Lead to Grow

The power of storytelling is undeniable. When you speak at a conference, or with your friend one-on-one, notice how much they remember of the conversation when it’s attached to a story. Likely, they (and you) will forget much of your conversation, except those pieces that revolved around a particular event, with specific people and places. Humans remember stories, and further, we share stories.

As leaders, we must learn how to wield these powerful tools to inspire action on our teams.

For this topic, we found someone who’s, quite literally, a professional storyteller. Her name’s Jill Pollack, Founder of StoryStudio Chicago and “Chief Story Wrangler” at Story Mode.

At Story Mode, she helps corporations tell better stories to compel audiences to action.

We interviewed her on our Lead to Grow podcast, where she dropped these gold mines of truth about storytelling:

It’s true: robots are taking our jobs. 

Well, at least to some degree. As if being a leader in business wasn’t challenging enough, we have to worry about artificial intelligence learning more than us at an accelerating rate. 

Luckily, there’s something humans — namely entrepreneurs — have over AI: We have the power to leave a legacy. You say you’re not an entrepreneur? 

That’s exactly what The Land Geek founder and Dirt Rich author Mark Podolsky thought before he discovered his true potential. In our latest interview with Mark, we discuss four ways to uncover your entrepreneurial spirit, create value, and build a lasting legacy.

Transparency and culture may be keys that unlock greater profits, better talent, and faster decision-making.

But don't take our word for it. Listen to Reid Rasmussen; he's seen these key ingredients in action. He’s the CEO and Co-founder of freshbenies, where they help employers balance their benefits program.

He came on this episode to give details on how he’s seen transparency and cultu

There are so many elements that create an enduring WorkForce, but here are 5 that no company can afford not to have.

Special guest Michael Brannock came on our recent episode of the Lead to Grow Podcast and explored 5 elements of workplace culture.

Michael is the CEO of WorkForce Unlimited, a company started by Michael’s mother in 1987. Michael worked in commercial banking for nearly a decade before coming on board as the CFO in 2011, a position he held until he became CEO in 2014.

The idea that there's only certain people with influence — Instagram influencers, or celebrity influencers — is incorrect.

We all are influencers.

So, how can you take your influence to the next level?

How can you really use it to grow and develop others?

That’s something Julia Deaver is all about.

The latest guest on the Lead to Grow podcast, Julia came on the show to talk about how you can take your influence to the next level.

These are her top five strategies for influencing by design and leading to grow

In this episode of the Lead to Grow podcast Chad Sanderson, Managing Partner at ValueSelling Associates tells us how to ask great questions that help create a truly differentiated sales experience for buyers.

Storytelling.

It’s a business skill, an artform, and a leadership quality. If you are struggling to shift the energy, change the focus, or impact your employees or your customers, maybe you should take a good look at your storytelling skills: They may be the hidden key to unlock your organization's success.

This week’s guest has won multiple Emmy awards for his unique storytelling, or, as he would want it said: His team has multiple Emmy awards for their storytelling. Michael Cardwell joined us on this episode of the Lead to Grow podcast to share about leadership and storytelling.

Michael is the Founder & Creative Director of Digital Brew, a visual storytelling agency that creates animated and live-action video content for their clients. Since 2011, they’ve won 16 Emmy awards, eight Tellys, and two Daveys.

Community Banks fund over half of the small businesses in the US. They are an essential and often overlooked part of the economy.

Tina Giorgio is the President and CEO at ICBA Bancard. Tina has been in this role for a little under 2 years, but she has spent the last 30 years in community banking.

“Community Bankers, at our core, are about serving our local community.  There’s a lot of communities in the United States who would not be properly served if it wasn’t for their local community bank.”

Many community banks simply can’t compete with larger entities.  They need representation, especially in the evolving world of payments.  So Tina and her team are advocates for these banks.

They have specifically been working in the area of merchant funded rewards.  ICBA Bancard provides benefits through these reward programs to both merchants and their customers.  Merchants see a higher number of transactions by implementing these programs, and merchants get to support both national and local business while getting rewarded. It’s a win for everyone.

Tina joined us for this episode of the Payments Innovation Podcast to talk about community banking, merchant funded reward programs, and overcoming challenges in her role.

Leading millennials, new sales representatives, or other employees in entry-level positions has unique challenges.

Dan Gottlieb has some helpful answers to those challenges, and they all come from a massive amount of experience. Dan is an industry analyst at TOPO Inc., specifically for Sales Development, & Account-Based Growth Organizations.

Yes, that’s a bit of a mouthful! Essentially, Dan helps sales development companies utilize world-class strategies and tactics.

He came on the Lead to Grow podcast to share some of his best practices on working with entry-level sales development representatives (often called SDRs). (He even gave us the inside scoop on working with millennials!)

What initially appears as failure, can often be the catalysts to our greatest discoveries. Josh Steimle had an apparent failure — in 2013, he was nearly out of business. A bad hire at his marketing agency had brought him to the brink of bankruptcy.

Fast-forward to the present, and his agency (MWi) is thriving, he started a second business (Influencer Inc.), and he’s now publishing a book called The 7 Systems of Influence, to show others how they can copy his successes (and avoid his failures).

We invited Josh on the Lead to Grow podcast to share the premise for his new book, and what he’s learned about leveraging your skillset to influence others.