Making Waves at C-Level

Networking (and the benefits of having a real network) is not just about passing out business cards or having LinkedIn connections. The real opportunities come from building friendships. But making friends is harder as we get older. There are many reason why, but if you want to make friends, you have to lead with being a friend. Entrepreneurs who are known, liked, and trusted always seem to win over the long run. Being a jerk has short term value, but I know one very rich person who everyone hates. So what if he has a nice car and fancy house, being around him it is clear he is insecure and sad. This episode talks about how and why to make friendships in your career and to encourage your employees to do the same. But you are not friends with everyone you meet. Meeting someone once does NOT make them part of your network. Change up how you think about people and friendships in business and you will find long-term success. Yes, people really do prefer to do business with those they know, like, and trust. https://thomsinger.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sometimes sales managers try to discourage their sales professionals from networking. This is often NOT because they think it is a waste of time, it is because they fear that if the high achiever is well known in a community or industry, they will be hired away by another company. For the individual contributor, your network is your key to a long career. If you are not known and you get laid off, you have to start at square one. So never allow your network to be cold or non-existent. You must get engaged in your community / industry to ensure you have options. Plus, when you are seen as the subject expert...you will make more sales. So why would a leader not want their people to network. In today's world if you have a good employee, others will know about her or him. You cannot hide people away and assume this will be good for the company. Having your whole team engaged in your industry and community raises the visibility of you company. When your team is well known, and you offer competitive products and services... .more people will come to look at your offerings. This should lead to more sales. I am surprised when leaders fear having their best people be well networked...as why would you want mediocre sales people that nobody knows or wants? Sure you keep them, but they do not move the company ahead. Instead, get everyone engaged and raise the profile of your company. Sure some will get recruited away, but a good leader creates a culture and environment where people want to work. If you are an individual contributor.....why is networking bad? Is it because you should just be the best kept secret and do things for the company? Your employer will not blink at laying you off if bad time come. Thus having a network is key to your future. If you are a boss who discourages your people from networking...why? Is part of it because you fear they will leave if others find out how great they are? If this is part of your reason, you need to realize they will leave anyway if you are not giving them a path to a future they want. I think the individual and the company both win when their team is very well connected. This is both inside your company and outside your company. Do not worry about losing a few people, look at what can happen if everyone is well known in your industry.... you company will be the leader. What is your thoughts on this topic? Let me know. ******** Welcome to the new short format episodes of "Making Waves at C-Level". The show had been on hiatus, and as we come back we are doing 7 - 10 minute short talks to inspire you to think. You wont agree with all my thoughts, but that is how we all learn and grow. https://thomsinger.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast is a quick plug for a new book called "Everyone Wants to Work Here" by Maura Thomas. In this episode Thom Singer shares reasons to read this new book, especially how well chapter 7 describes the realities of how remote and hybrid work are changing business. Thom admits that Maura is his friend, but this is not why he chose to share the information about her book... he shared this because it is a good book that all leaders need to read. Attracting the right talent is a major concern of every business leader, and keeping them engaged and energized matters more than ever. If you want you company to dominate your market...you need to check this out. Find the book on Amazon https://a.co/d/1ocKwN0 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After a long hiatus, Thom Singer returns to hosing "Making Waves at C-Level". But as he always teaches, we have to try new things. He is stepping away from interviews, and doing short episodes with ideas and advice. Today he talks about leaders who pretend they are prefect and who lie on social media about how great they are (when you often know they are fluffing up their greatness). He says real leaders can admit to mistakes. What do you think? https://thomsinger.com/podcast/dont-be-full-of-sht Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Check out this episode of "Making Waves at C-Level" when Thom Singer sits down with serial entrepreneur Henrik Johansson from Gembah. About Henrik Johansson Henrik Johansson is a serial entrepreneur who co-founded and built the product company Boundless into a $100M company. Currently he is the co-founder and CEO of Gembah, a product development platform and marketplace, and the Executive Producer of Final Product, a reality TV show incubated at Gembah. He was previously a co-founder and board member of OutboundEngine, and before that the president of EverydayWealth, and co-founder and president of Creditland. Johansson specializes in technology-enabled services, marketplaces, and software as a service. He is an expert on scaling startups, building world-class teams, culture, and scalable processes and infrastructure and has been featured in Forbes, Entrepreneur, Austin Business Journal, and was named Counselor's 2017 Person of the Year. About Gembah- The 1st Marketplace for Product Development Gembah is a product development marketplace specializing in bringing new products to market through all stages of development. Gembah connects creators with its global network of designers, engineers, and supply chain specialists and oversees production at factories in China, Southeast Asia, Mexico, and South America. Founded on the belief that humans are natural inventors, the company’s goal is to empower creators and make product development accessible to anyone. Gembah was established in 2018 in Austin, TX and has been featured in Forbes and Entrepreneur. To learn more, visit Gembah.com, or find us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube. Https://henrik-johansson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When a podcast host gets an inquiry from someone with a great last name, how do you not put them on the show! LOL. In this episode Thom Singer sits down to talk AI Powered Financing Platform, SmartBiz with CEO Evan Singer (no relation - they are NOT cousins or brothers). About Evan Singer: Evan Singer is CEO of SmartBiz, the leading AI-powered small business financing platform equipping entrepreneurs with access to the right capital at the right time. To date, SmartBiz has connected borrowers with more than $9 billion in financing while increasing efficiency for its network of banks and trusted lending partners. More than 230,000 entrepreneurs have utilized SmartBiz to access the funding they need to grow, with 60% of loans made to minority, women, or veteran-owned businesses. Singer was honored as a Top 100 Stanford Alumni in Technology in 2021 and a Top 25 CEO in Fintech in 2022.    About SmartBiz: On the heels of the Great Recession, a team of technologists, entrepreneurs, and finance geeks came together to find an easier way for small businesses to apply for and secure low-cost funds from banks. United in the belief that the right capital at the right time can cause any small business to thrive, the early SmartBiz team committed themselves to connect every entrepreneur with the funds they need to fortify and grow their businesses. Today, small businesses of every size and type turn to SmartBiz for reliable access to SBA, bank term, and custom financing. https://thomsinger.com/podcast/smartbiz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Listen now for lessons in PR from the founder and president of Grapevine PR in Austin, Texas.   This episode is co-produced with the Austin Technology Council. ATC is a 30 year old association focused on promoting and facilitating growth of technology companies in Central Texas. Over the past three decades the business ecosystem in Austin has changed, and ATC is actively changing, too. Learn more at https://AustinTechnologyCouncil.org. Steven Le Vine has released a new book called "Stories That F*cking Matter: Three pillars of epic storytelling to dominate media headlines, win clients, and grow your business". This is a must read for all business leaders.   About Steven Le Vine: Steven Le Vine is an award-winning publicist and PR strategist, and founder of Grapevine PR, since 2006. The firm's clients include tech and consumer brands, celebrities and high-profile experts. He has secured clients wide-ranging press from sit-down interviews with Oprah, The View, The Talk, NBC Today, CNBC, and CNN, to placements in Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur, The New York Times, TechCrunch, WIRED, Fast Company, Business Insider, Men's Journal, USA Today, People, Variety, and more. He is a frequent media personality and contributor for prominent publications, including Forbes and Rolling Stone, where he offers his expert insight on PR and entrepreneurship. He has taken home nearly two dozen awards for his firm, including "Agency of the Year" and "Campaign of the Year," on behalf of his work for clients including William Shatner, Lisa Loeb, Danny Pintauro, and many others. Le Vine is the co-author of the new PR book, Stories That F*cking Matter: Three Pillars of Epic Storytelling to Dominate Media Headlines, Win Clients and Grow Your Business. He resides in Austin, TX. About the book, Stories That F*cking Matter Three Pillars of Epic Storytelling to Dominate Media Headlines, Win Clients and Grow Your Business: A well-crafted story has the power to literally mold reality, win over hearts and change minds! The story is the most powerful tool humans have ever discovered. But what makes up a great, expertly constructed story? What’s the difference between a good story and a really f*cking great story? In this book, PR and media industry experts Steven Le Vine and Garrett McClure share their secret formula and winning playbooks from over two decades of proven success in earned, owned and paid media. This book reveals proven and effective PR & Media strategies, insider tips and growth hacks to tell a story that f*cking matters in order to cut through the noise of today’s fragmented media landscape and get seen and heard. Get an insider’s behind-the-scenes look into the world of PR, delivering proven methods and strategies along the way for entrepreneurs and experts to take media outreach into their own hands, tell a great story, make headlines, and succeed at growing their brands and businesses. www.storiesmatterbook.com https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BFQ1YJ13?ref_=pe_3052080_276849420 https://thomsinger.com/podcast/steven-levine Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode is co-produced with the Austin Technology Council. ATC is a 30 year old association focused on promoting and facilitating growth of technology companies in Central Texas. Over the past three decades the business ecosystem in Austin has changed, and ATC is actively changing, too. Learn more at https://AustinTechnologyCouncil.org. Today we chat with Nad Elias, CEO at recruitAbility. His story of working in the recruiting business for nearly 25 years, and his commitment to growing his team and culture will inspire you.   About Nad Elias Nad Elias has been in the search recruitment industry for 20+ years. Recognized as one of the top 50 recruiters in Texas, he is known for working with and advising companies on their talent acquisition and retention strategies, consistently delivering on-target results, and building high-performing teams. Nad founded recruitAbility with the purpose-driven mission to make the lives of everyone they connect with better. Nad’s career has spanned all aspects of employer and people development. He’s trained, lead, and developed recruiting organizations serving various industries while always focusing on the value-added services they provide when it’s done right. His experience includes running executive searches and managing nationwide projects with companies ranging in size from start-ups to the Fortune 500. He began his career out of college in the recruiting industry, and it’s all he’s ever known. Austin is home to Nad and his family. A University of Texas graduate, he is the incoming President of the Central US Entrepreneurs Organization (EO). He has been a finalist for Austin’s best CEO’s by the Austin Business Journal for the last 2 years and has lead recruitAbility to one of Austin’s best places to work the last 4 out of 5 years. When he’s not following the active lifestyles of his two kids, Nad plays and coaches basketball and enjoys a round of golf whenever he can fit it in! About recruitAbility  recruitAbility is a tech enabled consulting firm in the recruiting industry that partners with business leaders to strategically grow their organizations. We set out to reimagine recruiting by building a process and platform that helps our clients find and retain the right people. We help our clients grow through our direct hire, contract, and managed recruiting solutions. HTTPS://thomsinger.com/podcast/recruitability  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode is co-produced with the Austin Technology Council. ATC is a 30 year old association focused on promoting and facilitating growth of technology companies in Central Texas. Over the past three decades the business ecosystem in Austin has changed, and ATC is actively changing, too. Learn more at https://AustinTechnologyCouncil.org. Today we chat changes in the world of "search" with Madhu Basu from Unnanu. In this episode we talk about how the right tech brings more opportunities, and how he sees "search" as broken. About Madhu Basu   Madhu has been an Austinite for over 23 years, living in Austin metropolis. He is the CEO and Founder of Unnanu, a technology startup from Austin that helps businesses by utilizing a patented contextual weighted keyword search. Also, the founder and CEO of PMCS Services, provides IT consulting, staffing, and solutions services for over 16 years.   He also co-founded three more businesses previously. Madhu is the former President of a non-profit organization that focuses on community services and awareness within the Austin sub-continent Indian community. Madhu is married to Sheela and has two children, Charita and Praneel. About Unnanu   Unnanu technology will help get relevant information to people or businesses faster. We put forth effort to find data, media, or content in a business-driven society where people can get the advantage of services by businesses investing in society and people by creating jobs, healthy living, and support. We currently provide a simple solution for businesses to have resumes scored to be able to find the best candidate and a complete hiring platform with an integrated JobBoard, ATS, and OnBoard solution. We built a disruptive technology to bring highly qualified individuals to companies, and we want to make their hiring process seamless, effective, and efficient. Unnanu offers users a plethora of highly useful features like in-app messaging, offers, referrals, an on-boarding process, and even the ability to conduct interviews right within the app. Also, the ability to compare new opportunities and offers side by side so that you can make your next career move with confidence.  Our approach is seamless, effective, and simple. It is much faster than traditional job boards and job sites. Unnanu is headquartered in Austin, Texas, with more offices to be open in the near future. https://thomsinger.com/podcast/Madhu-Basu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thom sits down to talk about why companies should offer employee benefits with the President of Excel Benefits, Michael Bigley. Companies with less than 50 employees do not necessarily need to offer benefits, but for many this is a great retention and recruiting tool. Even if they seem "expensive", many companies find that the right package is worth the investment. About Michael Bigley Michael Bigley has lived in San Antonio, Texas most of his life, except when he attended Texas State University, where he graduated in 1979 with a B.A. in Business. In 1984, he entered the Life Insurance Business with Mass Mutual.  In 1998, he earned the prestigious Certified Life Underwriter (CLU) designation from the American College,  a non-profit, industry accredited, degree-granting institution.  Only 5% of professionals in his field has obtained this title.    Mike founded Excel Benefits Inc. in 1991, with the goal of assisting businesses of all sizes navigate the ever-changing costs and processes of benefits implementation and offer a fully educated staff for benefits advisory and servicing. Mike is truly a seasoned veteran and one of the most knowledgeable employee benefits consultants in the industry today.   In 2016, Mitchell, Mike’s oldest son joined the company as the Operations Manager after obtaining his Biology degree from UTSA. Then, in 2019, Mike’s middle son, Drake joined the Company as Benefits Advisor and was promoted to Sales Manager in 2022, rounding out a successful family business to serve businesses for another generation. https://thomsinger.com/podcast/excel-benefits Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices