Problem Solvers

Eric Yaverbaum, chairman of Ericho Communications, has been sick in bed with COVID-19 for 11 days. But he's been able to lead his company with optimism, transparency, and blunt reality.

How can entrepreneurs adapt to coronavirus, and set themselves up for a stronger future? In this episode, hear directly from five of them—as they share their thoughts about how to pivot, produce new products, and plan for the future. Featuring: Meghan Asha, Cynthia Williams-Bey, Joseph Sommer, Monica Kang, and Natasha Miller

How do you say the most in the fewest amount of words? Expert pitchman Anthony Sullivan, known for being the face of OxiClean as well as his new CBD brand MontKush, explains how.

How can something so basic—so obvious!—be a competitive advantage? Here's why: Because too many people forget to build trust. I explain, and then discuss it with a guy who won my trust. It's Jay Sofer of Lockbusters, a locksmith whose approach to customer service is worth learning from.

Talkspace is a platform where therapists and patients can talk, and its first launch was a total failure. But then its founders noticed something strange: Users were sending lots of very, very personal emails to its customer service team. Why? The answer totally transformed the business.

Mark Lawrence co-founded SpotHero in Chicago, and investors told him he needed to expand across America fast. He wanted to take a different approach... even though he wasn't entirely sure it was the right one. Here's how Mark formulated a plan, stuck to it, and proved himself right.

When the home security company SimpliSafe launched, it marketed itself entirely towards renters. After all, they were an underserved marketplace—no other home security system was made for people who rent apartments. But SimpliSafe wasn't growing as fast as its founders expected, so it dug into its customer data and discovered something surprising: Half its customers were home-owners, the people it...

To start the year 2020 right, take some lessons from the business world of Mark Wahlberg—who diligently, thoughtfully built himself into the most disciplined man in Hollywood.

Do you sometimes feel like a loser? So does legendary fashion designer Diane Von Furstenberg—and she admits it here! In this episode, Diane shares a healthy perspective on life... and how the most important thing is owning what you do.

Change can be scary, and entrepreneurs are at the forefront of that conflict. We invent things. We create change. But of course, that change can be scary… for other people, or for ourselves. What then? On this episode, we dive deep into what transformative change looks like—by examining the surprising, weird, often alarming history of the elevator. (Episode comes to us via the podcast Pessimists A...

Neal Goyal ran a ponzi scheme, defrauded investors out of roughly $9 million, and spent years in prison for his crime. Today he’s out, and we have a frank conversation about what leads someone to make the kind of decisions he made, and the amount of soul searching and self-repair required to come back from it.

This is a story about change—and whether it’s something to resist, or an opportunity to take. And it all started when the founder of Edible Arrangements discovered that the word “edibles” had become associated with marijuana. It scared him. He tried to fight it. And then… something else happened.

Why are we not more comfortable selling ourselves? In this episode, host Jason Feifer reveals a common mistake he sees people make when pitching their work. Then, he turns to Jason Harris—CEO of the ad agency Mekanism, and author of the book "The Soulful Art of Persuasion"—for a plan on how to do better.

How do you build an exciting career? Does networking matter? Does it matter what you study? In this episode, the interviewing tables are turned: College student Danielle Kraidin asks me her most pressing career questions.

Most people work with family or friends, but is that wise? And what do you do when things go wrong? Celebrated fashion designer Rebecca Minkoff has plenty of insight on this, because she works with plenty of friends—and her CEO is her brother! In this episode, she explains how she balances it all.