to July 2010 and as its Principal Accounting Officer. ev3 was sold to Covidien in July 2010. Mr. McCormick held various positions of increasing responsibility at Medtronic, Inc. from 1992 to 2009, including Vice President of Corporate Development from May 2008 to January 2009 and Vice President of Finance for the Spinal, Navigation, and ENT business from 2002 to 2007.  He has been a Director of Nevro Corp. since September 2014 and Inspire Medical Systems Inc. since January 2017. He also served on the board of Surmodics, Inc from December 2015 to December 2020 and the board of Entellus Medical from December 2014 to February 2018, when Entellus was sold to Stryker. Mr. McCormick serves as the Audit Committee Chair for both Nevro and Inspire and previously for Entellus. He also served as a Surmodics' audit committee and governance and nominating committee member. Mr. McCormick served on the board of LANX from August 2010 to November 2013, serving on the Compensation Committee and Audit Committee before LANX was sold to Biomet in November 2013.  Mr. McCormick is a Certified Public Accountant (non-active license). He holds a B.S. in Accounting from Arizona State University and an M.B.A. from the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management.