Unlocking Business Growth - exploring achievements, challenges and what's interesting

Paul Mercer, serial entrepreneur and conqueror of personal medical and business challenges, sincerely believes that a large part of the secret in founding and growing a successful business lies in the thinking.  The crystalized vision, the strategy (both financial and operational), competitive and market strategy and planning; clear forward picture of what the business will look like in 5, 10 and more years into the future.

Growth then occurs through passion and the confidence to deliver.  Part of the secret sauce in his business is the education that the Portable Power Technology team provides to customers and prospects.  For large clients they have become an extension of the R&D or technical department having built deep loyalty, and endeavoring to continually enhance knowledge in the market.

Passion drives success for the entire team and the customers, and the confidence to deliver is founded in a good strategy, plans, cash availability, and fantastic people.  Each accomplishment or hurdle overcome builds confidence and enhanced competence to handle the next one, which in turn feeds resilience and injects infectious joy.

Seeing a potential future in community based energy storage and greener lifestyles, as well as ongoing explosion in portable power needs, Paul believes the future is exciting.  Solving the challenge of achieving greater energy storage to feed more powerful loads, employing new minerals for onboard storage without taking away from the range of the vehicle, and developing increasingly creative applications will continue to engage his niche and potential.

Tune in to hear about:

• The reason the pain and panic bought by pandemic lockdown became business thrive.
• What is business growth really and why should it be different.
• How large customers provide growth without purchasing more of your products.
• How growth in revenue and profit can be maintained above an annualized 25% despite market circumstances.
• And more.

Mentioned in this episode:

Portable Power Technology website

Paul Mercer LinkedIn

Kavita Ganesan has assisted many clients to gain the advantage of split-second humanlike thinking, from a computer.  Her secrets even assist when it is hard to get from concept to starting the project due to inadequate data.

She cautious that in many situations AI is wasted, it does not work, and people believe they need AI but in fact do not. However, the examples of the potential value to be derived where AI is appropriately deployed are fascinating, and should spark initiative to identify places to apply AI in every business.

Human-level thinking required? Not a problem.  Whether applied broadly or in specifically targeted situations, large companies and small all potentially benefit from deploying AI.  Don’t however look for immediate, directly consequential, or automatic positive impact on the bottom-line.  Some will see it fast but for many it will evolve over time in financial results, staff or customer satisfaction, quality enhancements, etc.

Use an off-the-shelf tool or build from scratch. The secret to avoid failure lies in adequate preparation … data, validation, resources.  Replace part, or the entire, process or system currently deployed, but learn first from The Business Case for AI, A leader’s Guide to AI Strategies, Best Practices & Real-World Applications.

Tune in to hear about:

• Ideas for where to consider artificial intelligence, or use automation.
• How to close the gap between management and data scientists.
• Why AI projects disappoint, and how to ensure success.
• Why all companies potentially derive significant value through technology investment.
• And more.

Mentioned in this episode:

Kavita Ganesa's website and book website

Bryan Clayton used many of the lessons learned in his first business to grow the second, but he did find that the nature of the business has a big impact on how you achieve success.  It was difficult to switch from growing a lawn care business to building a technology business because a tech business is mostly inventing something new; never seen or used before.

One of the secrets to growing your business is to focus on one level at a time, and look to gain knowledge or experience from multiple sources in order to build your own ability.  Progressively try to move towards working more on your business than in it, but be patient because the early years are a challenge.  Success in a technology business can be developed through rapidly releasing a first product, which probably embarrasses the creators but delights the small customer base you have, and using the valuable feedback received to develop a product that the market truly wants.

Employing his superpower – consistency – made Bryan show up every day and persevere on the one or two things his business was working on to get to the next milestone. By doing it over and over, enthusiastically, until successful GreenPal has grown large, and yet Bryan feels they are only getting started.  Bryan counsels to stay enthusiastic as you pursue each milestone, do not get side tracked through the highs and lows, and for those who feel they have missed their opportunity in technology – remember what Marc Andreessen thought about his opportunities in technology!

Tune in to hear about:

• The value of the first-year customer base.
• How to close the gap between founder logic and user logic.
• The double-edged sword of external funding.
• Finding a business soul-mate if you need a business co-founder.
• And more.

Mentioned in this episode:

GreenPal app:  Apple  or Google 

Bryan Clayton on Instagram 

John Cuomo planned to become an electrician, so how did he land developing a deep love for serving in, and developing leadership for, the fire service?

It was in fire academy that John found his passion, and even competing for a job for two-and-a-half years did not deter him.  Early in his career John noticed that the role of everyone in the fire service is about leadership – leading within the service and taking charge of situations that are overwhelming the community.  He spent his career learning from as many business and community role models, and books, as possible and now retired has written his first book – Leadership Refined By Fire, a firefighter’s guide to develop leadership skills, motivate and inspire others, and deliver exceptional care for the public – to make the knowledge available to others.

One of John’s core beliefs is that leadership is about personal responsibility; to be a good leader you also have to be a good follower. His book is an excellent description and demonstration of the many qualities that make exceptional leaders, illustrated with entertaining and inspirational stories.  The book arms leaders to create a workplace fueled by meaning and during our conversation John had special encouragement for firefighters, “Never let the downs get too low, keep your chin up.  It is a wonderful thing you are doing.” Listen as he discusses some of the content and provides a glimpse into his next book on mental health.

Tune in to hear about:

• A missile on the beach, thanksgiving dinner cooked for an estranged family, and other stories.
• Which do we need more - good managers or good leaders?
• What is, or what are, the most important leadership quality/ies?
• How to find a mentor when the company is too small.
• And more.

Mentioned in this episode:

Website https://www.fdleadership.com/

Why would a senior executive interpreter in American Sign language with Spanish and English want to leave and start a new career, as a single parent to small children, on the other side of the country?  Well, because she sees it as an opportunity, and because most people would not do that. Cici drove herself hard, burnt out a few times, and had to learn to plan personal activities and business tasks in her calendar, but still achieve what she set her mind to.

Through implementing her three step process of Identify, Influence, and Implement Cici now leads her teams, and coaches professionals and intrapreneurs to improve their own achievements, through mindset, productivity and performance.

Being an executive in travel and hospitality at an exciting time presented a new opportunity to participate on the taskforce to restart operations.  The down time during the global pandemic also instigated the start of writing her book and coaching business.  Cici feels strongly that when people work on what they are passionate about they grow more, and faster, but she also practices cross-training  of her team members to facilitate learning new skills and working as a tightknit family to achieve together.

She wants them all to achieve a balanced career and life. She teaches how to benefit by doing what others can’t, won’t or do not do.

Tune in to hear about:

• Stories - what happened when she was working in China when the Covid-19 pandemic started.
• How to build loyal, high performing teams.
• The importance of respecting and following a well-balanced scheduler.
• Not settling for anything less than extraordinary.
• And more.

Mentioned in this episode:

Website  

After four successful years in business Stacey Brown Randall learned a hard lesson.  Without the right approach to business development the business has no future. You cannot hope your business into success and being in all the places all of the time, constant networking, is exhausting.  

It would be magic if the sales pipeline could fill itself as you do what you do best.  Well with the right referral strategies it can!  Referrals that flow naturally and consistently.  When not attached to compensation they work especially well is a relational business, where there is a sizeable client investment.

With just three secrets – get organized, follow the methodology, and trust the process – your relationships will generate referrals without you asking, paying, reciprocating, or manipulating.

Tune in to hear about:

• When compensation for a referral does and does not work, and why.
• Three alternative approaches to generating referrals – depending on your starting point.
• The value of metrics and discipline.
• The most important reason growth tactics picked up from others often do not work.
• And more.

Mentioned in this episode:

Stacey Brown Randall website 

Freebies 

Purush Cannane creatively combined his engineering skill, passion for solving environmental problems, and his drive to help vulnerable communities when he founded Greenii to create paper bags from waste paper.  Avoiding post-consumer paper in order to bypass the need for additional environmentally unfriendly chemicals and processes, he sources high quality paper, offers employment to recently immigrated women, and has now sold thousands of carrier bags in Canada and the USA to replace single-use plastic bags.

Not stopping yet, Purush has gone on to invent equipment to facilitate growth in production volumes, and is expanding into box packaging as well. While handmade bags may continue to form a part of the product offering, it is the raw materials used that ensures bags will always remain unique.  He even affords customers the opportunity to convert their unused, expired marketing materials and paper products into new packaging products for use by themselves or another environmentally conscious and creative business.

Tune in to hear about:

• Why common paper bags are actually worse than plastic bags for the environment.
• How a piggy bank start led to a college binding service.
• Always having five to ten alternative solutions to a problem.
• And more.

Mentioned in this episode:

Greenii website
Greeni email: [email protected]

Thinking and questioning originated in Carol Sanford’s childhood; through influences from indigenous, white supremacist, and even fundamentalist Christian customs and beliefs. How we are in, and view, the world drives our engagement and impact.   From the contradictory, perhaps clashing, cultural influences Carol developed a drive to think, question, and write. 

Influenced also by studying and observing the success of basketball coach Phil Jackson’s model that cultivated role models and excellence through indirect work Carol wrote her latest, sixth book, Indirect Work. She seeks to stimulate thinking and develop inquiry; to encourage readers to overcome paradigms, to escape the chains and shadows (as described by Plato).  Thinking not about the book content as a template or instruction, but about the influence on the reader - their own opinions about what is raised in the book, how they can argue with that content, and work to form their own opinions and ideas.  Then test them.

Learning is as much about how one engages with new information and experience as it is about the information itself.  Carol encourages listeners and readers neither to accept nor reject anything she, or anyone else, says or demonstrates without first working it through with their own experience, reflection, and disagreements.  Society needs to stimulate its own enquiring mind and then develop a methodology of learning to think.

Tune in to hear about:

• A glimpse at the book Indirect Work.
• How Phil Jackson became the winningest coach in the NBA, and elevated the value and attractiveness of the sport, without coaching (including discussion not included in the book).
• What to do instead of setting goals, and what billiard balls have to do with it.
• How Colgate in South Africa rapidly transformed their results, their structure, retained the employee team, and benefitted society through indirect work.
• And more.

Mentioned in this episode:

Carol Sanford website

Darby Vannier would never have imagined his career could have taken him through human resources, operations management, coaching and so much more.  He certainly never dreamed the experience could be gained in industries as diverse as movie theatres, print and copy, and even alpaca livestock.

Through his diverse experience Darby observed effective and ineffective business leaders.  People are naturally more inclined to be either a manager or visionary but, as further explored in his book “The Indispensable Leader”, the two are never mutually exclusive.  Most people are naturally stronger in one than the other, but the best leaders strive to have a mix of the best characteristics from each and to play down or let go all less desirable characteristics. Indispensable Leaders exhibit traits within the intersection on a Venn diagram, having pulled in desirable and let go undesirable traits and tendencies of both visionaries and leaders.  

Becoming indispensable requires active effort – observation of others with characteristics you need, surrounding yourself with good people to provide honest feedback while you develop strengths and eliminate weaknesses, and intentionally changing habits that need to go or be learned.  Progressively moving through unconscious to conscious incompetence, and on to conscious competence to attain unconscious competence of the indispensable characteristics.

It is necessary to guard against the inclination, under stress, to revert to your natural tendency.  Lean on strong trusting relationships to help you “see and correct”, and manage excessive stress by controlling what you can control and letting go what you cannot. As a leader it is your task to encourage and coach people to develop their indispensable leader characteristics; be aware of your own impact and role as you shift someone’s career.  

Tune in to hear about:

• Darcy’s four-point advice for all leaders.
• What are the best and worst characteristics of each of visionaries and detail-oriented managers.
• Stories: Movie print flying around a projection booth. Petitions lobbying for your removal during a major event you are hosting.  A food service managers demanding sick employees attend work sick.
• Learning through experience and the way leaders model and develop behaviour in their team.
• And more.

Mentioned in this episode:
Be Indispensable Website

Devin Durrant believes talent, drive and having the right coaching helped him to achieve his childhood dream of playing in the NBA.  But a year later he was cut and this was what allowed him to start his real life’s work - adding value to real estate, and lives.  

Well grounded, supported, challenged and encouraged in his youth provided a foundation to call on in order to reassess, stretch and grow through the difficult time.  He leaned on what was important and valued in his life, used values learned in athletics, and applied them in life.

His work has proved that by putting more focus and effort into your personal values, as they impact or intersect the people and things you value, you can create increasing delta to improve life and experience for all.  This v-effect is achieved using the simple process described during our conversation.

With multi-generational appeal, stories and applicability The Values Delta is interesting.

Tune in to hear about:

• Why gratitude and optimism are values that work well together.
• What is a Values Delta.
• Two questions that create large impact in life.
• And more.

 Mentioned in this episode:

The Values Delta website - https://thevaluesdelta.com