Making Waves at C-Level

Have you ever thought about how your strategic planning and succession planning impacts your corporate culture? Well according to Liz Weber, it plays a big part. And culture matters in business now more than ever. This episode of "Making Waves at C-Level" is a conversation about succession plans, strategy, and culture. Thom and Liz go deep into her expertise and find ways you company should be looking at your org chart and thinking about how you cover the roles of EVERY employee. About Liz Weber In the words of one client, “Liz Weber will help you see opportunities you never knew existed.”   A sought-after consultant, speaker, and trainer, Liz is known for her candor and ability to make the complexities of leadership E.A.S.Y. She creates clarity for her audiences during her results-oriented presentations. Participants walk away knowing how to implement the ideas she shares.   Liz has been named a Top 100 Leadership Influencer for 2022 by LeadersHum, a Top 100 HR Influencer by Engagedly, and a Top HR Influencer to Watch by BambooHR and HR Exchange Network. She. She is one of fewer than 100 people in the U.S. to hold both the Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) and Certified Management Consultant (CMC) designations; the highest earned designations in two different professions.   As the President of Weber Business Services, LLC, a management consulting, training, and speaking firm headquartered near Harrisburg, PA, Liz provides strategic and succession planning, executive coaching, and comprehensive leadership training programs to business owners, leaders, executive teams, and boards of directors.   Liz holds an MBA in International Business and is an experienced national and international board director. Liz has extensive association leadership experience as she’s served at the national and international board levels and has won awards for her initiatives and service.   Liz has supervised business activities in 129 countries. She has designed and facilitated conferences from Bangkok to Bonn and Tokyo to Tunis. In addition to writing nine leadership books, and her Leadership Insights blog articles, Liz posts to social media daily. https://thomsinger.com/podcast/liz-weber Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thom Singer sits down with one of the most successful entrepreneurs in Austin, Texas. His friend, Brett Hurt, is the author of The Entrepreneur's Essentials and the founder of six successful companies.  In this conversation they chat about Brett's entrepreneurship, the new book, what makes a B Corporation, and how Brett can do a 22 minute plank. This interview is full of useful information for anyone at any level of their business career.   About Brett Hurt Brett Hurt is the CEO and co-founder of data.world, an Austin-based Certified B Corporation and public benefit corporation. data.world makes it easy for everyone—not just the "data people"—to get clear, accurate, fast answers to any business question. data.world's cloud-native data catalog maps its customers siloed, distributed data to familiar and consistent business concepts, creating a unified body of knowledge anyone can find, understand, and use. data.world is also home to the world’s largest collaborative open data community, including public COVID-19 datasets. In 2017, 2018, and 2019, data.world was honored on the “Best for the World” list by B Lab that recognizes the top 10% of all B Corps globally. And in 2020, data.world was named by the Austin Business Journal as one of the top-three companies to work for. Brett is also the co-owner of Hurt Family Investments (HFI), alongside his wife, Debra. HFI are involved in 115 startups, 31 VC funds, and multiple philanthropic endeavors. Brett co-founded and led Bazaarvoice as CEO, through its IPO, follow-on offering, and two acquisitions. Bazaarvoice became the largest public SaaS (Software as a Service) business in social commerce and was named by the WSJ as one of the top IPOs of 2012. Brett also founded and led Coremetrics, which was rated the #1 Web analytics solution by Forrester Research and, like Bazaarvoice, expanded into a global company and leader. Coremetrics was acquired by IBM in 2010 for around $300m. In 2017, Brett was given the Best CEO Legacy Award by the Austin Business Journal. He is a Henry Crown Fellow and Braddock Scholar at the Aspen Institute. Brett began programming at age seven and doing so on the Internet at age eighteen. He finished his book, “The Entrepreneur’s Essentials”, in August 2019 (available at databrett.medium.com for free). Two beautiful children and married to Debra, my much better half, since 1996. About "The Entrepreneur Essentials" Book The Entrepreneur’s Essentials developed through Brett’s series of blog posts called Lucky7—named in honor of his mother—to help all entrepreneurs take proactive steps to avoid mistakes that, though common, can have a hugely negative impact on their business. Brett presents this book as a guide with 23 informative lessons, pulling from impactful experiences from his own life as both a startup CEO and investor, sharing dual perspectives to give deeper insight. He explores the stages of a startup’s progression from deciding on a company name to hiring well and understanding what it takes to be an inclusive leader worthy of your own company. Whether you’re a seasoned entrepreneur or a first-time business owner, The Entrepreneur’s Essentials will help you explore ways to make your startup better. You can get the book at https://theEntrepreneursEssentials.com  About data.world data.world is the enterprise data catalog for the modern data stack. Their cloud-native SaaS platform combines a consumer-grade user experience with a powerful knowledge graph to deliver enhanced data discovery, agile data governance, and actionable insights. The company is home to the world’s largest collaborative data community, which is free and open to the public. It’s where people discover data, share analysis, and team up on everything from social bot detection to award-winning data journalism. They use what we learn from this community to improve the enterprise product and vice versa.  www.ThomSinger.com/podcast/brett-hurt Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode is the return of the "Making Waves at C-Level" podcast after a month long hiatus. Host Thom Singer has been making some changes to his career and business life - and so stay tuned to see a lot of new things happening here on this podcast. In this interview he talks to Zora Chase from Chasing Nectar Digital Solutions. They discuss why all companies should have a digital expert in their corner and bring up the important strategies for digital. This is also the first time Thom Singer has ever interviewed anyone from his Kindergarten class. Yes, the two first met in the early 1970s in Ms O'Brien's kindergarten room at Hugo Reid Elementary in Arcadia, California. The two grew up in the same schools though High School, and were both the homeroom "Anchors" of their school's closed circuit TV newscast during their senior year.   About Zora Chase Very few digital companies can confidently compare the benefits of digital versus traditional media. Chasing Nectar founder, Zora Chase, is able to leverage more than 20 years combined in broadcast and digital media, guiding dozens of businesses with marketing needs that span from grand openings, form fill, eCommerce, lead generation and branding. She built a team to share perspective to help you make sound marketing decisions. They strive to help you attain more customers without more spend and deliver results. About Chasing Nectar Digital Solutions Chasing Nectar places digital ads for growth-minded businesses. They work with clients to analyze the spend with a goal of delivering a substantial Return on Ad Spend (ROAS). They offer an array of products including Facebook and Instagram, Targeted Display Ads, Geo-Targeting, Video Ads, including OTT and YouTube, PPC, SEO/Reputation Management; Online Audio, Household IP Targeting and Live Chat. Chasing Nectar stays on top of the rapidly evolving digital ad environment and use over 15 different ad exchanges to access premium inventory that is brand safe and delivers optimal ROI for our clients. https://www.thomsinger.com/zora-chase  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Zora Chung joins the conversation on "Making Waves at C-Level" to talk about growing a business, Angel Funding, and business success. ReJoule is a start up that does fast testing for eclectic vehicle batteries.   About Zora Chung Zora Chung is the cofounder and CFO at ReJoule, a battery diagnostics and optimization company focused on maximizing the value of every battery. ReJoule has graded over 1MWh of used electric vehicle (EV) batteries as part of their project to repurpose used EV into a stationary application. This project is funded by the California Energy Commission where Zora has blogged to document their learnings, progress, and obstacles. ReJoule’s work has been featured by Wired, Frost & Sullivan, and across a few podcasts and conferences. Before founding ReJoule in 2017, Zora has spent over 12 years in corporate finance at Clorox and Walmart eCommerce. She's created long-range strategic and financial plans, negotiated contracts, and evaluated new and existing business models and optimized them for scalable growth. She holds a B.S in Business Administration from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.  About ReJoule ReJoule is setting the standard for battery health diagnostics to improve the economics of electric vehicles (EV) batteries across its life cycle. Current health predictions only get worse as the batteries age and other ways to test the batteries can take hours. ReJoule’s fast and non-invasive diagnostic has already tested forklift, truck and bus batteries. It was proven to be at least 50x faster (5 min or less vs. 6-10 hours) than current testing methods without sacrificing accuracy. They’ve raised over $5M in non-dilutive grants and in 2022 got their first few paid customers - one is a top 10 automaker seeking to repurpose their used EV batteries in a second-life application. The ultimate goal is to get ReJoule’s technology into production vehicles and at service centers around the world. The founding team is a brother-sister duo balanced between an innovative technical cofounder who has built all the IP in-house and an experienced finance and business strategist. https://thomsinger.com/podcast/rejoule Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Given changes in the economy and lack of resources, many companies are looking to do more with less. Carolyn Strauss knows you can get more done with less and she shares this with passion and enthusiasm. She has found ways throughout her career to thrive in competitive industries with limited resources. She is clear that there is a time and place to let go of the past offerings, to let go of people, and to look for the best times to make these changes.   About Carolyn Strauss Carolyn Strauss is a former CEO and has spent her life studying how to help companies optimize their most important resource, their people. As one of the top female professional MC's, her job is to keep conferences energized and running smoothly. As a professional speaker having earned her CSP, Carolyn works with organizations to keep people and teams running smoothly, and over the years, she has worked in most industries. She is the author of 5 books, the co-host of the podcast "Another Day Above Ground" and is a member of the Screen Actors Guild. Carolyn is mom to a 5 year old golden retriever and she believes a good day contains chocolate. You can reach her at carolynstrauss.com https://thomsinger.com/podcast/carolyn-strauss Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wellness is more important than ever for your employees. Why is it important to focus on health in the workplace? Elaine Pasqua tells us all about it and how you and your people can stay healthy. About Elaine Pasqua Once upon a time, a 6’5″ 250 pound man looked at petite Elaine standing at 5’3″ and said: “You are the biggest little thing I’ve ever seen!” This funny and energetic live wire has been traversing the country for more than 27 years, advocating for positive choices, optimal health, healthy relationships, and productive lives. Elaine’s pursuit for making a difference in the lives of others began when she spoke out after losing her mom and stepdad to AIDS related complications. Her career as a professional speaker stemmed from passion, not from the desire to make money. That passion is reflected in her work today. Enhancing the quality of life for others resonates through Elaine’s keen knowledge, compassion, ability to connect, and sharp humor. Elaine’s enthusiasm for making a difference has remarkably taken her to work with: Countless businesses and professional associations 31 professional sports teams across the NFL, NBA, and MLB 700 colleges and universities nationwide Our military service personnel High schools and parent groups Elaine is proudly serving as the president of National Speakers Association’s Philadelphia Chapter. She is an author, columnist, and producer/director of public service videos. She has been featured in USA Today, NY1 News, Time Warner TV, NPR, NBC Sports Radio, CBS Sports, and Knight Ridder News Service. When she is not traveling on planes, trains, and automobiles, you can find Elaine hiking, traveling for pleasure with her husband Jeff, singing with friends until the wee hours of the morning, or in her beautiful gardens with lots of dirt under her fingernails! She is the proud mom of Evan and David who are happy, productive, and caring young men…whew, she made it through parenting! https://thomsinger.com/podcast/elaine-pasqua Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode the conversation is all about change and innovation at work and how companies can create a culture that leads to more innovation. The guest is Adam Braus, whom Thom met at SXSW 2022.   Also, this is the only episode in the history of 714 shows where a cat walked across a keyboard in the middle of the interview....so listen for the cat playing piano. About Adam Braus Adam Braus is a people- and mission-driven leader in technology and higher education. Braus builds and works with and on teams that envision, design, build, launch, and grow innovative new institutions that build people up. He has been working in higher education building innovative new colleges and college programs that are accessible to all for almost a decade. His recent books include: Motivate: How to Defeat Distraction, Ignite Interest, and Secure Success - https://bit.ly/motivate-book Leading Change at Work — https://bit.ly/leading-change-at-work The Future of Good: A Guide for Good People Going Forward (coming June 1 2022) Braus’ philosophy about people — both in teaching and managing them — is to help them generate clear goals, an inspiring purpose, and a warm, safe environment, and then give them lots of choice, time, freedom, and support — with those elements in place, people learn and achieve more than you could assign them to do (and they don't burn out!). Braus is open to business and book coaching, collaborating on and advising high impact projects, startups, and non-profits, and exploring ambitious solutions to big problems. Connect with him on LinkedIn to reach out or see his updates. You can also see his work on his website https://www.adambraus.com or on medium https://ajbraus.medium.com/. https://Thomsinger.com/podcast/adam-braus Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the middle of "The Great Resignation" you want to create a workplace culture that rocks. You want to keep your top talent from becoming your competitors top talent! This episode is a chat with retention expert Lisa Ryan. Find ways to catch your employees doing this well and say "Thank You Very Much". Are you holding "Stay Interviews" instead of Exit Interviews? This is a great piece of advice for all bosses. Don't wait until people are leaving to find out how they are doing. Be open to hearing the feedback loop of the good and the not as good.   About Lisa Ryan Lisa Ryan is the speaker who will make your life easier and more importantly, will make you look good! Her expertise includes: Keynote, breakout or workshop speaker at more than 100 national and international conferences Thirteen years of industrial marketing and sales experience, including seven years in the welding industry – and yes, she does weld The host of “Elevate Your Engagement Levels: What You Need to Know” on the Elite Expert Network Creator of “The Seven Mistakes Managers Make to Crush Company Culture” video series A best-selling author of ten books, including “Manufacturing Engagement: 98 Proven Strategies to Attract and Retain Your Industry’s Top Talent”  An award-winning speaker, including “Corporate Event Speaker of the Year” Lisa is energetic and dynamic, and her presentations are anything but standard – they’re PowerPoint free! Instead, Lisa engages her audience with entertaining anecdotes gained “in the trenches”, incorporates the most current research, trends and best practices while also capturing the “wisdom in the room.” Because of her experience in a variety of industries including executive recruiting, healthcare, industrial sales, and welding, she relates easily to attendees at all levels within the organization. Ryan’s programs focus on positive workplace culture, inter-generational communication, employee acquisition, engagement, retention, and gratitude strategies (“Grategies”) for personal and professional development. Her down-to-earth approach and willingness to share best practices have proven to be a winning formula for her clients. Ryan’s high energy and enthusiastic keynote and breakout programs, her sense of humor, and passionate delivery are what makes her sessions among the highest rated at national and international conferences, leadership retreats, and annual meetings. Lisa Ryan currently serves as Immediate Past-President of the National Speakers Association, Ohio Chapter. She received her MBA from Cleveland State University. She has served on many other boards including The American Welding Society, Association for Equipment Manufacturing Professionals, and Toastmasters International. Https://thomsinger.com/podcast/lisa-ryan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The ecosystem of Austin has proven over the last thirty years to produce the hottest boom town in business. Today's episode covers the "Secret Sauce of Austin" and what are the six "superpowers" of the region. According to Jason Scharf, this is a roadmap for other areas of the country (and the world) who want to grow their economies. It's not about copying Austin (or the Silicon Valley), it is about developing your own superpowers. About Jason Scharf Jason Scharf is an experienced strategy executive and active early-stage investor in the life science and digital health sectors. For the past 15 years, he has built and led teams in strategic planning, market intelligence, and innovation. Today he is the Vice President of Strategy and Partnerships for Kean Health, a direct to consumer at home genomic and microbiome solutions company. He leads product management, business development, and strategic planning. Prior to his role at Kean, he worked across the healthcare sector at biopharma, genomics, and medtech companies including Illumina, Becton Dickinson, and Amgen. In addition to his roles within the corporate environment, Jason has served as a co-fund manager of the San Diego Angel Conference, an investor with NuFund Venture Group, and a mentor with both the NexCubed Digital Health Accelerator and the Illumina Accelerator. He has invested in ~40 emerging companies from Seed stage to Series B focusing on the convergence of technology and biology. His investments have ranged from diagnostics/tools (Pleno, Iridia, and Visicell Medical), Biopharma (Elicio Therapeutics), and Foodtech (BlueNalu, Impossible Foods). He is also the co-host of the Austin Next Podcast. An exploration of Austin’s transformation into the next great innovation powerhouse, what it takes to accelerate the growth of an ecosystem, and what comes next. Jason Scharf earned his BA from University of California, San Diego and his MBA from the Rady School of Management at the University of California, San Diego. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Michael Davis helps executives become more confident every time they speak to a group in-person or on camera. In this interview we chat about how improving your presentation skills will make a difference in your career. About Michael Davis Michael Davis’s work is focused on helping you attract more clients, create more efficient teams, and increase your influence through more effective speaking, business storytelling and online presentations. He helps experienced speakers, business leaders, entrepreneurs, and sales professionals confidently deliver memorable and meaningful talks of any length, even on short notice. His passion for effective presenting was born on a desk when he was in first grade. He was being punished for breaking a class rule. The embarrassment of being ridiculed by his classmates kept him from standing in front of any group for the next 25 years, unless he was forced to. This didn’t change until the day his boss told him, “Either get better at giving presentations or we’ve got to let you go!” Those words motivated Michael to deal with his fear of public speaking. With the help of mentors and coaches he met through Toastmasters and the National Speakers Association, he discovered the skills and tools to manage his fear, become an effective speaker and uncovered his talent for training others to become world class presenters and business storytellers. And he continues to learn more about the craft every day. Michael is a highly-sought presentation skills consultant and trainer, and speaker. He’s the author of ‘THE Book on Storytelling’ and the upcoming book, ‘Stop Telling Just ANY Story.’ He has trained business leaders, salespeople, and professional and TEDx speakers on four continents to deliver talks that have been viewed over 3 million times. He 's the Founder of Speaking CPR and is a faculty member and coach at Stage Time University. He lives in Blue Ash, Ohio with his family, and the overlords of their house, Sky the Super Chihuahua and her underling, Riley the Mini-Chihuahua.  https://thomsinger.com/podcast/michael-davis Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices