Steal From the Best

Mark Brender is National Director of Partners in Health Canada, a global health and social justice NGO relentlessly committed to improving the health of the poor and marginalized. Starting from a one-room clinic in Haiti more than 30 years ago, Partners in Health today serves millions of patients each year across 11 countries, working to deliver high quality health care, address the root causes of illness, train service providers, advance research, and advocate for global policy change. Mark opened the PIH Canada office in 2011 and is passionate about raising awareness and funds for this effort, and empowering Canadians to join the movement for global health equity. He previously held leadership positions with national and international charitable organizations. Prior to his career in the non-profit sector, he spent more than a decade as an award-winning hockey journalist, writing about those who practice a different kind of justice.

We discuss how Mark left his previous career and lifestyle behind to enter the world of NGOs. Mark talks about the transition and how it filled his life with more purpose. You'll be inspired by the numerous success stories shared by Mark.

Coach Joey Greany has over two decades of experience working with elite professional athletes. He's currently one of the Major League Strength and Conditioning Coaches with the Tampa Bay Rays where he's been for almost 7 years. Outside of the Rays, he provides performance coaching for athletes and teams, executive fitness coaching, and corporate fitness consulting services. With the Tampa Bay Rays, he trains the elite of the elite MLB baseball players.

When it comes to strength and conditioning coaching, Joey is as good as it gets. We talk about the importance of having a strong mindset and remaining focused. In order to get the best results from those that he's coaching, he develops personal relationships and builds trust. It's a necessary step in the quest to achieve peak performance. Joey offers some workout advice for those who aren't professional athletes and stresses the importance of getting a good night's sleep and staying hydrated.

Tim Bakker, a former professional football player discusses his transition from a competitive athletic career to the corporate world. The Discussion touches on the specialization of sports in youth, the challenges of balancing multiple sports, the pressure on young athletes, the CFL draft experience, the business aspect of professional sports, and the adjustment period from Canadian collegiate to professional football.

Tim discusses the lessons learned from football and how they have helped him in the corporate world. He emphasizes the importance of honesty, constantly seeking new wins, learning from failures, and being accountable. He also mentions the mental aspect of football and the ability to quickly adapt and make decisions on the field. He shares his journey from working at RBC to becoming an equity partner at Lloyd Sadd.

"Always be the hammer, not the nail."
- Tim Bakker

Raymond, a multi-talented individual, embraces the roles of an entrepreneur, musician, and co-founder of Podcast Connection. When the COVID pandemic led to the indefinite suspension of live music shows, Raymond faced the necessity to shift away from the music entertainment industry.

Undeterred by his lack of prior experience and capital, he embarked on a bootstrapped journey to establish a company from scratch. Through his relentless efforts, Podcast Connection not only achieved profitability each year but also created employment opportunities for numerous South Africans.

This enabled Raymond to overcome the burden of personal debt amounting to $35k within a year. Since inception, Podcast Connection has served close to 100 clients and Raymond and his team of agents have successfully booked a number of guest speakers on over 900 podcasts.

Raymond offers some candid advice to podcast guests on what it takes to be successful and we also dive a bit into politics discussing the current landscape in South Africa.

We chat with Eric Saumure, Principal at Zenbooks, an online accounting firm.  He's not your traditional accountant.  While he's formally trained as an accountant (CPA, CA), he has experience advising C-Suite executives and business owners on all areas of business finance, including succession planning, restructuring, building processes, and managing remote teams.  Eric was tired of the big firm feel and decided to change the way people see their accountant and started Zenbooks which is an online Canadian accounting firm that is 100% remote and leveraging the latest cloud-based tools to advise small business owners across Canada

Eric offers some sage advice in our podcast including, setting up a recurring money date in your calendar.  We also talk about the importance of getting the right people on your team while hiring slowly and firing fast.  Eric addresses making good long-term business decisions and building a profitable business and then growing it out.

Matt Haycox's story is one of a mistake-maker turned hugely successful entrepreneur.  From starting in business at age 16 to becoming the UK's biggest strip club owner by 27, with businesses in leisure, property, retail, and finance, then bankrupt by 28!  Matt went on to rebuild his life and business as a lender and investor using lessons learned from his failures and now provides funding to SME businesses across the UK.  

Matt shares a bunch of nuggets from his wild ride.  We touch on the balancing of profitability with sustainability and avoiding the sexiness of growth.  We also look at the importance of partnerships.  It's better to have a smaller piece of a huge pie versus having a large piece of a small pie.

Christopher is the President and CEO of Storewise, Inc., a technology company that builds automation software for food retailers.  Christopher authored the book, "8 Steps to Overcoming Everyday Adversity," which was endorsed by several leaders including the former Vice Chairman of the US Join Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Bill Owens.  In 2022, Christopher's book received The Maxy Award's runner-up in the inspirational/self-help category.   He holds an MBA from Florida International University (Miami) and has completed 4 triathlons including a 70.3 Ironman, and lives in the Kansas City area with his wife, two kids, and a rescue dog.

Chris shares some of his tips for overcoming adversity.  We also dive deeper into what makes a successful leader and also look at what it takes to develop a strong team culture.  

"Culture eats strategy for breakfast."

Chris Dreyer is the CEO and Founder of Rankings.io, an SEO agency that helps elite personal injury law firms land serious injury and auto accident cases through Google's organic search results.  His company has the distinction of making the Inc. 5000 list 5 years in a row.  

In addition to owning and operating Rankings, Chris is the Wall Street Journal and USA Today best-selling author of "Niching Up:  The Narrower the Market, the Bigger the Prize."

Chris's journey in legal marketing has been a saga, to say the least.  A world-ranked collectible card game player in his youth, Chris began his "grown up" career with a History Education degree and landed a job out of college as a detention room supervisor.  The surplus of free time in that job allowed him to develop a side hustle where he managed over 100 affiliate sites simultaneously, allowing him to turn his side-gig into a full-time one.  When his time in affiliate marketing came to an end, he segued into SEO for attorneys, while also having time to become a top-ranked online poker player.

Carl Orsbourn is a global retail executive and board member whose experience spans blue-chip companies, disruptive start-up ventures (Juicer Pricing & Kitchen United), and restaurants (Alfa Co).  Carl has been recognized as a power player by Nations Restaurant News and Business Insider for his thought leadership in supporting restaurants to adapt to the challenges and opportunities offered through digitization, technology, and automation.  

Meredith Sandland has created and driven disruptive growth at both Fortune 100 and start-up companies.  She has spent a decade navigating changing consumer demands and restaurant real estate environments. Meridith is the CEO of Empower Delivery, a SaaS company that enables delivery-centric restaurants to manage end-to-end deliver transactions from brand development to logistics through one platform.  

We discuss the recent launch of their book Delivering the Digital Restaurant and explore the world of off-premise food and the massive disruption facing restaurants.  They are savvy food industry veterans and their insight on the future of restaurants is eye-opening.

Maggie Kolkena, MSOD is the author of Today for Tomorrow: A Field Guide to Scenario Planning.  She is the founder of Third Thought Consulting and brings over 25 years of expertise in providing leadership development experiences.  Enabling innovation has been a strong theme in Maggie's work.  Her first career was in performing arts which helped shape her entrepreneurial journey.

Maggie has a distinct competence in helping leaders manage the future.  There are many books out there about scenario planning, but her recently published book, Today for Tomorrow gives the framework for how to DO scenario planning.   She shares some of these tips including adding trendscanning to team meetings to help look at what the future may bring.

Maggie loves supporting leaders and believes that businesses can be powerful agents for positive change in the world.