Leadership in Action

Today’s guest is someone who is going to be an integral part of this podcast. He’s the MarComm Chair for EO Boston. He has deep industry knowledge of all things payroll and is an expert in running very successful service bureaus. Jeff Plakans is the Founder and President of Commonwealth Payroll & HR. Jeff joins host Mark Stiles to discuss some misconceptions about entrepreneurship, why employee retention should be a main focus for businesses, and how the covid pandemic shifted the world of payroll and hr. 

Takeaways:

• People assume entrepreneurs go into business knowing everything they need to. In reality, many find themselves faced with challenges they have never encountered before.  
• While many people use the phrase “fake it til you make it”, open communication and honesty are a much better strategy when dealing with new problems. 
• Many entrepreneurs find direction for their company from the product or service they want to offer. As a business grows, leaders must also focus on the needs and aspirations of their employees
• Companies need to put in a strong effort to retain their employees. There are 2 open positions for every unemployed person and the world of hiring is more competitive than before.
• Covid caused many employees to reconsider the culture and habits built around work. Many employees have revisited the time they would spend commuting and time away from family. 
• With remote work becoming more common, tax situations became much more complicated. If you have employees in 10 different states, you have 10 different sets of tax rules you need to follow. 
• When implementing or upgrading hr systems, it’s essential to consider how your use of technology will be perceived by potential employees 

Links: 

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/commpayhr 
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffplakans/ 
• Website: https://www.commpayhr.com/ 

Quote of the Show

• “Culture comes from the employees and what they make of their days in the office, and their relationships, both to the organization and to each other.” - Jeff Plakans

Ways to Tune In:

• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/leadership-in-action/id1585042233
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/2t4Ksk4TwmZ6MSfAHXGkJI
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/leadership-in-action
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubGVhZGVyc2hpcGluYWN0aW9uLmxpdmUvZmVlZC54bWw
• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/4263fd02-8c9b-495e-bd31-2e5aef21ff6b/leadership-in-action
• YouTube - https://youtu.be/XYuotaBw6Cc

Today's guest is a member of EO who has spent time on the board. He's a speaker, a thought leader, a marketeer, and an unbelievable human being. He hosts the “Hard Corps Marketing Show” podcast, and is the now previous host of EO Boston’s podcast “Leadership In Action”. Casey Cheshire, Founder and CEO of Ringmaster Conversational Marketing, joins new host Mark Stiles to hand Mark the torch of Podcast Host. Casey talks with Mark about why talking to your customers is so important, how podcasting can serve as a valuable tool for CEOs to connect with their customers, and how growing companies may end up more isolated from their customers’ needs. 

Takeaways:

• Leadership Myth: “You don’t need to talk to your customers”. You need to talk to your customers to truly understand their needs and intentions. 
• As your business scales and you become more insulated from the customer interactions, it becomes harder to hear what your customer is actually saying. 
• The CEO should always be an advocate for the customer. 
• Podcasting is a great way to talk to your customer. Having the CEO of a company interview their current and potential customers provides valuable insight into their issues and needs.
• The process for booking guests on your show should be genuine and authentic. Avoid automation, pick your key clients, and interact with them as a person. 
• A private slack channel for your podcast guests is a great way to build community with your ideal clients. 
• The podcast process should wow your guests and make them feel special. The guest should feel like they have been selected to be a guest on 60 minutes, not on the end of a spam call. 

Quote of the Show

• “As the leader, when you start finding your own vision getting weaker and weaker, you just don't feel as passionate about it.” - Casey Cheshire

Links: 

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/caseychesh?lang=en 
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caseycheshire/ 
• Website: https://ringmaster.com/ 
• Podcast: https://creatingthegreatestshow.podbean.com/ 
• Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-hard-corps-marketing-show/id1338838763 
• Book Link: https://www.amazon.com/Marketing-Automation-Unleashed-Strategic-Growth/dp/1599327384

Ways to Tune In:

• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/leadership-in-action/id1585042233
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/2t4Ksk4TwmZ6MSfAHXGkJI
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/leadership-in-action
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubGVhZGVyc2hpcGluYWN0aW9uLmxpdmUvZmVlZC54bWw
• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/4263fd02-8c9b-495e-bd31-2e5aef21ff6b/leadership-in-action
• YouTube - https://youtu.be/2RV86jL4ndw

Today's guest is a member of EO who has spent time on the board. He's a speaker, a thought leader, a marketeer, and an unbelievable human being. He hosts the “Hard Corps Marketing Show” podcast, and is the now previous host of EO Boston’s podcast “Leadership In Action”. Casey Cheshire, Founder and CEO of Ringmaster Conversational Marketing, joins new host Mark Stiles to hand Mark the torch of Podcast Host. Casey talks with Mark about why talking to your customers is so important, how podcasting can serve as a valuable tool for CEOs to connect with their customers, and how growing companies may end up more isolated from their customers’ needs. 

Takeaways:

• Leadership Myth: “You don’t need to talk to your customers”. You need to talk to your customers to truly understand their needs and intentions. 
• As your business scales and you become more insulated from the customer interactions, it becomes harder to hear what your customer is actually saying. 
• The CEO should always be an advocate for the customer. 
• Podcasting is a great way to talk to your customer. Having the CEO of a company interview their current and potential customers provides valuable insight into their issues and needs.
• The process for booking guests on your show should be genuine and authentic. Avoid automation, pick your key clients, and interact with them as a person. 
• A private slack channel for your podcast guests is a great way to build community with your ideal clients. 
• The podcast process should wow your guests and make them feel special. The guest should feel like they have been selected to be a guest on 60 minutes, not on the end of a spam call. 

Quote of the Show

• “As the leader, when you start finding your own vision getting weaker and weaker, you just don't feel as passionate about it.” - Casey Cheshire

Links: 

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/caseychesh?lang=en 
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caseycheshire/ 
• Website: https://ringmaster.com/ 
• Podcast: https://creatingthegreatestshow.podbean.com/ 
• Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-hard-corps-marketing-show/id1338838763 
• Book Link: https://www.amazon.com/Marketing-Automation-Unleashed-Strategic-Growth/dp/1599327384

Ways to Tune In:

• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/leadership-in-action/id1585042233
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/2t4Ksk4TwmZ6MSfAHXGkJI
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/leadership-in-action
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubGVhZGVyc2hpcGluYWN0aW9uLmxpdmUvZmVlZC54bWw
• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/4263fd02-8c9b-495e-bd31-2e5aef21ff6b/leadership-in-action
• YouTube - https://youtu.be/2RV86jL4ndw

Today’s guest is an entrepreneur, marketing strategist, author, thought leader, and podcaster. His marketing experience spreads across SEO, PPC, social media, and digital marketing at its core. David Reske is the former President of EO Boston and Founder and President of Nowspeed Marketing. David joins host Casey Cheshire on this week’s episode to teach you how to make sense of the overwhelming amount of information generated from digital marketing. 

Takeaways:

• Digital marketing is more than just an automated AI-driven process. There is a significant amount of work that you need to be willing to put in to see results.
• There is an abundance of data in digital marketing and it can be easy to get overwhelmed if you don’t know what you are doing. 
• The best way to make sense of all the data is to simplify, connect the dots, and make sure you are focused on the right personas. 
• While it can be tempting to try a variety of different channels with a variety of products, start simple and focus on refining the process before attempting it on a large scale. 
• Once you start to see positive results with a proven channel and method, ramp up your budget for marketing and you will see an increase in revenue. 
• When figuring out your budget for marketing, there is a threshold amount you need to spend before you will see enough interaction and engagement to determine effectiveness.  
• Different groups of customers use different social media platforms. Identify your target groups, and advertise on the platform they use most frequently. 

Links: 

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/davidreske 
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidreske/ 
• Website: https://nowspeed.com/ 
• Book: https://www.amazon.com/Digital-Marketing-Zone-Ultimate-Success/dp/168350268X/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_bdcrb_top?ie=UTF8 

Quote of the Show

• “Digital advertising has so many opportunities for learning and improvement, but it does take patience in systematic thinking to really make that happen.” - David Reske

Shout Outs:

• Statistical Significance Calculators

Book Recommendation:

• Extreme Ownership - Jocko Willink, Leif Babin 

Ways to Tune In:

• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/leadership-in-action/id1585042233
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/2t4Ksk4TwmZ6MSfAHXGkJI
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/leadership-in-action
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubGVhZGVyc2hpcGluYWN0aW9uLmxpdmUvZmVlZC54bWw
• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/4263fd02-8c9b-495e-bd31-2e5aef21ff6b/leadership-in-action
• YouTube - https://youtu.be/GCT9_eyXNKU

Today’s guest is an entrepreneur, marketing strategist, author, thought leader, and podcaster. His marketing experience spreads across SEO, PPC, social media, and digital marketing at its core. David Reske is the former President of EO Boston and Founder and President of Nowspeed Marketing. David joins host Casey Cheshire on this week’s episode to teach you how to make sense of the overwhelming amount of information generated from digital marketing. 

Takeaways:

• Digital marketing is more than just an automated AI-driven process. There is a significant amount of work that you need to be willing to put in to see results.
• There is an abundance of data in digital marketing and it can be easy to get overwhelmed if you don’t know what you are doing. 
• The best way to make sense of all the data is to simplify, connect the dots, and make sure you are focused on the right personas. 
• While it can be tempting to try a variety of different channels with a variety of products, start simple and focus on refining the process before attempting it on a large scale. 
• Once you start to see positive results with a proven channel and method, ramp up your budget for marketing and you will see an increase in revenue. 
• When figuring out your budget for marketing, there is a threshold amount you need to spend before you will see enough interaction and engagement to determine effectiveness.  
• Different groups of customers use different social media platforms. Identify your target groups, and advertise on the platform they use most frequently. 

Links: 

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/davidreske 
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidreske/ 
• Website: https://nowspeed.com/ 
• Book: https://www.amazon.com/Digital-Marketing-Zone-Ultimate-Success/dp/168350268X/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_bdcrb_top?ie=UTF8 

Quote of the Show

• “Digital advertising has so many opportunities for learning and improvement, but it does take patience in systematic thinking to really make that happen.” - David Reske

Shout Outs:

• Statistical Significance Calculators

Book Recommendation:

• Extreme Ownership - Jocko Willink, Leif Babin 

Ways to Tune In:

• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/leadership-in-action/id1585042233
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/2t4Ksk4TwmZ6MSfAHXGkJI
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/leadership-in-action
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubGVhZGVyc2hpcGluYWN0aW9uLmxpdmUvZmVlZC54bWw
• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/4263fd02-8c9b-495e-bd31-2e5aef21ff6b/leadership-in-action
• YouTube - https://youtu.be/GCT9_eyXNKU

When it comes to your life and the direction it takes you, what will you do to have that life of experience you desire? Everyone in life has the opportunity to climb to the top of a business and host of the Virtual Campfire, Tony Martignetti, will talk with host Casey Cheshire just how to achieve the top position. Tony is founder and chief inspiration officer of inspired purpose coaching and author of Climbing the Right Mountain. 

Takeaways: 

• There are no fast passes in the road to creating a business or to doing anything–there must be a willingness to work.
• If you’re just checking the boxes of what needs to be done, how do you inspire your employees to do the work?
• No deep connection to what you’re doing you might lose your energy to keep going.
• When people are feeling lost they need someone who can wake them up for the next part of their journey.
• Narrowing your focus on one thing or direction doesn’t mean that you’ve bottled yourself up to just that one thing. Instead you have taken a step in the right direction.
• We hold ourselves in place not the world.

Links: 

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/inspiredcoach/ 
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/tonymartignett1?lang=en 
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonymartignett1/ 
• Website: https://www.inspiredpurposecoach.com/ 
• Book Link: https://www.amazon.com/Climbing-Right-Mountain-Navigating-Inspired/dp/B096LS2NBZ 

Quote of the Show

• “The ability to ask for help is a sign of a great leader.” - Tony Martignetti

Book Recommendation:

• The Art of Possibility by Benjamin Zander and Roseman Stone Zander

• Think Again by Adam Grant

Ways to Tune In:

• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/leadership-in-action/id1585042233
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/2t4Ksk4TwmZ6MSfAHXGkJI
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/leadership-in-action
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubGVhZGVyc2hpcGluYWN0aW9uLmxpdmUvZmVlZC54bWw
• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/4263fd02-8c9b-495e-bd31-2e5aef21ff6b/leadership-in-action

When it comes to your life and the direction it takes you, what will you do to have that life of experience you desire? Everyone in life has the opportunity to climb to the top of a business and host of the Virtual Campfire, Tony Martignetti, will talk with host Casey Cheshire just how to achieve the top position. Tony is founder and chief inspiration officer of inspired purpose coaching and author of Climbing the Right Mountain. 

Takeaways: 

• There are no fast passes in the road to creating a business or to doing anything–there must be a willingness to work.
• If you’re just checking the boxes of what needs to be done, how do you inspire your employees to do the work?
• No deep connection to what you’re doing you might lose your energy to keep going.
• When people are feeling lost they need someone who can wake them up for the next part of their journey.
• Narrowing your focus on one thing or direction doesn’t mean that you’ve bottled yourself up to just that one thing. Instead you have taken a step in the right direction.
• We hold ourselves in place not the world.

Links: 

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/inspiredcoach/ 
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/tonymartignett1?lang=en 
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonymartignett1/ 
• Website: https://www.inspiredpurposecoach.com/ 
• Book Link: https://www.amazon.com/Climbing-Right-Mountain-Navigating-Inspired/dp/B096LS2NBZ 

Quote of the Show

• “The ability to ask for help is a sign of a great leader.” - Tony Martignetti

Book Recommendation:

• The Art of Possibility by Benjamin Zander and Roseman Stone Zander

• Think Again by Adam Grant

Ways to Tune In:

• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/leadership-in-action/id1585042233
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/2t4Ksk4TwmZ6MSfAHXGkJI
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/leadership-in-action
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubGVhZGVyc2hpcGluYWN0aW9uLmxpdmUvZmVlZC54bWw
• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/4263fd02-8c9b-495e-bd31-2e5aef21ff6b/leadership-in-action

The long-term success of your business is directly tied to your long-term health and if you aren’t running at 100%, your business won’t be operating at 100%. Royi Metser is the Director of Business Development at Inside Tracker and is extremely passionate about both business and health. This episode covers what goes into not just living additional years, but living higher-quality years.

Takeaways: 

• For entrepreneurs to build a successful business, their work and life have to be interwoven. Because creating a company is so all-consuming, you can’t have a clear separation between the two parts of your life.
• Building a company is a marathon, not a sprint. You need to take care of yourself and give yourself the brakes that you need to recharge. Doing this will help you not only survive but thrive. 
• Because of the lack of clear boundaries between life and work, you can take advantage of doing things that get you energized, happy, and healthy outside of the traditional schedule so they fit what works best for you. 
• Choose physical activities that you actually enjoy and can do sustainably for a long period of time. Additionally, to build the habit, do it during the times when you actually can.
• Even if you don’t feel like going to the gym, running, etc. just take the first step towards the gym or your running shoes, and eventually, you will end up getting your full exercise in once you actually get started.
• In order to improve your health, you need to establish a baseline that you can then use with objective data to measure the impact that the changes that you have implemented have had. You can’t optimize what you don’t measure.
• Before you can give your best effort to your business, you need to treat your body like a high-performance machine. This means getting it checked by professionals, fixing things that need to be fixed, and tweaking the ongoing care routines.

Links: 

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/royi-metser-6886a211/ 
• Company website: https://www.insidetracker.com/  

Quote of the Show

• “Building a business is a lifestyle. It's all-consuming” - Royi Metser

Ways to Tune In:

• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/leadership-in-action/id1585042233
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/2t4Ksk4TwmZ6MSfAHXGkJI
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/leadership-in-action
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubGVhZGVyc2hpcGluYWN0aW9uLmxpdmUvZmVlZC54bWw
• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/4263fd02-8c9b-495e-bd31-2e5aef21ff6b/leadership-in-action
• YouTube - https://youtu.be/Ug-ONk-XAkc 

The long-term success of your business is directly tied to your long-term health and if you aren’t running at 100%, your business won’t be operating at 100%. Royi Metser is the Director of Business Development at Inside Tracker and is extremely passionate about both business and health. This episode covers what goes into not just living additional years, but living higher-quality years.

Takeaways: 

• For entrepreneurs to build a successful business, their work and life have to be interwoven. Because creating a company is so all-consuming, you can’t have a clear separation between the two parts of your life.
• Building a company is a marathon, not a sprint. You need to take care of yourself and give yourself the brakes that you need to recharge. Doing this will help you not only survive but thrive. 
• Because of the lack of clear boundaries between life and work, you can take advantage of doing things that get you energized, happy, and healthy outside of the traditional schedule so they fit what works best for you. 
• Choose physical activities that you actually enjoy and can do sustainably for a long period of time. Additionally, to build the habit, do it during the times when you actually can.
• Even if you don’t feel like going to the gym, running, etc. just take the first step towards the gym or your running shoes, and eventually, you will end up getting your full exercise in once you actually get started.
• In order to improve your health, you need to establish a baseline that you can then use with objective data to measure the impact that the changes that you have implemented have had. You can’t optimize what you don’t measure.
• Before you can give your best effort to your business, you need to treat your body like a high-performance machine. This means getting it checked by professionals, fixing things that need to be fixed, and tweaking the ongoing care routines.

Links: 

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/royi-metser-6886a211/ 
• Company website: https://www.insidetracker.com/  

Quote of the Show

• “Building a business is a lifestyle. It's all-consuming” - Royi Metser

Ways to Tune In:

• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/leadership-in-action/id1585042233
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/2t4Ksk4TwmZ6MSfAHXGkJI
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/leadership-in-action
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubGVhZGVyc2hpcGluYWN0aW9uLmxpdmUvZmVlZC54bWw
• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/4263fd02-8c9b-495e-bd31-2e5aef21ff6b/leadership-in-action
• YouTube - https://youtu.be/Ug-ONk-XAkc 

Today's guest is an entrepreneur, a speaker, a writer, and an influencer. He’s problem solved for companies like IBM, IRS, GE, and 3M. Seth Earley is the CEO of Earley Information Science and the host of the Earley AI podcast. Seth joins Casey to explore how to best give feedback, deal with bad performance, and learn to trust your gut. 

Takeaways:

• There is a fine line between being outside of your comfort zone and going against your gut instinct.
• When bringing in outside help, look for someone who understands the nuances of running a small entrepreneurial company as well as someone with the right expertise and skills.
• It is important to be trusting, but not naive. Don’t take unnecessary risks. 
• When mistakes happen, don't make excuses, take responsibility.
• There's no losing, there's winning or learning. But you can only learn if you acknowledge the issue. 
• When you need to call things out to an employee, do it in a way that is sincere and kind and they will be more receptive.
• It is better to take the time to hire the right fit for a position rather than hire someone to fill it. 

Links: 

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/sethearley
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sethearley/ 
• Website: http://earley.com 
• Website: https://www.wordmap.com/ 
• Book Link: https://www.amazon.com/AI-Powered-Enterprise-Ontologies-Business-Profitable/dp/1928055508 

Quote of the Show

• “When you're trying to do something different, you have to be different” - Seth Earley

Ways to Tune In:

• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/leadership-in-action/id1585042233
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/2t4Ksk4TwmZ6MSfAHXGkJI
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/leadership-in-action
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubGVhZGVyc2hpcGluYWN0aW9uLmxpdmUvZmVlZC54bWw
• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/4263fd02-8c9b-495e-bd31-2e5aef21ff6b/leadership-in-action
• YouTube - https://youtu.be/aZv9tsV8Sxg